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21st May 2015
Maseru, 21 May 2015 – the UNDP Lesotho hosted a high
level public-private policy dialogue, aimed at
facilitating effective private sector engagement and
capacity building that would foster greater
collaboration and alliances with government and other
stakeholders. This was a high-level meeting attended
by the leaders in government, private sector,
development partners and the UN agencies. The
meeting was officially opened by the UNDP Resident Representative, UN Resident Coordinator
Ms. Karla Hershey, who indicated that this initiative represents the UNDP strategy to engage the
private sector for a meaningful contribution to sustainable and inclusive social and economic
development in Lesotho. In her opening remarks, she emphasised that with knowledge and
innovations for development, there is a bigger role for private sector in development also in the
framework of the new Post 2015 development agenda.
In his keynote address, the Minister of Trade and Industry and Senator Mr.
Joshua Setipa acknowledged that that employment was one of the major
economic challenges facing Lesotho, and called on for stronger partnerships
between government and private sector to address national economic
challenges, and to ensure effective Post 2015 era. The Minister reiterated the
government’s commitment to introduce smart incentives, and to maintain a
predictable and transparent political and policy environment to spur private
sector investment and innovations for development.
The Minister concluded that the policy
dialogue provided an opportunity to
benchmark, and facilitate development of
a meaningful economic framework. He
reiterated the Government’s
commitment to promoting innovation
and incentives for increased private
sector leadership and participation in
employment creation and economic
growth.
Pic 1. Some of the representatives of the development partners and private sector, attending the meeting
The meeting was attended by representatives from the private sector, media, academia,
development partners, NGOs and government. The discussions were led by presentations from
UNDP experts Ms Pascale Bonzom and Mr Marc Lepage, from UNDP Africa Regional Bureau. At
the end of the meeting, participants agreed that it was necessary to establish a sustainable
mechanism for engagement and dialogue; UNDP will continue to work with private sector
networks, and relevant institutions to shape a participatory and inclusive process. A resulting
policy brief outlining action points, feedback mechanisms and recommendations will be issued
by end of June 2015. Presentations for all the sessions can be found here.
Pic 2. Participating private sector, academics and small producers
“Our education system needs to reflect the
economic and industrial priorities, that will meet
the economic aspirations of the country….the
private sector has a role, to drive policy vacuum,
and do business differently”, said Mr. Joshua
Setipa, Minister of Trade and Industry
The program for the Dialogue was divided into five (5) sessions, arranged as follows:
Session 1. Keynote Reflections. As a baseline to the dialogue, UNDP consultant, Dr
Maluke Letete presented key findings and recommendations excerpts from the UNDP
study on Structural transformation for employment creation (2014). This was
expected to provide evidence on the economic challenges regarding growth and
unemployment, as well as a synopsis on potential growth nodes and trajectory with
private sector participation.
Session 2. Role of private sector in fostering inclusive growth and promoting employment creation. The session was opened by a review of inclusive business models,
experiences and best practices, based on the UNDP publication on ‘Realizing Africa’s
Wealth; Building inclusive businesses for shared prosperity’, presented by Ms Pascale
Bonzom, from UNDP - AFIM, Addis Ababa. In this presentation, Ms Bonzom
demonstrated the potential impact of inclusive businesses and value chains on economic
growth, sharing experiences relating to private sector engagement in development goals.
To share the Lesotho perspective, the Private Sector Foundation, represented by Mr
Thabo Qhesi, indicated that Lesotho while Lesotho’s has widely untapped value chains
across priority sectors, there were also limited opportunities and incentives to promote
entrepreneurship, and encourage inclusive businesses with private sector. He presented
that compared to peers in the region, Lesotho seemed to be trailing behind Botswana,
Swaziland and Malawi on key business and private sector indicators.
Ms Mazvi Maharasoa, indicated that the need for increased coordination and measured
CSRI among private sector stakeholders.
Session 3. Innovations and skills development. The session reviewed the notion of a
mismatch between skills and requirements of the private sector, to assess contribution
that the academia can make in promoting innovation and employment creating
opportunities among the graduates. The National University of Lesotho and
Limkonkwing University of Technology, both presented ongoing initiatives aimed at
promoting innovation and market relevance. It was mentioned in both that there are
already ongoing initiatives with the private sector to that expose academics, students and
institutions to promote integration between the private sector
Mr Marc Lepage, UNDP Knowledge Management Specialist, provided thought-leadership
on innovation perspectives within UNDP and relevance and best practices in social
entrepreneurship in the context of Lesotho. His presentation reflected …..
Session 4. Financing innovation for economic impact. Access to finance is considered
as one of the major constraints to MSME development, and integrally restraining
innovations for employment creation. Ms Pascale Bonzom, made another presentation on
modern financing techniques used to convert private sector philanthropy into investment
and financing for new opportunities. Existing initiatives, under LNDC, and Maluti
Mountain, KickStart brewery were presented expose. This concluded the technical
meeting for the policy dialogue.
Session 5. Drawing lessons and way forward for private policy dialogues. Way forward and future of Lesotho Public-Private Partnerships Policy dialogue the last.
Drawing from experiences of the Lesotho Revenue Authority, Private Sector Foundation
and the World Bank Private Sector Competitiveness project, the meeting was called to
address the question of sustainability, establishment of a sustainable mechanism for
engagement.
Key discussions and action points raised by the meeting
Category Issue Proposed action to respond
to/address the issue
Responsible entity Timelines
1. Inclusive business, policy and regulations
1. Monitoring and
Evaluation
Lack of mechanisms to report
on performance of national
programs/policies like poverty
reduction initiatives etc
strengthen mechanisms for review,
monitoring and evaluation, of national
policy frameworks such as PRSP, NSDP,
Vision 2020
Capacity building for media practitioners
to promote a transformative,
development-focused and positive
reporting
2. Trade facilitation Poor indicators for doing
business, Lesotho is behind
other countries regarding
construction, access to credit
as an example
Promote actions that facilitate improved
ranking based on the indicators
Ministry of Trade &
Industry
GoL
Constraints relating to
movement of goods and
services at the border gate
establishment of a one-stop facilitation
at the border gate
3. Access to finance Lack of innovative financing
models outside the credit
guarantee schemes
Review the credit guarantee schemes, for
relevance and fit for private sector
development
Facilitate and encourage participation of
other financial institutions such as
insurance, investment houses
Category Issue Proposed action to respond
to/address the issue
Responsible entity Timelines
4. Budget vs
decentralisation
The government budgeting
process/priorities are
inconsistent to the local needs
Promote an inclusive budgeting process,
that ensures participation at local level
GoL
2. Addressing skills deficit and private sector needs
Research and
development
Development of a research and
development culture within
the academia
Cooperation with private sector for R&D;
funding for R&D
Policy framework to advance R&D
Academia, Private
Sector
youth Youth issues to be addressed
by government and not only
Academia
review the government youth policy and
proposed/ongoing programs to be more
consistent to the current environment
Ministry of Gender and
Youth
education Curriculum not relevant to the
Lesotho economy
promote an inclusive education system
that enables integration between the
private sector and the learning
environment
Promote innovation and incentives for
private sector participation in academic
sector
Encourage vocational and technical
training as an alternative for skills
acquisition and employability
Tertiary Institutions
3. Coordination and Effective Dialogues
chambers/dialogue Lack of Public-Private
Engagement mechanisms at local
Promote an inclusive dialogue at
national and local levels
Category Issue Proposed action to respond
to/address the issue
Responsible entity Timelines
Build capacity of private sector
associations to function and run at their
full capacities and provide incentives for
membership
A highly fragmented private
sector
Facilitate a mechanism for establishment
of an apex body for private sector,
inclusive of all sectors
Organise a mechanism for SMME
coordination and engagement, which
will also facilitate development of local
value chains and linkages.
4. SMME Development and Training
SMME Development Many and duplicative SMME
training programs that are
never evaluated, for impact,
causing stakeholder fatigue
and demotivation
Review SMME training programs,
establish a monitoring and evaluation
mechanism for the sector
Develop a coordination and evaluation
process for SMME training programs t
includes all involved sector
SMME capacity building programs to
include all doing business requirements
incl. labour, tax, registration
Ms Mazvi Maharasoa, of Letseng Diamonds. She
says CSRI is evolving, from being just an act of
charity, to being more focused on value and
impact of investment. She says creating for
meaningful participation, there is need to create
sustainable partnerships, invest in existing
stability, and ensure ownership of strategies.
Mr Robert Likhang (BEDCO), says lack of
coordination for entrepreneurship programs,
results in low impact. According to him,
institutions are only strong to the extent that
they are exploited. BEDCO remains the sole
institution to support entrepreneurship
programs.
Ms Pascale Bonzom, UNDP – AFIM,
Specialist on Inclusive Businesses, Addis
Mr Marc Lepage, UNDP Knowledge and
Innovation Specialist, Addis
Mr Thabo Qhesi, Private Sectro
Foundation. He says Lesotho has to
promote incentives for youth
entrepreneurship, on review against its
peers, Lesotho is lagging on doing business
indicators.