We are pleased to announce that the 2009 African Programme on Rethinking Development Economics (APORDE) will be held in Durban (South Africa) from the 3rd to the 17th of September. Building on the success of the first two editions of APORDE, in 2007 and 2008, we are seeking applications from…

Prof. Robert Z. Lawrence  Recent Trends in International Trade and the Impact of the Financial Crisis on International Trade and the Southern Africa Region. Chair: Alan Hirsch About Prof. Robert Z. Lawrence Professor Robert Lawrence is Professor of International Trade and Investment at John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.…

This paper evaluates the trade, business and investment climate currently in place within the island states of the Western Indian Ocean. Operating on the premise that trade-based globalization poses a considerable challenge to island states' economic stability and prospects for equitable development, this report argues that both state institutions and…

INVITATION TO A PUBLIC DISCUSSION FORUM:  THE IMPACT OF RISING FOOD AND FUEL PRICES ON SMALL BUSINESS Tuesday 3 March 2009, 09:45 to 13:10 The President of the Foundation for African Business and Consumer Services (FABCOS) , Mr Mxolisi Zwane, invites you and representatives of your company/institution to a public…

The focus of this article is on The SADC Trade Protocol aims for liberalization of all trade by 2012. Member countries have agreed to liberalize 85 percent of intra-SADC trade by 2008 and liberalize sensitive products by 2012. The article looks at whether SADC achieved its objectives with relation to liberalization and also tackles…

The Regional Forum on Enhancing Competitiveness in Southern Africa: Roadmap to Success was organised by Southern Africa Global Competitiveness Hub from 9th to 10th of February 2009 in Johannesburg South Africa. It was attended by government officials and members of the business community in the region. There were guests from…

Dr. Neva Makgetla  Moving Away from Resource Dependence. About Dr. Neva Makgetla: Dr Neva Makgetla is lead economist for research and information at the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), which she joined in October 2008. She is seconded part-time as Sector Strategies Co-ordinator for the Presidency. From 2006 to…

The research and policy proposals from the process of reviewing the performance of existing government programmes targeting the second economy and developing an expanded strategy were presented to a 'Work in Progress' workshop in May 2008 and to a conference entitled 'Second Economy Strategy: Addressing Inequality and Economic Marginalisation', held…

Daphney joined TIPS in November 2013. She holds a Diploma in Business Management and Administration and a Diploma in Business Computing. She has 13 years' working experience in administration including project administration and logistics management. Before joining TIPS she was at Cheadle Thompson & Hayom as the project administrator providing support for Land Tenure. She was also with the University of Pretoria Trust as an administrator at the business development unit, responsible for the management and development of new business and administration of the Intellectual Property projects.

The Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis (BIDPA) hosts the thematic research area "Trade Policy and Pro-Poor Growth", under the Southern African Development Research Network (SADRN). SADRN is hosted by the Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS) in South Africa and is funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

The mandate of the network is to ensure that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries have the requisite research and negotiating capacity to enable them to negotiate for a fair share of the benefits of global trade at the WTO and other fora. Specifically, the network has the objective to achieve trade, growth, globalization and poverty reduction through:

• Increasing supply of policy-relevant research in SADC by increasing the pool of suitably-skilled researchers based in institutions in SADC;
• Improving the policy relevance of research by developing the capacity of policy makers to discerning research users;
• Developing an appreciation of evidence-based policy making by engaging policy makers in the design, specification, implementation and review of research projects; and
• Building institutional capacity in key organizations in SADC by creating centers of excellence in focus thematic areas of research.

To meet the SADRN objectives of increasing supply of policy relevant research in SADC, BIDPA, under the auspices of the "Trade Policy and Pro-Poor Growth" theme invites government departments (or government research departments) from SADC Member States to submit proposals to be considered for research on Trade Policy and Pro-Poor Growth.

Submission Instructions

Submit a proposal describing your topic of interest; proposed methodology; motivation for the topic and its potential impact in your respective country (or in the SADC region) and the proposed budget.

Please note that the identified research topic should be in line with the theme and should be of policy relevance to the country concerned.

Guidelines for submission:

Deadline for submission: 24^th April, 2009

Notification of the accepted paper: 4^th May, 2009

• Notification of receipts will be sent to the designated authors soon after receipt of the proposal.

Funding

Funding is available for only one project and as such only one proposal will be selected from the submitted proposals.

For further information regarding the project please contact, Professor Roman Grynberg

BIDPA Thematic Working Group Project Coordinator at rgrynberg@bidpa.bw or ? 3971750 or fax to ? 3971748.

For more general information on SADRN, please see: http://www.tips.org.za/programme/sadrn

This report is based on work undertaken towards developing the urban component of a second economy strategy, as part of the Second Economy Project, an initiative of the Presidency. Within this project Urban LandMark (ULM) was appointed by Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS) to investigate the urban development component…

This report provides an analytical reflection on the provision of infrastructure services in urban areas, with the aim of enhancing the access of the poor in urban areas to these services. It commences by considering what is meant by “access” to services, pointing out that much more is involved than…

South Africa is continuing to urbanise, perhaps not as rapidly as some developing countries but certainly at a rate which has generated a considerable degree of policy anguish over its accompanying rising levels of urban poverty. The Presidency of the Republic of South Africa expressed concern that there is an…

In discussing the relationship between governance and inclusivity this paper’s central argument is that unless there is an ability to build a responsive government at all spheres than there is no connection between the two. The ability of the state to respond to the citizenry requires that it can match…

The aim of the paper is to articulate necessary state interventions to improve transport services for the urban poor in South Africa. The paper forms part of a larger study intended to inform a strategic response to the challenges of the “second economy” in the South African urban areas. The…

CONTEXT This document is a response to the aspiration of National Treasury to define practical mechanisms which will enable emergency relief for informal settlements and associated urban economy interventions to rapidly occur on a national basis. This aspiration flows largely from a draft urban strategy for the second economy formulated…

Unemployment is one of the biggest challenges facing South Africa. Growth has been inadequate, the skills level requirement of new jobs is continually rising, current skills among the workforce are low and inadequate numbers of low end, unskilled jobs are being created. Finding mechanisms to address this challenge is a…

Conceptualising the second economy No detailed process will be followed in order to define the concept second economy’. The Second Economy Strategy Project (2008:2) probably summarises it best: “In sum, the concept of the ‘second economy’ is being used as a metaphor to focus policy attention on continued inequality, disadvantage…