On the 3 September 2023, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat in collaboration with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ), through the Support to Industrialisation and Productive Sectors (SIPS) Programme hosted the SADC SIPS Programme Grants Side Event ‘information sharing and best practice’ Workshop in Durban, the Republic of South Africa. The workshop drew delegates from the SADC Secretariat, GIZ, Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Southern Africa Network for Biosciences (SANBio), Harare Institute of Technology (HIT), University of Eswatini (UNESWA), Mitch Investments and Solidaridad.
The aim of the workshop was to get an update on the three grant projects supported under SIPS in the Antiretroviral (ARV) and Leather value chains. The ARV Value chain projects are, operating in Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, and Zimbabwe whilst the Leather value chain project is operating in the United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe. The workshop also provided a platform for project partners to share their experiences, information on issues related to the development of Antiretroviral and Leather value chain and SME developments as well as Intellectual property rights.
The SADC Secretariat and the GIZ are jointly implementing the five-year (2019 – 2024), SIPS Programme with support from the European Union under the 11th European Development Fund to the tune of €18 million, with an additional €2.8 million made available by the Germany Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, through GIZ to accelerate the SADC regional industrialization agenda by supporting regional value chain development in the agro-processing and pharmaceutical value chains.
Welcoming the delegates to the workshop, Ms. Thato Morokong, Acting Deputy Director at the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) in the Ministry of Higher Education, South Africa underscored the importance of the theme of the Bio Africa Convention ambit titled: Re-imagining biotechnology innovation for Africa's Development and security.
Currently, the DSI is implementing the 10-year innovation plan on science, technology and innovation that stresses the role of agriculture as well as health, specifically bio-innovation and biotechnology, deployment and utilization of pharmaceutical products and indigenous knowledge systems.
Ms. Morokong congratulated the projects that have been successful in getting support under the SIPS programme, specifically:
the CSIR, SANBio, HIT and UNESWA colleagues on their collaborative project titled: Application of indigenous knowledge for the development and production of remedies to manage HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe and Eswatini.
MITCH Investments project titled: Development of an integrated electronic application for HIV and AIDS treatment guidelines to optimise treatment outcomes and improve regulatory and supply chain process in Malawi and Lesotho.
And lastly Solidaridad Project titled: Promoting a Competitive, Inclusive and Sustainable Leather Sector
Ms. Anneline Morgan, Senior Officer for Science, Technology and Innovation at the SADC Secretariat outlined the objectives of the SIPS programme and their focus on the SADC value chains.
The overall objective of SIPS is to contribute to the SADC industrialisation and regional integration agenda, particularly focusing on improving the performance and growth of selected regional value chains and related services within the agro-processing and pharmaceutical sectors, she said.
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