Kimera Henry Richard from CONSENT speaking at the 7up3 launch conference

7Up3 Project

Promoting effective markets in Eastern and Southern Africa through competition policy and law

Background

CUTS' '7Up' research and advocacy projects focus on the challenges facing Southern countries in developing an adequate competition policy. After the successful implementation of the first stage in seven countries (hence the name): Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India, the 7Up model has been extended to different regions of the world. 7Up2 takes place in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

7Up3 is supported by the Norwegian Development Agency (NORAD), and UK Department for International Development (DfID).

Concept

Launched in March 2005, 7Up3 takes the regional approach of 7Up2 further and focus on the competition regimes in seven countries in Eastern and Southern Africa, namely: Botswana, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia and Uganda.

The national markets in this region are integrated through three regional bodies, COMESA, SADC and EAC. These bodies have all recognised the severe consequences of irregular competition practice and are in the process of developing a regional legal framework. Most of the countries in the region, however, have not yet developed sufficient competition laws at the national level. Without this, the implementation of an effective regional framework will face significant obstacles. 7Up3 will address the urgent need for evolving competition regimes through guided research and capacity building among state as well as non-state actors.

Expected outcomes

The project runs from January 2005 to December 2006. The outcome will be country reports and accompanying advocacy documents, which will be used to support comprehensive advocacy initiatives to strengthen national and regional competition regulatory legislation; and for extensive capacity building among various stakeholders: NGOs, academics, regulators, business, local and national government officials and the media.

Expected project outputs are:

Research Report on Competition Regime (for each of the 7 project countries)
Synthesis Report: comparative analysis of 7 country reports
Country Advocacy Programme: taking the learnings from the project forward
Network of stakeholders, connected with the international community of experts and practitioners on competition and regulation for information exchange and cross-fertilisation.

The country research partners

Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis (BIDPA), Botswana

Aha Ethiopian Consumer Protection Association (AHaECoPA), Ethiopia

Centre for Social Research (CSR), Malawi

Faculty of Social Studies and Humanities (FSSH), Mauritius University, Mauritius

Alberto Bila, University Eduardo Mondlane, Mozambique

Faculty of Economics (FoE), University Eduardo Mondlane,

Namibia Economic Policy Research Unit (NEPRU), Namibia

Consumer Education Trust (CONSENT), Uganda

The country advocacy partners

Botswana Council of Non-Governmental Organisations (BOCONGO), Botswana

Aha Ethiopian Consumer Protection Association (AHaECoPA), Ethiopia

Malawi Economic Justice Network (MEJN), Malawi

Institute for Consumer Protection (ICP), Mauritius

Consumer Protection Association of Mozambique (ADECOM)