SANF 06 No 37
Southern Africa is set to launch a new partnership initiative from a high-level consultative conference with its International Cooperating Partners (ICPs) and other stakeholders.
The 2006 SADC Consultative Conference on 26-27 April in Namibia will discuss implementation of the regional community’s two development blueprints.
These are the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) and the
Strategic Indicative Plan of the Organ (SIPO) on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation.
The two documents constitute a firm intervention effort that will drive the region’s integration and development agenda over the next 15 years in areas ranging from socio-economic development to defence and security issues.
The operational business plans for implementation are divided into periods of one year, five years and 15 years.
The regional development plans are aligned to the objectives and implementation framework of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
In addition to supporting Member States to achieve national, continental and internationally agreed goals, the implementation of the strategic plans should position SADC as one of the building blocks of the African Union, and a key global player.
The two strategies were adopted by the SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government in 2003 and launched the following year.
The missing link has been the partnership that can drive, sustain and monitor their implementation.
Under the theme, “Partnership for the Implementation of the SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan and the Strategic Indicative Plan of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security”, the Windhoek Conference will do precisely that.
Its goal is to rally a new partnership involving Member States, SADC Secretariat, ICPs, civil society, the private sector, media, parliaments and other organizations, including knowledge institutions.
“The expected significant outcome of the Conference will be an agreement on a SADC/ICP New Partnership,” said Balezi Goalathe, Botswana’s finance minister who is current Chairperson of the SADC Council of Ministers, when he announced the adoption of the conference theme document in February.
The “Windhoek Declaration on a New SADC/ICP Partnership” will be presented for adoption at the conference.
Goalathe said the Conference will review development cooperation between SADC and its ICPs, and determine the way forward in various areas of common interest.
The 2006 Conference has been structured in a way that ensures optimum interaction and exchange of views among delegates.
Discussions will dwell on SADC’s common intervention areas which have been consolidated into sub-themes.
According to the SADC website (www.sadc.int), the sub-themes include Trade, Economic Liberalisation and Development; Infrastructure Support for Regional Integration; Sustainable Food Security; Social and Human Development; Implementation of SIPO, and HIV and AIDS.
Other crosscutting issues are Gender, Statistics, Environment and Sustainable Development, Private Sector Development, and Science and Technology.
Attendance is expected to be high level, attracting ministers from Member States and ICPs, as well as civil society and business leaders from the region.
The coming on board of SADC’s two development plans, which clearly define the regional community’s development aspirations, the SADC Common Agenda, has prompted the need to review development cooperation.
The Windhoek Declaration will specify the roles of key stakeholders in future development cooperation.
The agreement is expected to mandate a SADC/ICPs Joint Task Force, consisting of Member States and ICPs, to undertake follow-up activities in order to realise the objectives of the new partnership.
While there is no doubt about Member States’ commitment to funding the RISDP and SIPO, resource constraints mean that cooperating partners are called upon to play a critical role.
The magnitude of the regional plans is such that more substantive participation by cooperating partners, favouring a programme-wide approach, is needed than before together with improvement in the quality of dialogue.
