30/07/2026
𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚
As part of the 9th SADC Industrialisation Week in Durban, South Africa, the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) co-hosted a side event on "Towards Competitive and Resilient Industrialisation in SADC."
The event focused on strengthening Southern Africa's industrial competitiveness by aligning regional policies with the needs of enterprises, traders, and mining communities.
The first panel agreed that SADC has significant natural resources and trade potential. However, limited processing capacity, fragmented markets, and weak enterprise capabilities hinder value retention and job creation. The panel recommended prioritising beneficiation, local content, technology transfer, special economic zones, and cross-border value chains, supported by coherent trade and investment policies.
The panel emphasised that quality infrastructure is essential for industrial competitiveness, as standards, testing, and certification enable firms to meet market requirements. They highlighted disparities in quality infrastructure across SADC, including the lack of accredited laboratories and certification services in some countries, which impedes trade. Many SMEs also lack the technical and financial capacity to meet standards.
The panel called for stronger national quality policies, investment in laboratories, mutual recognition arrangements, ongoing enterprise training, and enhanced regional cooperation to reduce duplication and ensure mutual acceptance of certified products. Fragmented regulations, non-tariff barriers, vested interests, and conflicting national measures continue to undermine regional supply chains. The panel stressed that trade instruments should support viable industries without limiting competition, market access, or intermediate inputs. The SADC Free Trade Area and AfCFTA present opportunities to align industrial priorities across countries.
The panellists noted that women-owned SMEs are often undercapitalised, largely informal, and weakly integrated into value chains. Conventional lending criteria, such as collateral and credit history, frequently limit women's access to finance. The panel recommended using alternative assessments based on business viability, income potential, and entrepreneurial capacity.
They also advocated for simplifying formalisation and standardisation processes, providing explanations in local languages, and offering practical support. For women cross-border traders, priorities include streamlined border procedures, improved access to information, efficient digital payment systems, protection from harassment, removal of non-tariff barriers, and greater representation in policymaking.
The second panel examined artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) through the lens of minerals, markets, and miners, with governance at the centre. They noted that while ASM supports millions of livelihoods, its informal nature obscures its contribution and leaves miners without legal recognition. Challenges include limited access to geological information, affordable finance, and modern technology, which restrict productivity and confine miners to low-value activities. Unsafe working conditions, environmental harm, child labour, and violence further reduce the sector's socio-economic impact.
The panel advocated formalising ASM to address illegality and create decent working environments, emphasising that formalisation should go beyond taxes and licenses to include secure rights, access to finance and markets, technical assistance, social protection, safety, and legal recognition. They recommended recalibrating CETM value chains to recognise artisanal miners as legitimate economic actors and ensuring mining is conducted as a respected livelihood in line with ESG principles.
Technical support is essential to promote value addition and beneficiation in CETMs. SADC’s transformation will be inclusive only when SMEs, women traders, and artisanal miners are fully recognised and enabled to participate in regional value chains and share fairly in the value they create.
Four priority actions emerged to strengthen the contribution of the ASM sector to the exploitation of CETMs: meaningful formalisation, access to appropriate technology and skills, access to certified markets, and regional policy coordination. These priorities can help strengthen the role of ASM in sustaining livelihoods and contributing to sustainable industrialisation.
The panel noted that the ECA-led, five-year IKI-sponsored regional initiative on responsible and inclusive energy-transition mineral value chains provides a practical platform for advancing responsible mining in six SADC countries. They recommended sharing the findings from the project's analytical work.
UNIDO - United Nations Industrial Development Organization
