It was agreed that the research approach would analyse the current situation in each sector of the economy by drawing from experiences from Southern Africa, guided by the conceptual syntheses presented in the revised concept paper and alternative framework. Participants also agreed that the analysis would not only focus on the current sectoral situation, but would present what the ideal scenario should be and how to shift from the current state in each sector to what would have been presumed to be the ideal scenario. After the final deliberations on the structure of the holistic approach, the workshop participants proposed and listed a preliminary list of possible researchers that would be engaged under the programme to develop papers on the 12 selected sectors.

The second workshop was held at the Pandhari Lodge in Harare (Zimbabwe) on 9-10 July 2004 and was attended by trade union leaders from the region (then President of ICFTU, Fackson Shamenda; the xiv President of SATUCC, Lucia Matibenga; SATUCC’s Executive Secretary, Moses Kachima; the President of ZiCTU, Lovemore Matombo and the ‘Beyond ESAP’ project advocacy officer, Timothy Kondo); representatives of the ALRN from Southern Africa (Ntwala Mwilima of LaRRI, Ravi Naidoo of NALEDI, Austin Muneku of ZaCTU, Blessing Chiripanhura, Godfrey Kanyenze, Rodney Ndamba and Tendai Makwavarara of LEDRIZ); SEATINI (the late Gregory Peta); the participating progressive intellectuals (Guy Mhone and Yash Tandon); some of the prospective sectoral researchers (John Manyanya – Finance, John Pampallis - Education, Dan Ndlela – Manufacturing, Lloyd Sachikonye – Agriculture, and Richard Saunders - Role of South African Capital in Africa).

At this workshop, the revised concept paper and alternative framework were presented and the participants made further comments and suggestions. A brief outline of the terms of reference and methodology for the prospective researchers present and their sectors were developed and discussed at the workshop. The workshop set end of September 2004 as the deadline for submitting the first drafts of the sectoral papers. On processes like privatisation that are sweeping across the region, it was resolved that there was no need to wait until the end of the studies to start mobilising, but rather this would be done parallel to the research process.