Southern Africa has made steady progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.<\/p>\n
However, a lot more needs to be done to sustain this momentum well beyond the MDG timeline to ensure that the general socio-economic conditions continue to improve.<\/p>\n
A total of eight goals, ranging from education, health, poverty and the environment were approved by the global community in the year 2000 with desirable targets and measurable indicators.<\/p>\n
The targets aim to improve socio-economic development in the world, particularly in developing countries.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfrica\u2019s substantial progress toward many goals, targets and indicators is beyond doubt,\u201d according to the 2013 MDG Report.<\/p>\n
The SADC region leads in areas such as gender development and health.<\/p>\n
For example, of the 11 best-performing countries in achieving Goal 3 on promoting gender equality and empowering women, six are from southern Africa.<\/p>\n
These are Angola, Botswana, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles and South Africa.<\/p>\n
According to the SADC Gender Monitor 2013, all of these countries except Botswana have achieved more than 30 percent gender representation in parliament.<\/p>\n
Gender equality is firmly rooted in SADC\u2019s regional integration agenda and Member States support the fundamental principle that both women and men must be equally engaged in decision-making at all levels and in all positions of leadership.<\/p>\n
This is reflected in the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development that calls for 50:50 by 2015, and in the constitutions of most SADC countries that provide legal frameworks against gender discrimination.<\/p>\n
With regard to Goal 6 on combating HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other diseases, five of the 15 best performing countries are from the SADC region.<\/p>\n
The five are Botswana, Namibia, Mauritius, South Africa and Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n
Performance towards achieving other goals has been mixed due to various challenges that have affected the implementation process of the MDGs.<\/p>\n
Thus it remains necessary to define concrete measures to accelerate the implementation of some of the targeted goals. SADC Today<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n