by Virginia Kapembeza
Although information exchange has been identified as crucial to capacity-building within SADC sectors, Language barriers, lack of skills, financial resources and inadequate technology are hampering information flow.
The Sector Coordinator of the Maputo-based SADC Culture and Information Sector. Renato Matusse, believes there are still a number of problems as information sharing in the region is not quite so easy.
The sector is the main instrument of mobilising people to be involved in the propagation of ideas and information about the Community. Its development programmes and the role they can play. The activities of the sector are also to enhance the cultural dimension of development.
In an interview held during the SADC Annual Consultative Conference in Midrand, South Africa recently.
Matusse said there is a potential for private sector investment in information technology. He said there is need to look carefully into the issue of sustainability when talking about the role of his sector in regional integration and cooperation matters. The sector is trying to “mobilise and manage concerns that are sustainable and self-generating although we realise that it is important for us to get as much coverage of our activities as possible”.
Matusse said dissemination of information through electronic mail (E-mail) is very important as it eventually is cheaper and much more efficient. This however has financial and technological implications for member states who have to improve telecommunications services but “all countries are aware of the importance of improved telecommunications”.
On culture, the sector coordinator said that preparations for the Theatre Festival planned for October in Mozambique are quite advanced and a national preparatory committee has been set up. The festival will be held in Mozambique and is the second in a series of SADC Festivals of Arts and Culture to be hosted by different member states over four years.
The first was the Music Festival in Harare last year which brought together talented musicians from the region. The festivals are aimed at bringing people in the region together to share experiences relevant to their artform and to instil in them the objectives of the Community.
Matusse said last year’s SADC Music Festival and the thriving craft industry in the region have shown that if properly harnessed and financial resources given. this sector would be an investment which can get quick returns.
The Culture and Information Sector has secured funding for a study of its policies, priorities and strategies and this should begin soon.
The SADC Sector on Food Agriculture and Natural Resources (FANR), which cuts across eight other SADC sectors also urged information exchange at a five-day workshop it organized late last year.
The workshop, held in Harare, featured group discussions on the importance of information exchange between various interest groups and stakeholders in development. Discussion also focused on how information could be used as an empowering tool.
A definition of information was formulated as any message or knowledge necessary for one to make an informed decision regarding choices. Priority issues were identified during a group discussion concerning community participation by non-state stakeholders which fall into two groups: profit-driven and service or voluntary organizations. Non-profit organizations include indigenous and international community-based organizations (CBOs).
Participants said it was important to promote increased participation by the business sector in the FANR issues. “Programme planning and implementation involves two-way consultation, there is a need to coordinate relations between all stakeholders to avoid duplication especially at the regional level,” said one participant.
It was recommended that member states share information on safety nets. A way of ensuring this would be for SADC members to be legally bound to release information of regional importance in the interest of integration and building the community.
A suggestion was made to sensitize the media about SADC and provide them access to SADC officials as sources for their stories. Also key to improving participation, is the need for greater access to information and for better qualified media practitioners to convey accurate information to various target groups.
One media consultant said the role of the media in the development of any community is interlocked with issues of democracy and respect for human rights which should thus be ensured. The consultant said the media ought to be made part of the decision-making process not only in member states but within SADC organs in the interests of development.
SADC seeks to involve grassroots people in policy issues and included non-state stakeholders in the Annual Consultative Conference whose theme was Trade and Investment. Among other ways SADC can improve information flow is through: • improving the base of knowledge about SADC through circulation of information about its aims, activities and achievements; • strengthening capacity within the SADC region to collect, store, retrieve and disseminate information; • exploring new and appropriate information technologies and maintaining a balance in regional and international information exchanges; • improving information flow within and outside southern Africa from a regional perspective in order to enhance the concept of community.
There is consensus within the region that information should be shared on policy between governments and the community. There is also need to have in-built information dissemination within institutions on relevant issues. (SARDC)
