by David Gonzalez
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) continues to evolve from a coordinating body the original Southern African Development Coordinating Conference (SADCC) — into a tool for integrating a southern African community of nations.
This process takes place in a rapidly evolving regional scenario, when many member countries are undergoing dramatic changes that exert on pressure for institutional modifications within SADC itself. Participants to the Community Building Workshop for SADC’s Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Sector (FANR), held in Harare late last year, had their hands full when discussing topics related to institutional arrangements and coordination.
SADC’s Council of Ministers had instructed the Secretariat — the coordinator/implementer of goals between meetings of Heads of State or Ministers — to undertake a study of the coordinating structures to be adopted under the SADC Treaty. The Harare workshop thus explored institutional alternatives to pursue integration efforts in the FANR sector.
FANR comprises eight sub-sectors — crops and livestock, land and water resources, and natural resources such as forestry, marine and inland fisheries and wildlife. It also deals with activities such as food production, agriculture and natural resource exploitation, agri-business, transport and trade. Areas such as water, the environment and food security cut across all of these sub-sectors, and impact the work of other SADC sectors.
Since the new “community mentality” takes times to consolidate, the workshop stressed the need to extend its spirit beyond conferences and meetings, to everyday planning in each country. Alternative frameworks were sought to promote the new way of thinking and acting, facilitating effective integration.
After five days of debate, a five-point strategy emerged to address problems, constraints and opportunities over the next five years. The first suggestion was to put in place efficient national and regional institutional frameworks for this sector.
When discussing strategies, institutions and mechanisms, debates often touched on the issue of if and how Sector Coordinating Units (SCUs) — described as “the nerve centre of SADC activity” — should be restructured. SCUs were commended as the best form of institutionalization, but changing their culture and modus operandi was considered imperative.
Several participants thought that some countries entrusted with coordinating tasks on FANR issues had not effectively delivered, because the coordinating staff was appointed by member countries and therefore they were not accountable to the Secretariat. Others added that, since the mandate to coordinate was placed at country level, tasks sometimes did not permeate the lower levels of administration.
There is also the problem of overlap. Crops (60-70 percent of agricultural production in the region) are being dealt with by various bodies, including an SCU for Food Security. There were calls to define the structure of the FANR sector in a clearer way, and to upgrade communication links among all these instances.
The third point taken up in the proposed strategy had to do with the need to more effectively attract the private sector, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOS), and individuals to be integrated as partners into the work of the FANR sector.
To implement many of its programmes, SADC relies heavily on donor funding. Participants called for SADC institutions to change from a supply-driven attitude to a demand-driven one. Capacity building and sustainability — and the role that non-government stakeholders could play in the achievement of these goals — were discussed. Building internal capacity was termed “a critical success factor.”
There were suggestions to change institutions to attract non-government participation in programmes, and into country and regional committees. It was argued that civil society is vital to integration and must be effectively sensitized on community-building. But this necessitates the decentralization of institutions, one participant pointed out.
Another major issue emerging from discussions was the lack of a legal framework linking SCUs to the Secretariat. It was suggested that the integration and coordination of activities between the SADC Secretariat and the SCUs required the signing of a protocol.
The last point of the strategy proposed by the workshop had to do with sustain ability. Participants advised that the structure of the sector be made more efficient and effective, while investing SADC funds to make the organization’s programmes self-sustainable. They argued in favour of a revision of the countries’ contribution formula, to make it more balanced and to induce member countries to pay their dues, together with the promotion of contributions by stakeholders.
After establishing their strategic goals, participants reviewed strategy requiring coordination among countries when dealing with the sector: policy, training and research, capacity building, programme and project development, the movement of goods and services, information policy and flows, development and resource mobilisation. Contrasting these activities against the areas in which the FANR sector operates, alternatives were proposed to restructure the present coordinating institutions within the sector.
Several participants strongly argued that regional macro-economic policies require carefully conceived regional institutions, a more intense and beneficial information exchange and dissemination, and an increase of the policy analysis capacities in each unit. As the organization grows — several speakers argued — the need to harmonize policies, and to quickly assess the impact of policies implemented by one sector on another sector is crucial.
Two areas — water and food production — received special attention, because of recurrent droughts affecting the region and the fact that these matters are dealt with in various SCUs. It was also agreed that environmental and land matters cut across every SADC sector, so even if their programmes remain at sectoral level, monitoring should be assigned to a higher level.
The workshop did not make a specific recommendation on new coordinating structures for the FANR sector. However, discussions clarified the issues and proposed alternative strategies, opening the way to pursue this topic in the future, in a broader discussion encompassing other SADC sectors. (SARDC)
