With support from USAID, Reconstructed Living Labs (RLabs) provides Youth Cafes within communities for co-creation, hackathons, open design, events, co-working desks, research and development and social innovation activities.

USAID Southern Africa Regional

USAID Southern Africa Regional Economic Growth programs aim to promote sustainable economic growth in targeted areas by improving agricultural productivity, increasing trade, integrating climate change into policy and decision making, and ensuring sound management of transboundary natural resources.

The Regional Portfolio supports programming across the 15 Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries in economic growth.  These programs contribute to U.S. Presidential Initiatives in Feed the Future, Trade Africa, Power and Trade Africa (PATA), the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and Global Climate Change (GCC), and work to advance trade, regional food security, and clean energy programs.  

In response to the food insecurity situation in Southern Africa, the U.S. Government’s Feed the Future regional program supports regional and country-led agricultural development plans to improve agricultural productivity and expand markets and trade. These efforts are intended to achieve inclusive agriculture sector growth and regional integration and contribute to reducing poverty and hunger.

To achieve this, development efforts therefore need to focus on developing the agricultural sector, fostering intra-regional trade, and boosting private and public investment in the region. An increase in agricultural productivity, coupled with expanding intra-regional trade, will lead to sustained economic growth in SADC Member States, and will ultimately result in improved food and nutrition security as well as poverty reduction. USAID supports initiatives that address common constraints to trade and improve the investment environment to support trade competitiveness. For more information, please visit: the President’s Feed the Future (FTF) and Global Climate Change (GCC).

Additionally, we work closely with partners to implement activities that promote increased trade. USAID’s Trade and Investment Hubs are designed to reinforce regional and bilateral efforts to strengthen Africa's economic competitiveness and assist countries to take greater advantage of the trade opportunities provided by the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and other global trade initiatives. The Trade and Investment Hub programs include trade capacity building, improvements to the private sector enabling environment, better market access and opportunities, trade facilitation, food security programs, and export promotion support for African products. For more information, please visit: Southern Africa Trade Hub.

Learn more 

The IGD U.S. roadshow tour, “Africa Investment Rising: Building Momentum for Investing in Africa’s Economic Prosperity”, will kick off on April 18-May 1, to showcase the tremendous trade and investment potential in Africa and to build stronger U.S. and African business connections in key growth sectors.

Regional Economic Growth Program