The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat, supported by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ), conducted a training workshop for Central Medical Stores (CMS) officials from Member States in Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania, from 20th – 23rd March 2023.
The workshop trained procurement personnel on good governance, procurement mechanisms, supply chain and performance management, as part of the implementation of the Joint Action Support towards Industrialisation and Productive Sectors (SIPS).
Along with the training, CMS officials were updated on the progress of the SADC Pooled Procurement Services (SPPS). Officials visited the Medical Stores Department (MSD) in Dar es Salaam.
The training and workshop were based on the notion that the procurement process is a critical function of CMS that shapes the connection between private sector pharmaceutical manufacturers' involvement in the public market. Some essential tasks that ensure efficiency in the pharmaceutical procurement process include forecasting, quantification, supply planning, tender adjudication, supply performance system, engagement, and quality assurance.
The SADC Secretariat recognises opportunities to increase market efficiencies through regional approaches to procurement, one of them being pooled procurement. The operationalisation of the SPPS has the potential to yield significant gains in the form of cost savings, sustainability, and overall health outcomes of the population, stemming from the coordinated collective bargaining power of SADC Member States.
SADC Acting Director for Industrial Development and Trade, Mr Calicious Tutalife, said the regional bloc has made great strides in improving its economic and social development since the inception of the SIPS programme in 2019, assisting the Region in implementing the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap adopted in 2015. Speaking exclusively with The Citizen, a Tanzanian newspaper, Mr Tutalife said these strides include enhancing the regulatory and policy environment within Member States as well as more capacity building to the Member States on understanding their participation.
“To enhance participation in value chains, we have to look at capacitating Member States to understand where opportunities are so that not all Member States end up focusing in one area. You have to understand where advantages and opportunities are within a specific value chain. We have also looked at issues of intellectual property rights,” he said.
Mr Tutalife said it is expected that targeting these value chains at regional level will encourage SADC Member States to address obstacles to regional integration, as well as assist the private sector to upgrade production processes in view of industrialisation.
GIZ’s team leader of the project, Dr Jan Peter Böttcher, said the agency has been coordinating several supporting initiatives such as capacity building trainings to Member States and local manufacturers.
“We have a different set of trainings for companies: on business, on good manufacturing, and on the regulatory environment. We have direct support in product development and last, but not least, we were looking into skills development. And we were also looking into how we can support innovative manufacturing,” said Dr Böttcher.
With regards to how Member States can support and promote the efforts on fostering industrialisation, the Deputy Head of Cooperation at the European Union Delegation to SADC, Mr Jose Becerra-Marta, said that it is essential that solutions come from the local levels in Member States.
“It's important that they are engaged, and they come up with these solutions not only to come up with these solutions, but implement these solutions afterwards. This is key in the EU system and explains its success” he said.
Tanzania has also made major developments in terms of its manufacturing sector, as the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) reports that it has the second fastest growth rate in credit, behind agriculture.
The sector’s exports value has also improved significantly to US$1.45 billion in the year ending January 2023, from US$1.21 billion during the same period in 2022, and US$902.4 million that was recorded in 2021.
About the Joint Action SIPS:
Funded by the EU and the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by SADC Secretariat and GIZ, the SIPS Programme aims to boost the Region's manufacturing sector, create jobs and, ultimately, reduce poverty. The focus is on the pharmaceutical and the agro-processing value chains.
With a budget of more than €20 million, the Joint Action SIPS seeks to foster self-reliant economies, decrease import dependency and build regional resilience. The action broadly focuses on the agro-processing and pharmaceutical sectors in the SADC region. The aim is to address policy, regulatory and business environment constraints and enhance the private sector's participation in developing the leather, medical, and pharmaceutical value chains. These value chains were selected for their potential to broaden the region’s industrial base and their job creation potential. Targeting them at the regional level will encourage SADC Member States to address obstacles to regional integration and motivate the private sector to upgrade production processes. Improving value chains is a key driver of the SADC regional industrialisation strategy 2015-2063 and the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan 2020-2030.
For more information, please contact:
Mr. Noel Lihiku, Program Officer Industrial Clusters, SADC Secretariat on Email: nlihiku@sadc.int
Mr. Daniel Peña-Ortiz, Communications Officer, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH Tel: (+267) 722 65784 on Email daniel.pena@giz.de
