In 2005, the Small Enterprise Development Agency (seda) - the dti's newly established agency for supporting small business - tasked TIPS to carry out a second annual review of South Africa's small businesses as part of its mandate to support the growth of small enterprise in South Africa, to help…

In 2004, TIPS also undertook a study to document public sector support to the small enterprise sector over the last decade for the dti. The Review documents 10 years of evolution of the dti's small enterprise support programmes and its overall strategy, leading to the current 'Integrated Strategy for Small-Enterprise…

TradeInvestSA - 8 January 2008

One of the major talking points around the EPAs is that negotiations have greatly undermined regional integration initiatives in Eastern and Southern African and elsewhere. The State of Doha Round - It has been more than six years since the Doha Development Round of World Trade Organisation (WTO) was launched at the Fourth Ministerial Conference (1). The agenda initiated negotiations on agriculture and services. The Fifth Ministerial Conference was supposed to be a review where members would agree on how to complete the rest of the negotiations, but progress was hindered by disputes on agricultural issues and ended in deadlock on the new generation issues

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The Development Dialogue Seminar series is a new Seminar Series hosted by TIPS and the Commark Trust. The Seminars will generally be held in the afternoon of the last Friday of the month, and will start at 14h00 and conclude at 15h30 though discussions can continue after 15h30. However, for…

The 2007 Annual Report of the Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (AsgiSA) identified a need to focus on what was then called ‘the second economy’, and on mechanisms to ensure shared growth reaches the margins of the economy. It was in this context that the Second Economy Strategy Project was initiated. It reported to the AsgiSA High Level Task Team in the Presidency, but was located outside government, in TIPS Phase One was to review the performance of existing government programmes targeting the second economy. This was completed in easry 2008. The project commissioned research and engaged with…

A new programme, the 2nd Economy Strategy Project has been added to the website. The purpose of this project is to contribute to reducing poverty and inequality in South Africa by supporting the government to develop a Strategy for the Second Economy, as part of its Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (Asgi-SA), located in the Presidency. Asgi-SA'™s target is to halve poverty and unemployment in SA by 2014. Find out more here.

The Community Work Programme (CWP) is a South African government programme that provides an employment safety net. It supplements livelihood strategies by providing a basic level of income security through work. The programme was started to address high unemployment and contributes to strategic goals of government in addressing poverty and unemployment. It is based on the recognition that policies to address unemployment and create decent work will take time to reach people living in marginalised areas with few opportunities. The CWP does not replace government’s social grants programme but supplements it. The programme is targeted at unemployed and underemployed women and…

The South African Institute of International Affairs and The International Institute for Sustainable Development cordially invites you to a Roundtable discussion on: Trade and Sustainable Development: Regional Trade and Investment Regimes The interface between trade and environmental impacts has long been a topic of heated debates. �Â� As sustainable development…

The Southern African Development Research Network (SADRN) is a new regional initiative funded by Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and managed by Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS). SADRN's objective is the co-ordination and delivery of policy-relevant research in the southern and eastern African region, as well the provision of related technical support to policy-makers. Its launch workshop in October 2007 was attended by more than a dozen regional economic and research institutions.

SADRN will capitalise on existing networks in the region and operate through annual rounds of stakeholder consultation, as well as workshops and seminars. Research efforts are focussed within three broad thematic areas identified as key at the Launch Workshop:

• Industrial policy and sector development at the regional level;
• Service sector development and the impact on poverty; and
• Trade policy and its linkages to pro-poor growth.

Implementation of these research themes will provide an opportunity to bring the regional and relevant global research communities together to engage in an ongoing policy debate and development process. This process will also involve institutional capacity-building and institutional strengthening in the region. In addition, the Network aims to provide an effective channel for training and dissemination of research and policy activities. The envisaged outputs of the Network in the medium term are as follows:

• Increase the supply of policy-relevant research in the SADC region;
• Improve the policy relevance of research through strengthening the capacity of policy-makers to be discerning research '˜users';
• Develop an appreciation for evidence-based policy-making by engaging policy-makers in the design, specification, implementation and review of research projects; and
• Build institutional capacity in key policy research institutes in SADC via the creation of Working Groups in focused thematic areas of research.

SADRN is therefore inviting interested regional institutions to submit Expressions of Interest to host one of the themes described above for a minimum of two years. The scope of activities in the specified thematic area shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

• Conduct policy-relevant research in the selected thematic area;
• Identify existing research and knowledge gaps;
• Conduct training courses, seminars and workshops;
• Maintain consistent communication and network with regional policy-makers on the subject;
• Create, maintain and update a database of existing information on institutions, available research and expertise in the region;
• Disseminate the outputs and outcomes of all activities; and
• Involve and develop younger researchers and provide mentoring support of a technical nature.

We invite interested institutions from Southern Africa, including research organisations and relevant university departments, to submit brief technical and financial proposals by Friday 29 February 2008. Further information may be obtained from Mmatlou Kalaba - e-mail: mmatlou@tips.org.za, tel: 012 431 7900 or fax: 012 431 7910.

Multiple Crops and Local Distribution Models for Poverty Alleviation: Feasibility and Recommendations Co-ordinator: Tracy van der Heidjen (independent consultant: ComMark): Tracy holds an Honours degree in Economics and Law from Wits. She has 7 years economic research experience in banking (at the Treasury) and stock broking, and 5 years in…

The New EPAs - Comparative Analysis of Contents & Challenges of 2008 Co-ordinator: Mareike Meyn (ODI, UK): Mareike is a research officer at the International Economic Development Group of ODI. She has recently worked on South,South trade in Special Products and on assessments of the loss by Botswana and Namibia…

FDI, Firms and Domestic Linkages: Reflecting on SADC through Case Studies Co-ordinator: Glen Robbins is a part-time Researcher at the School of Development Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal and freelance consultant specialising in regional and local economic development, with a focus on regional and city economic development strategies, infrastructure planning and…

28 January 2008

The inconclusive economic partnership agreement (EPA) of 2007 has had to give way for other trade-related topics as developing countries having other challenges to face. EPAs have always been associated with additional confusion beyond multiple memberships. Implementation of the regional integration in Southern Africa in conjunction with the EPAs was always going be complicated from a developing country view and there are still concerns that EPAs will undermine regional integration initiatives. Read more...

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14 February 2008

In his State of the Nation address in February 2007, President Thabo Mbeki announced some stimulus towards the industrial policy strategy totalling over R7-billion in tax incentives and support. This was followed by some details in the Budget Speech provided by Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel in the subsequent week. Read more...

A Review of South Africa's Industrial Policy Co-ordinator: Stephen Hanival is the Director of TIPS. He holds an MSc Degree in Economics from the University of London and an undergraduate degree from the University of Cape Town. He was previously the Chief Director: Services Sectors and the Director of Policy…

In March 2008, members of the TIPS team, Myriam Velia and Ximena Gonzalez-Nu�Ã�ƒ�Â�±ez, provided a series of training sessions in Antananarivo, Madagascar to participants from a wide range of backgrounds - government and customs officials, industry representatives and statistical employees. The course, which largely followed the programme and objectives of…

Reducing Exchange Rate Volatility and Supporting Competitiveness Co-ordinators Prof. Dr. E. Schaling Prof. Dr. E. Schaling studied macroeconomics at the Faculty of Economic and Business Administration at Tilburg University, the Netherlands, currently Europe's number one faculty in terms of research output. After obtaining his doctorate at the same university with…

Presenter:  Victor Tokman is an economic advisor to the President of Chile, based in Santiago. He has a doctorate degree in economics from Oxford University, an MA in Development Studies from the University of Chile and a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) degree from the University of Rosario in Argentina. He…

The 2008 Forum was held in partnership with the Western Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism and The Competitiveness Institute (TCI). TCI's Conference was entitled: Clusters Meeting the Challenge of Globalisation The full conference programme can be found at: http://www.sbs.co.za/tci2008 Forum Theme: After a number of years of strong economic…

First international conference on regional integration issues and SADC law Premi�Ã�ƒ�Â�©re conf�Ã�ƒ�Â�©rence internationale sur les questions de l'int�Ã�ƒ�Â�©gration r�Ã�ƒ�Â�©gionale et le droit de la SADC Centro internacional de confr�Ã�ƒ�Â�©ncia Joaquim Chissano. Universidade Eduardo Mondlane