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.