Enhancing Angola’s productive capacities: EU-UNCTAD Joint Programme for Angola: TRAINFORTRADE II
Table of contents
UNCTAD strengthening productive capacities in a project with Angola
Angola’s graduation challenges lie in building economic resilience to external shocks and climate related vulnerabilities1. To address these, UNCTAD has been supporting Angola in building institutional capacities to foster economic diversification through the EU-UNCTAD Joint Programme of Angola: TRAINFORTRADE II (2017-2023), a capacity building programme offering representatives of public, private and academic sectors in Angola an opportunity to draw on best practices, explore new opportunities to diversify activities and craft more sustainable ways to harness Angola’s economic potential -—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—-. The programme’s holistic approach consists of seven components that address the main constraints to social and economic growth in Angola: transport and logistics, creative economy, EmpretecEmpretec is a Spanish acronym which blends “emprendedores” (entrepreneurs) and “tecnología” (technology). The term was introduced in Argentina in 1988., commercial diplomacy, trade facilitation, Investment, green exports (see figure 1).
Source: -—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—-
Successfully addressing the related challenges will significantly enhance progress in achieving the SDGsSustainable Development Goal, particularly as far as Goals 1 (no hunger), 4 (quality education), 8 (decent work and economic growth), 9 (industry innovation and infrastructure), 10 (recued inequalities), 11 (sustainable cities and communities), 12 (responsible consumption and production), 14 (life below water), 15 (life on land), 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions), and 17 (partnerships for the goals) are concerned.
The objective of the EU-UNCTAD Joint Programme for Angola: TRAINFORTRADE II is to improve human and institutional capacities to foster appropriate economic diversification policies and to help the country build a more resilient economy capable of eradicating poverty. In sum, it aims to support building and enhancing Angola’s productive capacitiesUNCTAD defines productive capacities as consisting of the productive resources, entrepreneurial capabilities and production linkages that together determine a country’s ability to produce goods and services that will help it grow and develop -—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—-, which will facilitate an accelerated path to sustainable development.
UNCTAD's interventions focus on key challenges, previously identified by the government of Angola, that undermine efforts to achieve accelerated, inclusive and sustainable economic growth and development. The key areas identified are:
(a) Trade policy and negotiations
(b) Trade facilitation
(c) Transport and trade logistics
(d) SMESmall- and medium-sized enterprise development
(e) Investment
(f) Scoping non-oil trade opportunities and diversification (including in selected agricultural products and creative industries)
(g) Holistic support to the creative economy.
The above activities were designed to enhance the economic strengths of Angola and help the government address the vulnerabilities by building productive capacityUNCTAD defines productive capacities as consisting of the productive resources, entrepreneurial capabilities and production linkages that together determine a country’s ability to produce goods and services that will help it grow and develop -—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—- (see Box 1).
Angola is an LDCLeast developed country, a designation created by the United Nations in 1971 -—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—- to depict those countries with particular development challenges due to their low level of development, who also require particular attention and support. Angola’s development trajectory in recent years has had its ups and downs. The country’s economic growth averaged an impressive 4.6 per cent between 2010 and 2015, with a negative trend between 2016 and 2020, averaging -1.94 per cent due to the combination of the COVID-19COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by the strain of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 discovered in December 2019. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses which may cause illness in animals or humans. In humans, several coronaviruses are known to cause respiratory infections ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The most recently discovered coronavirus causes coronavirus disease COVID-19 -—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—-. pandemicCommonly described by the WHO as ‘the worldwide spread of a new disease’, no strict definition is provided. In 2009, they set out the basic requirements for a pandemic: • New virus emerges in humans
• Minimal or no population immunity
• Causes serious illness; high morbidity/mortality
• Spreads easily from person to person
• Global outbreak of disease.
The US Centre for Disease Control uses a similar approach, but with a reduced set of criteria. It is very difficult to gauge whether the spread of a disease should be termed an outbreak, epidemic or pandemic. In other words, when to declare a pandemic isn’t a black and white decision -—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—-. and depressed global demand for commodities, especially oil, the country’s dominant export item. Angola is the second largest African exporter of oil after Nigeria -—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—-. In 2019, Angola’s GDPGross domestic product (GDP) is an aggregate measure of production, income and expenditure of an economy. As a production measure, it represents the gross value added, i.e., the output net of intermediate consumption, achieved by all resident units engaged in production, plus any taxes less subsidies on products not included in the value of output. As an income measure, it represents the sum of primary incomes (gross wages and entrepreneurial income) distributed by resident producers, plus taxes less subsidies on production and imports. As an expenditure measure, it depicts the sum of expenditure on final consumption, gross capital formation (i.e., investment, changes in inventories, and acquisitions less disposals of valuables) and exports after deduction of imports -—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—-. reached US$89.4 billion which put it in the top-five economies in sub-Saharan Africa -—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—-.
Structurally, Angola’s economy is extractive-industry led: in 2019, 7 per cent of GDP came from agriculture, 52 per cent from industry, including oil (down to 47 per cent in 2020) and 41 per cent from services -—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—-. In terms of employment, the share of agriculture is more than 55 per cent, up from 44 per cent in 2014, followed by the services sector (38 per cent) and the remaining in industry and mining -—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—-. Angola’s export structure is overwhelmingly dominated by fuel, which accounted for 92 per cent of exports in 2020. Ores and metal exports contribute another four per cent, making the Angolan economy almost entirely dependent on extractive exports. The export concentration indexThis index measures, for each product, the degree of export market concentration by country of origin. It tells us if a large share of commodity exports is accounted for by a small number of countries or, on the contrary, if exports are well distributed among many countries. The index ranges from 0 to 1 with higher values indicating more market concentration -—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—-. for Angola, at above 0.8, is thus the highest among developing countries, demonstrating excessive dependence on a single export item -—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—--—
– ‒
- –
—-.
Angola was initially scheduled to graduate from the LDC category in 2018, having been found eligible for graduation during the 2012 and 2015 triennial reviews. However, a long-running recession since 2016 has muddled the country’s graduation path. Another date was set for 2021. However, the country was granted an additional 3-year preparatory period due to the devastating health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is now scheduled to graduate in 2024.
1900 people trained on enhancing economic strength of Angola in 2021 and 2022
There were a number of activities carried out from April 2021 to February 2022 in support of enhancing Angola’s capacities aimed at sustainable development. By the end of February 2022, the programme had built the capacities of 1 864 individuals. Out of these, 48 per cent came from the public sector, taking the number of government officials trained through the programme to 901 individuals. The share of private sector participants was 41 per cent (769 individuals).
Source: UNCTAD TRAINFORTRADE II: Angola
The female participation rate of 29.3 per cent lagged behind the programme’s target of 40 per cent. These shares are the result of several workshops with particularly heavy male participation due to the nature of the sectors involved. UNCTAD is making continuous efforts to improve the situation. The measures include highlighting the need to consider gender balance when making government nominations to training events; the requirement is not only included in concept notes and letters communicating on the matter with the government, but the issue is also brought up in discussions with the government when the nomination process is ongoing. These approaches have borne fruit, as the female share of government participants increasingly adheres to the target. A further challenge remains in some parts of private sector participation, particularly in provincial activities. UNCTAD has made efforts to boost female participation among private sector actors by actively identifying – through research and contacts – female producers, farmers and entrepreneurs in different areas. UNCTAD’s strategy to attract private sector female participants in the future will continue to rely on the active identification of female participants corresponding to the expected profile, in partnership with local institutions and partners. Further, specific calls for participation targeting women will be implemented. Dedicated support and incentives enabling female participation will also be employed, such as identification and organization of meeting facilities with internet connection for hybrid meetings, with the provision of internet credit and transport support to the participants.
Another overall target relates to persons trained as trainers. 60 persons were trained as trainers, which exceeded the lower threshold of the overall programme target of 50–80 persons. The share of female trainers trained reached 38.3 per cent.
The majority of participants, over three quarters, attended one training; 12 per cent of participants attended two trainings, below five per cent three, and 3.7 per cent four trainings – see figure 3.
Source: UNCTAD TRAINFORTRADE II: Angola
Capacity development events in seven main components
Several capacity development events took place within the TRAINFORTRADE II Programme in seven components: National Green Export Review, Trade Policy, Trade Facilitation, Trade Logistics, Investment Policy Review, Entrepreneurship Policy, Empretec and Creative Economy (see table 1). Under the National Green Export Review component, 506 participants (103 of whom were female), including also participants from academia and NGOs, were trained through six training events. The trainings included fully-fledged multi-day in-person events and technical webinars. One of the in-person trainings focused on the honey sector. Furthermore, the component trained 30 persons as trainers, out of which 24 were trained as trainers in honey sector development in collaboration with the University José Eduardo dos Santos of Huambo.
Government officials also increased their knowledge and capacity in Trade Policy formulation through eight trainings and capacity building events with a total of 234 individuals (90 females), the majority of them (205 individuals) from the public sector. 83 individuals (26 females) also benefitted from capacity building through the Trade Facilitation component. Four fully-fledged training events were held by the component on Trade Logistics, building capacities of altogether 267 participants, of whom 72 were female. In July 2021, two webinars on PPPsPublic Private Partnerships for Logistics hubs in Angola were organized, with 146 people taking part (35 females).
The Investment Policy Review has organized eight training sessions since the start of implementation, of which four took place between April 2021 and February 2022. Through its training events, the component has so far built the capacities of 109 participants (45 female), most of them representing the public sector (78).
A number of government officials were trained by UNCTAD on Entrepreneurship Policy, while private sector representatives were trained through the hands-on entrepreneurship training programme. The total number of beneficiaries trained by the Empretec component reached 723 individuals (240 females), of whom 423 came from the private sector and 227 from the public sector. Out of the 423 private sector representatives trained (135 females), 354 individuals were trained through the fully-fledged six-day in-person Entrepreneurship Training Workshops, while others participated in discussions and workshops related to entrepreneurship policy as well as provincial workshops. Out of these 354 individuals, 96 underwent training delivered independently by national trainers.
Until February 2022, altogether 132 individuals (32 females) were trained through the Creative Economy component. Out of these, 71 came from the public sector and 44 from the private sector.
| Component | Number of participants | Share of women |
|---|---|---|
| National Green Export Review | 506 | 20.4% |
| Trade Policy | 234 | 38.5% |
| Trade Facilitation | 83 | 31.3% |
| Trade Logistics | 267 | 27.0% |
| Investment Policy Review | 109 | 41.3% |
| Empretec | 723 | 33.2% |
| Creative Economy | 132 | 24.2% |
Note: The period covered is from April 2021 to February 2022. Some participants participated in more than one training event.
With close to four years of active implementation of the programme, TRAINFORTRADE II has been highly successful. The programme achieved important results and milestones through the coordinated action of UNCTAD and the institutions within the Angolan Government, with the coordinating and facilitating role of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, as well as the financial support and technical partnership of the European Union. High-level participation from sectoral ministries and the active engagement of the EUEuropean Union Delegation in Luanda has provided further impetus for strong institutional engagement and direction for the effective implementation of areas identified for intervention. The programme has demonstrated its effectiveness through value for money, which is highest not only in terms of achieving concrete results, but also in sustaining programme-interventions for a relatively long period of time as well as in terms of progress in the sustainability and national ownership of the action.
Notes
- Related information can be found at the website of High-level mission to Angola and Graduation with Momentum Workshop here: https://unctad.org/fr/node/37030
References
Donec tincidunt vel mauris a dignissim. Curabitur sodales nunc id vestibulum tempor. Nunc tortor orci, sodales nec eros eget.
Donec tincidunt vel mauris a dignissim. Curabitur sodales nunc id vestibulum tempor. Nunc tortor orci, sodales nec eros eget.
Donec tincidunt vel mauris a dignissim. Curabitur sodales nunc id vestibulum tempor. Nunc tortor orci, sodales nec eros eget.
Donec tincidunt vel mauris a dignissim. Curabitur sodales nunc id vestibulum tempor. Nunc tortor orci, sodales nec eros eget.
Donec tincidunt vel mauris a dignissim. Curabitur sodales nunc id vestibulum tempor. Nunc tortor orci, sodales nec eros eget.
