SADC officials discuss restructuring implementation

Technical officers charged with the restructuring of SADC institutions met 26-27 April in Gaborone to discuss the implementation plan of the two-year process that gives the organization a major facelift.

The two-day meeting that was at-tended by SADC national contact points, sector coordinators, commissions and the secretariat, was convened by the SADC Review Committee. The Committee, charged with overseeing the implementation consists of members from Namibia (chair), Malawi (deputy chair), Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

The meeting’s two objectives were to explain and clarify decisions taken by the March 2001 extraordinary Summit on review and restructuring and to map out a comprehensive implementation plan.

Questions raised were:

• the operations of the Integrated Committee of Ministers (ICM), directorates and national committees;

• the nature and process of the formulation of the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP); and

• the arrangements for transition.

The review committee will attend annual sectoral meetings to explain and clarify Summit decisions on restructuring, a process which is expected to be completed in the next 18 months.

The meeting underscored the importance of involving all member states and participants in the implementation of the restructuring exercise.

The implementation plan envisages several tasks to have been undertaken by the time of the next SADC Council of Ministers and Summit meetings to be held in Blantyre, Malawi from 6-14 Au-gust 2001. Among these are the:

• amendment of the SADC Treaty and subsidiary instruments such as protocols;

• realignment of Objectives with the SADC Programme of Action priori-ties to accommodate some changes with legal implications;

• development of a five-year RISDP;

• undertaking job evaluation to determine staff level grading and salary scale of the new structure;

• determination of financial re-sources for the new structure;

• establishment of SADC National Committees; and

• undertake a study to investigate the creation of a Regional Development Fund, including proposals on formulae for membership contribution as well as mechanisms for the sustainability of the fund.

However, the establishment of directorates and the secondment, recruitment and redeployment of staff; and the phasing out of the Commissions and Sector Coordinating Units will be spread out through the entire reform period, that is until end of 2002.

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