Strategy and road map for the industrialization of the SADC region: options opportunities challenges and prospects

Abstract

The member States of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have been pursuing programs to deepen regional integration through creating higher value tradable goods and leveraging their rich natural resource endowment. This is in line with the benefaction and value addition of natural resources thrusts of continental and regional industrialization frameworks as the most sustainable way of raising the standards of living of citizens. The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has been collaborating with SADC in the pursuit of programs aimed at reducing poverty and raising the standard of living of the region’s population. The present paper builds on that effort by examining the implementation of the SADC Industrialization Strategy and Roadmap for the region. The paper examines issues surrounding the implementation of the Strategy and Roadmap and does not concern itself with its possible merits or demerits. In other words, it seeks to answer such questions as the following: Is the Roadmap implementable? What are the preconditions? Are there examples elsewhere in the world that can serve as lessons for this regional initiative? How does the implementation of the Roadmap affect other regional industrial development programs? Are there opportunities arising out of the implementation of the Strategy? What are the challenges? How can these challenges be overcome?