Page 71 - 40th Summit Brochure 2020

Consolidating Democratic Institutions in 33 mediation practitioners to strengthen
the Region SADC's deployment capability in conf ict
In the consolidation of democracy, the Polit- prevention, management and resolution.
ical Sector supported Member States’ elec- T e ef orts mark continued commitment
toral processes by facilitating the deployment towards a peaceful region and further en-
of the SADC Electoral Advisory Council hanced political commitment to democracy
(SEAC) Pre-election Goodwill Missions and and good governance principles in Member
the SADC Electoral Observation Missions States.
(SEOMs). In the period under review, SADC In the context of regional capacity
electoral observation missions were deployed building, the Defence Sector, together with
to four Member States – Botswana, Mauri- the Regional Peacekeeping Training Centre,
tius, Mozambique and Namibia. Af er the provided Member States with knowledge and
elections, recommendations were produced skills in peacekeeping operations in line with
by the observation missions on how the four global and regional standards. T is initiative
Member States could strengthen their elec- strengthened the capacity of Member States
toral processes. to participate in Peace Support Operations
Based on the SEOM f ndings, the four (PSOs) within and beyond the region.
SADC Member States adhered to at least
seven of the 12 SADC Principles and Guide-
lines Governing Democratic Elections, Coping with Natural Disasters
which aim to promote common political val- The Defence Sector responded to the re-
ues and systems. T is achievement enhanced currence of disasters in the region by con-
political commitment to democracy and vening a multi-dimensional technical
good governance principles in Member team of experts to review the SADC
States. Standby Force disaster response mecha-
nism. This was in line with the 39th SADC
Capacity Training for Election Observers Summit directive that tasked the Secre-
In pursuit of strengthened capacity for tariat with expediting the operationaliza-
68 election observation and reporting in all tion of the SADC Disaster Preparedness
Member States, a total of 116 short-term and Response Mechanism as part of re-
and long-term election observers were gional measures to respond to the impact
trained in the use of Information Commu- of climate change. The convening of a re-
nication Technology (ICT) before their gional multi-dimensional technical team
deployment. resulted in the adoption of the draft SADC
T is resulted in more ef cient electoral Standby Force Contingency Plan and
processes in the region. Furthermore, tech- Standard Operating Procedures to support
nical and peer exchanges were held by Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Opera-
SEAC and SEOMs in the four Member tions in collaboration with the Disaster
States that held elections since August 2019. Risk Reduction Component of the Secre-
These exchanges provided technical tariat and Member States.
assistance to electoral management bod-
ies in order to strengthen electoral
processes and implementation Development of Regional Early Warning
of regional best practices. System Report
T e Political Sec- In order to assist the different Organ
tor also supported structures to make informed strategic de-
conf ict prevention, cisions and timely adopt the required in-
management and res- terventions, the State Security Sector
olution by providing developed a Report on Effectiveness, Effi-
technical and ca- cacy and Viability of the Regional Early
pacity building to Warning System (REWS).
To further strengthen the regional ca-
pacity to implement the peace and secu-
rity objectives of the Organ, 50