Page 27 - 40th Summit Brochure 2020

VISION 2050 RISDP 2020-30

Compass for SADC strategic direction

SADC HAS devel- development of a long-term vision, which marries the
oped a new 30-year vi- purposes and objectives of the RISDP and the SIPO in
sion that will provide an interrelated and complementary manner.
strategic direction for the region In this regard, an attempt was made to ensure
until 2050 and outline a phased ap- that the Revised RISDP 2015-2020 is an integrated
proach to implementation of regional programmes strategy that captures developmental as well as
and activities. peace and security elements.
The process of formulating the proposed SADC The revised RISDP 2015-2020 was approved in
Vision 2050 and the accompanying Regional Indica- March 2016, and took into account Council’s posi-
tive Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) 2020-2030 tion that the Secretariat ought to frontload industri-
is the culmination of a long and intensive process alisation as the vehicle through which economic
that began in earnest in June 2012. growth and socio-economic development of SADC
The decision to develop the SADC Vision 2050 was would be achieved.
approved during an extraordinary Summit of the The Council of Ministers further directed the Sec-
SADC Heads of State and Government held in June retariat in August 2018 to align the SADC Vision
2012 in Luanda, Angola. 2050 to the African Union Agenda 2063 and resolved
The summit decided that the Vision 2050 should
24 be predicated upon the existing SADC vision, which that the Strategic Plan 2020-2030 should be termed
the RISDP 2020-2030.
is that “of a common future in a regional community In February 2019 the Secretariat commissioned
that will ensure economic well-being, improvement consultants to review the RISDP 2015-2020, as well
of the standards of living and quality of life, freedom as the SIPO.
and social justice, and peace and security for the The review found that much progress had been
people of Southern Africa”. made in the implementation of the RISDP, although
The summit made proposals for strengthening this was uneven within the different areas.
SADC foundations by taking into account the im- It was noted that there had been progress in de-
portance of emerging regional and international is- veloping the Industrialisation Strategy and
sues. This was expected to summarize the SADC Roadmap and in market integration to some extent.
development question within a longer-term frame- However, on the whole, progress had been lim-
work, ensuring that adequate measures could be put ited by a lack of tangible projects being implemented
in place to mitigate against prevailing and emerging by Member States to realise the strategic objectives;
risks and challenges. inadequate infrastructure; and low funding for re-
In August 2012, the summit that convened in Ma- gional development projects.
puto further discussed the elaboration of the long- From the peace and security perspective, there
term vision. has been great progress that has been observed in
The Maputo summit introduced measures to en- the areas of political governance, observation of
gender a consultative process that would iron out is- elections, and the establishment of the SADC Elec-
sues that could inform the regeneration of the vision toral Advisory Council.
and mission of the region as well as the associated The review made a number of recommendations,
principles underpinning SADC. which included the need to expedite the ratification
The summit appointed a technical task team com- of protocols; improvement in the implementation of
prising of senior experts from the region, to coordi- decisions and development of enforcement mecha-
nate the technical, logistical and organisational nisms, as well as the development of an appropriate
aspects of development of the vision. institutional framework for SADC, the engagement
When the SADC Council of Ministers convened in of non-state actors, alternative resource mobilisation,
Zimbabwe in August 2014, it was noted that the Re- and the promotion of greater intra-regional trade
vised RISDP 2015-2020 contained a roadmap for the through value-added products.