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The project, coordinated by the Food,
Agriculture and Natural Resources Sector, is in a three-year pilot phase which
started last year. The strategy is to start small, scaling up activities later based on les-sons
learned.
The hub’s key objective is timely technical and financial
support for the development, implementation and monitoring of jointly-determined SADC
and donor supported programmes in the food, agriculture and natural resources
sector of member countries. It will focus on:
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providing active and timely support to member
states in preparing and refining their rural development
strategies and policies aimed at promoting growth and reducing
poverty;
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providing assistance to SADC member states in
preparing national projects as well as donor-financed projects and
programs in states;
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providing key implementation support to
national ministries and agencies, including monitoring of
implementation;
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supporting capacity building activities of
member states in various areas through attachments, internships,
work-shops, seminars and conferences. The hub would also function
as a sub-regional centre of excellence in capacity-building
through various activities including attachment and internship
programs for staff of rural development ministries; and
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promoting regional partnership and
collaboration in rural development, the hub would also serve as a
centre for networking among various multilateral and bilateral
agencies for seeking and leveraging resources and technical
assistance given the limited resources of member states.
The guiding principles of this SADC-donor
partnership include: regionalism/ multi-sectoralism: The multi-donor Hub
will have regional representation and multi-sectoral focus cutting across countries
and themes. Support to member states will lead to clearly-defined country
programmes. |
Economic and sector studies will be
designed to enrich policy deliberations of the Food, Agriculture and Natural
Resources Ministers’ meetings. Such studies will seek to incorporate private
sector participation. SADC ownership: the multi-donor Hub would be owned by
SADC as a special project within its Food, Agriculture and Natural
Resources Sector Development Unit.
Autonomy and flexibility: Within the Food, Agriculture
and Natural Resources Sector Development Unit, the Hub will operate with greater flexibility
and autonomy in responding to the development problems of member states.
Shared resources and knowledge: The multi-donor
Hub would act as a stimulus for creating and sharing knowledge and optimizing the impact of
development resources through a core group of international and regional
experts, linked to SADC and the minis-tries of food, agriculture and natural
resources. The guiding principles of this SADC-donor partnership include:
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Regionalism /multi-sectoralism:
The multi-donor hub will have regional representation and
multi-sectoral focus cutting across countries and themes. Support to member
states will lead to clearly-defined country programmes.
-
Economic and sector studies
will be designed to enrich policy deliberations of the Food, Agriculture and
Natural Resources Ministers’ meetings. Such studies will seek to incorporate
private sector participation.
-
SADC ownership: The multi-donor
hub would be owned by SADC as a special project within its Food,
Agriculture and Natural Resources Sector Development Unit.
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Autonomy and flexibility:
Within the hub will operate with greater flexibility and autonomy in responding to
the development problems of member states.
-
Shared resources and
knowledge: The hub would act as a stimulus for creating and sharing knowledge and
optimizing the impact of development resources
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through a core group of international and regional experts, linked
to SADC and the ministries of food, agriculture and natural resources. The hub
will function within the governance framework of SADC, its committee of
Ministers of food, agriculture and atural resources and their permanent sec-retaries.
Steering committee that this Steering Committee will set
operational guide-lines and policies, oversee implementation of programmes, and ensure
adherence to the rural development priorities set by the Ministers of Agriculture
and Natural Resources and the permanent secretaries.
The hub and its spokes (linkages) fall under the management of the rood
agriculture and Natural resources director, with support from a full-time World
Bank-seconded Regional Coordinator and Administrative Officer.
Both have already been recruited. Other support staff
will come on board as required in consultations with the nit.
The project will seek to aggregate rural development
priorities identified in each SADC member state.
At national level, the work programme will be jointly
determined by specific ministries of food, agriculture and natural resources, staff of
the spokes, and the donors within the country.
Sources of funds for the Hub and its projects include
participating donors and SADC member states. Such funding covers operational costs,
overheads, and the cost of technical assistance and capacity building activities.
The cost of operating the Hub is
estimated at US$9.7 million over the initial 3-year pilot phase.
The targeted beneficiaries of the project are various
government institutions and structures in member states whose capacity to handle the
demands of food security and rural development will be enhanced.
The ultimate beneficiaries are the food insecure
households of the SADC region who will benefit from improved analysis, funding and
implementation of food security policies, strategies and programmes.
Various FANR sectors will benefit through greater cohesion
and cooperation amongst themselves. |
