Abstract
The role of Non-State Actors (NSAs) in the SADC regional integration was approved by the Council of Ministers in 2022. The Council gave the NSAs the mandate to participate in the regional integration agenda and contribute into SADC policy development, roll out, monitoring and evaluation. Ironically, there are no clear systematic mechanisms providing for NSAs’ engagement within the SADC structures and processes despite existence of SADC institutions. The coming in of the AfCFTA agreement sought to create a single African market thereby creating opportunities for NSAs. To date no noticeable increase in Africa intra-trade has been recorded. The study therefore, examines the perspectives on engagement of Non-State-Actors in the context of Regional Integration focusing on SADC region. The findings show that state actors are not involving non-state actors as they discuss regional economic integration agreements. The researcher recommends that valuable additions to regional economic integration and strengthening should be premised on an environment where policies and regulations are formulated from a consultative and inclusivity of NSAs. It is concluded that, when NSAs explore regional markets or create regional value chains, they facilitate regional economic integration from the bottom-up approach through their activities.
Keywords:
Regional Integration, Non-State-Actors, Southern Africa Development Community, Africa Continental Free Trade Area
References:
1) African Development Bank. (2019). Africa’s Digital Economy poised to explode as regional integration opens new markets. https://www.afdb.org/fr/news-and-events/africas-digital-economy-poised-to-explode-asregional-integration-opens-new-markets-192722) African Union. (2018) Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area: https://www.tralac.org/documents/resources/african-union/1964-agreement-establishing-the-afcftaconsolidated-text-signed-21-march-2018-1/file.html
3) Alliance for Affordable Internet. (2019). Regional Snapshot: Africa’ Affordability Report 2019. https://1e8q3q16vyc81g8l3h3md6q5f5e-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wpcontent/uploads/2019/12/AR2019_Africa-Regional_Screen_AW.pdf
4) AUC Directorate of Information and Communication. (2017).Harnessing the Demographic Dividend Through African Union. (2021).CFTA-Continental Free Trade Area. Available at https://au.int/en/ti/cfta/about
5) Bhekinkosi Moyo. (2007).Civil society organisations’ engagement with Regional Economic Communities in Africa. Available at (http://www. bhekinkosimoyo.com/downloads/civil_society_ organisations_engagement_with_regional_ economic_communities_in_africa.pdf)
6) Ochanda, Loise Asewe. (2013). The role of non state actors in public policy formulation inpp Kenya: The case of national disaster risk reduction Policy. Available at https://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/14306
7) SADC. (2018).Presentation on the State of Play for SADC’s Engagement with NSAs. ACPEU Regional Seminar: Windhoek, 8 November 2018. Available at https://www.eesc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/files/ presentation_by_the_sadc_secretariat.pptx
8) World Bank Group. (2020). The African Continental Free Trade AREA economic and distributional Effects. Available at https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/ bitstream/hand le/10986/34139/9781464815591.pdf
9) SADC secretariat (2018). Presentation on the State of Play for SADC’s Engagement with NSAs. ACPEU Regional Seminar: Windhoek, 8 November 2018. Available at (https://www.eesc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/files/presentation_by_the_sadc_ secretariat.pptx)
10) Investments in Youth. AU ECHO https://au.int/sites/default/files/documents/32665-doc-au-echo-magazine2017-23june17-1.pdf
11) Badiane, O., Odjo, P. S., & Collins, J. (2018). Africa Agriculture Trade Monitor Report 2018. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute.
12) Brookings Institute (2020). Bolstering Africa's Role in the Global Economy: The Importance of Regional Integration. Foresight Africa. https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/ForesightAfrica2020_ Chapter6_20200110.pdf
13) Broll Property Group. (2017). ‘Barriers to Entry in African Retail Markets’, Broll https://www.broll.com/news/barriers-to-entry-in-african-retail-markets/
14) Coulibaly, Brahima Sangafowa, Gandhi, Dhruv, and Mbaye, Ahmadou Aly. (). Job creation for youth in Africa: Assessing the employment intensity of industries without smokestacks. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/2019/12/16/job-creation-for-youth-in-africa-assessing-theemployment-intensity-of-industries-without-smokestacks/.
15) Digest Africa. (2019). These Are the 12 Most Funded Startups in Kenya. https://digestafrica.com/mostfunded-startups-kenya
16) European Centre for Development Policy Management.(2020). The African Continental Free Trade Area: From agreement to impact. ECDPM Great Insights Vol. 9, Issue 1 (2020).
17) Goedde, Lutz, Ooko-Ombaka, Amandla, and Gillian Pais (2019). Winning in Africa’s agricultural market,’
18) McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/agriculture/our-insights/winning-in-africasagricultural-market#
19) Hope, A. (2019). Improving Access to Finance through Fintech. Tralac. https://www.tralac.org/documents/events/tralac/2743-tralac-brief-improving-access-to-finance-throughfintech-march-2019/file.html
20) Idemudia, E. and Boehnke, K. (2020). ‘Patterns and Current Trends in African Migration to Europe. In
21) Psychosocial Experiences of African Migrants in Six European Countries: A Mixed Method Study. Social Indicators Research Series, vol. 81. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48347-0_2
22) International Labour Organization.(2019).Advancing Social Justice: Shaping the future of work in Africa. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/-- relconf/documents/meetingdocument/wcms_728052.pdf
23) Kingsley Ighobor. (2020). Digital Trade in the Next Big Thing in Africa. Africa Renewal. https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/july-2020/digital-trade-next-big-thing-africa
24) Lungu, Ioana (2019). A Fresh Chance for Africa’s Youth: Labour Market Effects of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), GIZ-AU Briefing Paper, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Bonn, Germany.
25) Mutsa Chironga, Hilary De Grandis and Yassir Zouaoui. (2017). ‘Mobile financial services in Africa: Winning the battle for the customer’, McKinsey & Company https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financialservices/our-insights/mobile-financial-services-in-africa-winning-the-battle-for-the-customer
26) Ntirenganya, Emmanuel. (2020). How Africa can move from net food importer to exporter. The New Times, https://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/how-africa-can-move-net-food-importer-exporter
27) Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. ‘How Good is Your Job? Measuring and Assessing Job Quality,’ OECD http://www.oecd.org/sdd/labour-stats/Job-quality-OECD.pdf
28) Ogo I. (2020). An Agenda for the AfCFTA Protocol on E-Commerce. Tralac. https://www.tralac.org/blog/article/14692-an-agenda-for-the-afcfta-protocol-on-e-commerce.html
29) Onaleye, T. (2020). ‘Kenya Leads Africa’s Mobile Money Revolution with M-PESA Dominating over 98% of its Market’. https://technext.ng/2020/07/06/kenya-leads-africas-mobile-money-revolution-with-m-pesadominating-over-98-of-its-market/
30) Oxford Business Group. (2020). Benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement. The Report: Côte d’Ivoire 2020. https://oxfordbusinessgroup.com/analysis/game-changer-new-trade-deal-laysgroundwork-acceleration-integration-and-intra-0
31) PricewaterhouseCooper, ‘Assessing current market conditions and business growth prospects’, PwC Nigeria SME Survey. Nigeria SME survey (pwc.com)
32) Plecher, H. (2020). ‘Lesotho: Youth unemployment rate from 1999 to 2020,’ Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/812179/youth-unemployment-rate-in-lesotho/
33) Plecher, H. (2020). ‘Swaziland: Youth unemployment rate from 1999 to 2020,’ Statista 13 October 2020. https://www.statista.com/statistics/813070/youth-unemployment-rate-in-swaziland/
34) Brookings.https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/2018/09/20/figures-of-the-week-africas-growingyouth-population-and-human-capital-investments/
35) Saygili, M., Peter, R., & Knebel, G. (2018). African Continental Free Trade Area: Challenges and Oppportunies of Tariff Reductions. UNCTAD; SER.RP/2017/15/Rev.j
36) United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. (2019). African youths, an asset for their countries. UNECA. https://uneca.org/storys/african-youths-asset-their-countries
37) United Nations International Organization for Migration (2020). World Migration Report 2020. https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/wmr_2020.pdf
38) United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. (2018). AFRICAN CONTINENTAL FREE TRADE AREA: Policy and Negotiation Options for Trade in Goods. UNCTAD
39) United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. (2019). Made in Africa: Rules of origin for enhanced intra African trade. UNCTAD Economic Development in Africa Report. New York and Geneva, UNCTAD.
40) Opportunites for Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship: Understanding the African Continental Free Trade Area 26
41) United Nations Development Programme. (2020). The Futures Report: Making the AfCFTA Work for Women and Youth. New York: UNDP.
42) World Bank. (2020). The African Continental Free Trade Area: Economic and Distributional Effects.
43) Washington, DC: World Bank. https://doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-1559-1.
44) World Economic Forum (2017). The Africa Competitiveness Report 2017. World Economic Forum, Geneva. https://www.weforum.org/reports/africa-competitiveness-report-2017 World Internet Stats. (2020) Internet Users for Africa. https://internetworldstats.com/stats1.htm
45) Yasmin Ismail. (2020).‘Mobilising E-Commerce for Development in Africa through AfCFTA. CUTS International, Geneva. http://www.cuts-geneva.org/pdf/eAfCFTA-Study-E-Commerce_in_the_AfCFTA.pdf