SD is a regional information programme on democracy and governance which aims to collect and disseminate information, and to share regional expertise within the 14-member Southern African Development Community (SADC), with the vision of strengthening sustainable democratic development. Based on the perspective that, "Democracy is more than just an election. It is a culture that cannot be imposed but must be developed from within."

The central objective is to assist governments, organisations and people of the SADC region to move quickly and effectively toward the empowerment and involvement of people in development, through collection and provision of relevant and accessible information, based on national and regional perspectives -- and through capacity-building for collecting, storing and accessing information on a sustainable basis.

One of the main reasons for inaccessibility of information is the lack of information-retrieval functional systems. SARDC is an established regional considerable expertise in this area, having an organization with developed strong regional data bases, and information-dissemination programmes for environment, disaster management, gender, and regional development.