Strengthening Trade for the Informal Vendors in Namibia

Innovation methods

Data sources

SDG(s)

Sustainable Development Goal(s)

8Decent work and economic growth

10Reduced innequalities

16Peace, justice and strong institutions

Disclaimer:

Please be aware that the content herein has not been peer reviewed. It consists of personal reflections, insights, and learnings of the contributor(s). It may not be exhaustive, nor does it aim to be authoritative knowledge.

Title

Please provide a name for your action learning plan.

Strengthening Trade and Supply chain for the Informal Vendors across Zambia and Namibia for the AfCFTA

Challenge statement

Challenge type: If you are working on multiple challenges, please indicate if this is your "big bet" or "exploratory" challenge. Please note: we ask you to only submit a maximum of 3 challenges - 1x Big Bet, 2x Exploratory. Each challenge must be submitted individually.

EXPLORATORY

Challenge statement: What is your challenge? (Please answer in specific terms: "Our challenge is that...”.)

Our challenge is that informal vendors need to be included as part of the economy that would respect their need to continue to trade across borders in ways that affirm their livelihoods and promote new approaches towards using digital to trade efficiently, effectively while addressing their pain points.

Background: What is the history of your challenge? What is causing or driving it? Who is involved? How does the current situation look like? What undesired effects does it produce?

Government, while having a pro-poor policy does not address the unique context and challenges of the informal economy. There is a need to understand the ecosystem and utilize digitalization as an enabler.

Quantitative evidence: What (official) data sources do you have on this challenge that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge? You can add text, a link, or a picture.

Informal Study Report commissioned by UNDP in 2021.

Qualitative evidence: What weak signals have you recently spotted that characterizes its urgency? Please provide qualitative information that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge. You can add text, a link, or a picture.

The size and potential of the informal sector remains unexplored. How might we use data and digitalization to make better and informed choices for the vendors and develop policies that work for them?

N/A

Value proposition: What added value or unique value proposition is your Accelerator Lab bringing to solving this challenge? Why is it your Lab that needs to work on this challenge and not other actors within UNDP, other stakeholders in the country respectively? Why is it worth investing resources to this challenge?

The Lab would be a convenor and use its tools and methods and experiments to unearth challenges that vendors are facing across borders and their goods.

Short “tweet” summary: We would like to tweet what you are working on, can you summarize your challenge in a maximum of 280 characters?

AccLab Namibia and Zambia, cross Lab experiences and adding value to the work of Informality and the role of AfCFTA

Challenge classification

Partners

Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.

Please state the name of the partner:

Namibia Informal Sector Organization (NISO), Ministry of Industrialization and Trade

What sector does our partner belong to?

Government (&related)

Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.

NISO and the Ministry of Industrialization are working with UNDP to design an informal sector policy

Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?

Yes

Learning questions

Learning question: What is your learning question for this challenge? What do you need to know or understand to work on your challenge statement?

How might we use new and unusual data sources on digital trade cross-border traders so that it is of benefit to the stratgies designed by AfCFTA to benefit the informal sector?

To what stage(s) in the learning cycle does your learning question relate?

Test

Usage of methods: Relating to your choice above, how will you use your methods & tools for this learning question? What value do these add in answering your learning question?

We want to understand the pain points, challenges and barriers of how this could inform AfCTA Trade requirements for the informal secotr

Existing data gaps: Relating to your choice above, what existing gaps in data or information do these new sources of data addressing? What value do these add in answering your learning question?

Participatory meetings with the vendors and community in exploring their pain points to connect these to policy makers.

Closing

Early leads to grow: Think about the possible grow phase for this challenge - who might benefit from your work on this challenge or who might be the champions in your country that you should inform or collaborate with early on to help you grow this challenge?

NISO, Informal vendors.

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