It has been established that the founding leaders of SADC saw a link between their organization and the OAU strategy for achieving an economic community of African states. SADC is today perceived as a strong regional organization with a capacity to serve as a significant building block in the development of the continental community.

With regard to strategies for human resources development the fIrst ever OAU conference of Ministers of Education, held in Harare in March 1999, adopted a Programme of Action which "urges. ..African States, individually and collectively, to work towards subregional, regional and pan- African integration and harmonization of programmes and strategies within the framework of the OAU and regional economic communities for improved African educational systems" (OAU, 1999). Human resources development is seen as the core of capacity building strategies for African development.

The SADC human resources development sector
In its principal decisions SADCC, and later SADC, accorded a central role to human resources development in the strategy to achieve regional development and integration. Apart from being consistent with the OAU'.position, this approach is similar to that adopted by other African regional organizations, notably the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the, newly revived, East African Community (ECA).

The signing of the SADC Treaty in 1992, and the coming of majority rule to South Africa two years later, signalled a new phase in efforts to strengthen regional integration.

The review of the, evolution of SADC contained in the preceding sections of this paper conflrIns the original position of the organization that human resources development must be viewed as a principal instrument for regional integration. The major review of the human resources situation in the SADC region conducted in 1991 can be said to be the basis for the development of the SADC Human Resources Sector in its present form. The review argued for the development of the region's human capital as a tool for tackling the socio-economic problems facing its people. This position was reinforced by the SADC framework and strategy document of 1992, which accompanied the treaty.

These documents underline the principle that education and training is the key to economic transformation, development and growth of the region. That principle guided the formulation of the long-term strategy for the HRD Sector covering the period 1993-2003. It is in the framework of the long-term strategy that the protocol on education and training was formulated and subsequently adopted.

The evolution of the SADC HRD sector has gone through a number of phases. The "manpower planning" approach of the time appears to have significantly influenced the conceptualisation of the original "Manpower" sector under the SADCC framework. As SADC adopted a more holistic development strategy so was the sector entrusted with a broader mandate of developing human resources through education and training.

The adoption of the protocol was a milestone both in the growth of the sector as a portfolio and in the process of strengthening regional integration. The protocol was in effect a culmination of the process of articulating the core mandate of the sector.

The present arrangements for implementing the provisions of the protocol represent the latest phase in the evolution of the sector. Like the adoption of the protocol itself, the implementation plan produced by the Lusaka workshop is a concrete step towards integration.

The MHO sector's institutional framework -an ongoing challenge
The in-house comprehensive review of 1991, and the long-term strategy for the sector launched in 1993, pointed to the inadequate staffing of the SCU as a significant constraint. The institutional requirements of the task assigned to the sector, and as defined in the long-term strategy and the protocol, are potentially greater than those for a national department. They imply a level of resource provision that a single member state cannot satisfy.

The challenge facing the majority of the SCUs is that they have inadequate human and financial resources deployed to them. The level of resources available to them does not translate into an optimal capacity for the discharge of the regional responsibility. However, while large SCUs would be the ideal solution they would not be financially sustainable. The challenge is what strategies the SCUs, as currently constituted, should deploy to discharge their regional" mandates with a degree of success that member states will perceive as satisfactory.