Perspectives on Engagement of Non-State-Actors in Regional Integration in SADC Region’s AfCFTA Context

The role of Non-State Actors (NSAs) in the SADC regional integration was approved by the Council of Ministers in 2022. The Council gave the NSAs the mandate to participate in the regional integration agenda and contribute into SADC policy development, roll out, monitoring and evaluation. Ironically, there are no clear systematic mechanisms providing for NSAs’ engagement within the SADC structures and processes despite existence of SADC institutions. The coming in of the AfCFTA agreement sought to create a single African market thereby creating opportunities for NSAs. To date no noticeable increase in Africa intra-trade has been recorded. The study therefore, examines the perspectives on engagement of Non-State-Actors in the context of Regional Integration focusing on SADC region. The findings show that state actors are not involving non-state actors as they discuss regional economic integration agreements. The researcher recommends that valuable additions to regional economic integration and strengthening should be premised on an environment where policies and regulations are formulated from a consultative and inclusivity of NSAs. It is concluded that, when NSAs explore regional markets or create regional value chains, they facilitate regional economic integration from the bottom-up approach through their activities.