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Trans-, Inter and Multidisciplinary (TIM) approach to delivering the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Launch Workshop

01 September 2022

1-2 September 2022

The Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA) in collaboration with the African Union Development Agency – New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD), the UNESCO Chair on Africa Integration and Innovation, and the Institute for Economic Research on Innovation (IERI) at Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) invites you to attend a workshop to launch the HSRC-wide research project on ‘A Trans- Inter, and Multidisciplinary (TIM) approach to delivering the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in collaboration with key national, regional, continental and international organisations’ to be held in Pretoria, at the Premier Hotel Pretoria, 573 Stanza Bopape St, Arcadia, Pretoria, 0028.

The AfCTA is one of the fifteen (15) African Union (AU) flagship programmes of Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want. Through this initiative, the African Union (AU) targets to transform Africa into a global powerhouse over 50 years ending in the year 2063.  In this, the AfCFTA is a development programme aiming to increase the depth and breadth of intra-Africa trade in goods and services made in the continent and thus, boost the trading position of the continent in the global marketplace. Essentially, the AfCFTA is about industrialising the continent- the essence of present-day economic development.

Against a background of past and present largely unsuccessful efforts to economically develop (industrialise) Africa, the proposed project examines the nature and determinants of this development in the context of the recently (2021) launched AfCFTA programme. Noting the diversity of knowledge and expertise to deliver this programme, the project uses a de novo combination of trans-, inter and multidisciplinary (TIM) approaches to enable the formulation of holistic policy and practice advice that neither the trans-, inter nor multidisciplinary approaches would do singularly or dually. This is because the TIM approach moves beyond the boundaries of disciplines by seeking to understand challenges and advance plausible solutions outside the confines of various disciplines and their entrenched views.

This workshop/project launch meeting will focus on presenting project streams focusing on delivering intra-Africa cross-border linkages in manufactures and services. Broadly the four project streams are: (i) an investigation of the various means of enhancing the breadth and depth of the current and potential backward and forward manufacturing and service linkages in the agriculture industry value chains in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, (ii) research seeking to develop and apply an integrated approach to the understanding and evaluation of systems of innovation in Africa to assist the continent to accelerate its (sustainable) development objectives, (iii) an interrogation of  Africa’s health system with a broad objective of championing a fundamental reshaping of Africa’s health security through advancing novel rationales and models that add to efforts seeking to sustainably develop the continent’s pharmaceutical industry and health systems capabilities, and (iv) an interrogation of national and regional business cultures as determinants of developing and expanding regional business linkages

The workshop organisers seek both theoretical and empirical research inputs on the four presented project streams as contributors to the AfCFTA initiative. Contributions to each project stream may apply lenses that include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • FDI and critical success factors for integration into African value chains
  • Infrastructure for an economically integrating Africa
  • Research and Innovation measurement and policies in Africa for accelerated industrialisation
  • Changes in national sovereignty, economic integration and macroeconomic convergence
  • Business culture as a critical ingredient of economic integration in Africa
  • Political to economically integrate Africa through Trade: policy perspective
  • Innovation for inclusive development and innovation systems for an economical integrating Africa

Organizing Committee:

Prof Charles Hongoro

Prof Mario Scerri

Dr Vuyo Mjimba

Ms. Felicity Aphiwe Mkhongi

Ms. Elsie Maritz

Scientific Committee

  • TUT/EIRI
  • UNESCO Chair on Africa Integration and Innovation
  • AUDA-NEPAD (AfCFTA, Centre of Excellence on Science, Technology and Innovation, ASTII Advisory Group & Scientific Committee, Policy Bridge Tank Technical Advisory Group)

•      HSRC

RSVP indicating your attendance as either virtual or physical through the link by 12:00 CAT  30 August 2022


Workshop Programme