Lesotho Boosts MSME Export Prospects with UN‑Backed B2B Market Linkage Drive

Moroni hosted the launch of the RESIslands Project, a three‑year programme funded by the Green Climate Fund and run by the UN Economic Commission for Africa. The initiative aims to give nine African island states – from Comoros and Madagascar to Seychelles and Zanzibar – the tools to map climate threats, build disaster‑response capacity and write winning climate‑finance proposals. <br /> <br /> The project tackles rising sea levels, coastal erosion and more intense storms that are already squeezing water supplies, food security and marine ecosystems on these low‑lying nations. By training local experts, filling data gaps and creating a regional knowledge hub, RESIslands hopes to turn climate risk assessments into concrete actions and attract international funding. <br /> <br /> Key partners include the African Island States Climate Commission, national climate focal points and civil‑society groups. In the first six months, a steering committee will set priorities, identify technical shortfalls and start a rollout of training programmes. The broader goal is to strengthen the Commission’s voice in global climate talks and ensure that island states can compete for the same climate‑finance streams as larger countries. <br /> <br /> Comoros, which chaired the African Union in 2023 and hosted the “Blue Future” conference, sees the project as a way to cement its leadership on ocean and climate issues. If the grant delivers on its promise, the participating islands could see faster, better‑targeted climate investments and a more coordinated regional response to disasters, reducing vulnerability and supporting sustainable development.

Addis Ababa will host the 36th African Hydro Symposium from Nov. 3‑6, drawing 150‑180 delegates from across Africa, Asia and Europe. The four‑day gathering will roll out the African Energy Security Policy Framework – a joint effort by the African Union Commission, the UN Economic Commission for Africa, AUDA‑NEPAD and the African Renewable Energy Centre – and seal a new memorandum of understanding between the AU (via AFREC) and the Kafue Gorge Regional Training Centre. The pact sets up a long‑term cooperation hub for training, curriculum development, renewable‑energy skills, joint events and knowledge sharing. <br /> <br /> The symposium’s theme, “Climate‑Resilient Hydropower and Water‑Energy Security in Africa,” reflects a push to lock in reliable power while buffering the continent against climate shocks. Side events, including a high‑profile Grand Inga session, will showcase projects that blend hydropower with emerging renewables. Organisers say the forum will help utilities, developers, financiers and researchers swap practical lessons, attract investment and fast‑track capacity building. <br /> <br /> Co‑hosted by Zambia’s Kafue Gorge Regional Training Centre and China’s International Centre for Small Hydropower, the event underscores a growing multi‑regional partnership around Africa’s water‑energy future. By linking policy, technical training and financing under one roof, the symposium aims to tighten Africa’s energy supply chain, lower power‑outage risks and create jobs in the green sector. Registration opens now via the official link.

Yaoundé, 9 Oct 2026 – Diplomats from Cameroon, the Central African Republic and other states gathered with UN‑ECA officials to demand that national leaders take charge of the continent’s “Decade of Economic Diversification.” Chaired by Cameroon’s economy minister Paul Tasong, the dialogue highlighted ECA’s Sub‑regional Office work in green finance, labour mobility, AfCFTA corridors, free mobile roaming and mining‑sector human‑rights standards. Ambassadors praised the office’s 2026 support to governments, regional blocs and private firms, and pledged to carry its recommendations to ministries and parliaments.  ECA director Jean‑Luc Mastaki said the meeting will help align technical advice with country priorities, while CAR envoy Jeanne Gotchanga called the partnership “essential” for turning analysis into action.  The gathering also revived calls to revive the Business Climate Observatory under CEMAC’s reform programme and to expand the Sustainable Health Financing Initiative, linking health budgets to broader economic goals.  By urging stronger political ownership, the diplomats hope to accelerate reforms that broaden revenue bases, attract private investment and reduce reliance on extractive industries.  The consensus was clear: technical expertise alone won’t move the needle; ministries must champion and implement the reforms on the ground.

At the United Nations General Assembly’s 81st session, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) pressed African leaders and global financiers to turn the continent’s savings and natural wealth into factories, jobs and power grids. Executive Secretary Claver Gatete, speaking at a roundtable hosted by the Africa Finance Corporation, warned that high borrowing costs, restrictive regulations and crumbling infrastructure are choking investment. He urged free movement of goods, cross‑border trade reforms – citing Kenya‑Uganda successes – and a surge in domestic‑savings‑driven financing.<br /> <br /> The commission highlighted the untapped critical‑minerals sector, urging processing plants to stay on‑shore and linking them to new energy, rail and port projects. A joint session with the Milken Institute explored how international investors can fund mineral‑value‑chain development, while the launch of the Global Grids Accelerator showcased regional power‑pool plans to lower electricity costs and boost industrial output under the African Continental Free Trade Area.<br /> <br /> Bilateral talks with Botswana’s president and the Central African Republic’s economy minister focused on fiscal discipline, debt management and digital‑jobs programmes such as Botswana’s SmartBots. Gatete also tied the UN’s Pact for the Future to Africa’s Agenda 2063, stressing that concrete financing, debt relief and stronger representation in global institutions are essential for delivery.<br /> <br /> The ECA’s agenda wrapped up with a meeting on the upcoming Africa Credit Rating Agency and a high‑level gathering of the Global Africa Business Initiative, where UN Deputy Secretary‑General Amina Mohammed and AU leaders pledged coordinated support for sovereign credit ratings and sustainable health financing. The push signals a coordinated drive to lower capital costs, retain mineral value locally and build the infrastructure needed for a more resilient African economy.

At a high‑level gathering in New York, Economic Commission for Africa Executive Secretary Claver Gatete warned that the Pact for the Future – a 56‑point agenda adopted in 2024 – must move from paper to projects that actually create jobs and growth. He urged African governments to line the Pact up with the African Union’s Agenda 2063, the UN Sustainable Development Goals and their own national budgets, then identify financing gaps and launch investable programmes. Gatete highlighted three priorities: aligning the Pact with existing plans, unlocking money for infrastructure and jobs, and building a dashboard that tracks outcomes such as new jobs, lower business costs and better connectivity. He pointed out that Africa’s tax‑to‑GDP ratio sits at just 16 %, far below the EU’s 34 %, and called for stronger domestic revenue mobilisation, crackdowns on illicit flows and a louder African voice in global finance, tax and technology rules. Leaders from Namibia, Kenya, Senegal, Uganda and others echoed the message, noting progress but stressing that implementation still lags behind ambition. The ECA will keep working with the African Union, the African Development Bank and other partners to shape concrete, fundable projects before the Pact’s next review in 2028. The push signals a shift from lofty pledges toward measurable, financed actions that could reshape Africa’s development trajectory.

From October 28‑30, Freetown will host the 29th session of the UN Economic Commission for Africa’s Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts for West Africa. The hybrid meeting, co‑organized with Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, will bring senior officials from all 15 West African states, plus regional bodies, donors, private firms and civil‑society groups. Their mandate: turn a region where 61% of the population is under 25 into a driver of inclusive growth.<br /> <br /> Delegates will tackle the structural bottlenecks that keep youth in low‑skill, informal jobs – limited diversification, weak industrial base, skills gaps and exposure to external shocks. The agenda spotlights four pillars: expanding youth employment, broadening economic sectors, building human‑capital pipelines and boosting resilience. Participants will debate how industrial policy, regional value chains, digitalisation, innovation and the African Continental Free Trade Area can accelerate transformation.<br /> <br /> The committee will also review the West Africa sub‑regional office’s work plan and share best‑practice case studies. By the close of the session, officials aim to draft concrete policy recommendations for the 2027 African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development meeting, targeting specific programmes to harness the demographic dividend.<br /> <br /> While the gathering itself does not guarantee immediate job creation, it signals coordinated regional effort and international backing to address youth unemployment – a key factor in social stability and long‑term economic health for West Africa.

The UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) kicked off a five‑day mission in Freetown on Oct. 12 to help Sierra Leone tighten its health budget. The visit is part of the Transforming Health Financing in Africa programme, which aims to turn the continent’s new Tangier Declaration into real‑world action. The declaration, signed by African finance and health ministers in April, urges countries to raise domestic money for health, cut out‑of‑pocket costs for patients and lock finance ministries into health planning.<br /> <br /> ECA’s chief of staff, Aboubakri Diaw, said the team will bring data‑driven diagnostics and technical advice to support the government’s National Health Sector Strategic Plan 2026‑2030, the rollout of the Sierra Leone Social Health Insurance scheme (SLeSHI) and the creation of a new Agency for Universal Health Coverage. Over the week, officials from the ministries of health and finance, the national statistics office and the social security trust will meet with ECA experts to turn analysis into a concrete programme.<br /> <br /> Sierra Leone is already moving ahead on health reform, but the UN’s backing is meant to keep momentum, ensure policies match local realities and protect families from catastrophic health bills. The initiative also links Sierra Leone with peers such as Togo, Ethiopia, Botswana and Guinea, all working to treat health spending as an investment rather than a cost. If the technical support translates into stronger domestic funding, the country could see better access to care, lower poverty linked to illness and a more resilient health system.<br /> <br /> The partnership signals a shift toward sustainable, locally financed health services across Africa, with the UN providing the analytical muscle while governments retain ownership.

Government officials, UN agencies and poverty experts wrapped up a three‑day interregional workshop in Addis Ababa on Oct. 7‑9, aiming to turn multidimensional poverty data into concrete social‑protection reforms. Co‑hosted by the UN Economic Commission for Africa, DESA, ESCWA and ESCAP, with technical help from the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, the meeting gathered representatives from dozens of member states.<br /> <br /> Delegates stressed that fragmented programmes waste resources and leave the most vulnerable—women, youth, migrants, people with disabilities, the elderly and informal workers—exposed during crises. They called for tighter coordination between data producers and policy makers so that poverty metrics can directly shape eligibility rules, benefit design and monitoring.<br /> <br /> Key sessions examined digital social registries, data governance and diagnostic tools that flag gaps before shocks hit. Financing talks explored sustainable funding models, from domestic revenue streams to blended public‑private partnerships, to keep programmes afloat when economies wobble.<br /> <br /> The workshop’s headline output was a joint review of the new "Guidelines for Operationalizing the Multidimensional Poverty Index for Adaptive Social Protection," a framework that helps countries target aid more precisely, link cash transfers to skills training and connect benefits with livelihood opportunities.<br /> <br /> In closing, ECA’s Zuzana Schwidrowski warned that the "missing middle"—households that slip through poverty‑targeted aid yet lack formal insurance—needs deliberate attention. She urged policymakers to pair income support with job services, asset building and climate‑resilience measures.<br /> <br /> All partners pledged ongoing technical assistance, capacity‑building and regional exchange to turn the workshop’s recommendations into action, hoping to close coverage gaps and build social‑protection systems that can weather future shocks.

A four‑day workshop in Ziguinchor wrapped up on Oct. 2, bringing together regional officials, business leaders, UN agencies and civil‑society groups to shape a new development plan for Senegal’s so‑called Pôle‑Sud. The area – covering 28,430 km² and home to over two million people – currently delivers just 9% of the country’s GDP despite accounting for 14.5% of its land. <br /> <br /> The African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP), working with the Ministry’s Directorate General of Planning and Economic Policies, used the session to tighten baseline data, map local constraints and pinpoint growth sectors such as agriculture, agro‑industry, logistics and tourism. <br /> <br /> Under the national Vision 2050 and the Diomaye Plan for Casamance, the government aims to lift per‑capita income in the South Pole to 1.8 million CFA francs and push employment to 40% by 2050. <br /> <br /> Key take‑aways include a push for better road and rail links, incentives for private investment, and a framework that ties the three regions – Ziguinchor, Kolda and Sédhiou – into a single economic corridor. <br /> <br /> “Decentralising policy is no longer a technical option; it’s a strategic imperative,” said Souleymane Diallo, the director of planning. <br /> <br /> The workshop produced a joint roadmap that will feed into the next phase of Senegal’s National Development Strategy (2025‑2029). If implemented, the plan could narrow the gap between the South Pole’s size and its economic output, offering a model for other African regions seeking balanced growth.