Concept Note
Third Joint Meeting of the SADC National Contact Points
and the Platform for National Planning Entities
10th – 12th October,
2018, Johannesburg, South Africa
1. Introduction
As per the Decisions of the SADC Council and in line with the key
outcomes of the Second Joint Meeting of SADC National Contact Points (NCPs) and
the Platform for National Planning Entities (NPEs) of October 2016, the SADC
Secretariat will convene the Third Joint Meeting of the NCPs and NPEs. The
meeting will be convened over three days in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 10th
to 12th October, 2018. The meeting is expected to be attended by representatives
of the 15 SADC Member States, plus the Comoros, relevant stakeholders and regional
experts. The GIZ Strengthening National Regional Linkages Programme (SNRL) will
provide financial support towards the cost of convening the meeting.
The objective of the meeting is to build on the outcomes of the previous
Joint Meetings and the way forward mapped out at the Second Joint Meeting held
in October 2016. Thus the meeting is expected to review progress on the
implementation of the Decision of Council that emanated from the
recommendations of the Second Joint meeting. Furthermore, the meeting will
inform the process of developing issues and agenda for the Annual Regional
Meeting of the SNCs, the first one expected to be convened in June 2019.
The outcomes of the
Third Joint Meeting will ultimately inform the key processes for strengthening
regional and national linkages, and contribute to regional policy initiatives in
the Member States. In this regard, expected key outputs include recommendations for addressing the challenges integrating
regional policies, strategies, and plans into national Development Plans
(NDPs), and the development of a structured framework for convening annual SNC
meetings together with the accompanying standard agenda for the meetings. The
other expected output is recommendations on how to effectively and efficiently
strengthen SNCs or national level structures established in Member States as
well recommendations on improving monitoring, evaluation and reporting systems.
2. Background
The SADC Secretariat convened the first Joint Meeting of the SADC
National Contact Points (representing the SADC National Committees and the
National Planning Entities) in June 2016 to discuss the operational modalities
of the implementation of SADC Programmes at national level. In October 2016,
the Secretariat convened the second Joint Meeting which brainstormed on
regional development frameworks that will guide reporting on the National
Development Plans, Revised RISDP 2015-2020, the African Union Agenda 2063 and
the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). It also discussed
modalities for undertaking assessment of progress made on the SADC integration
and development agenda, as directed by Council, as well as modalities for
reviving or establishing the SADC National Committees in accordance with
Article 16A of the SADC Treaty.
During the meeting in October 2016, it was recommended that Member States
should establish or revive SADC National Committees. It was also recommended
that the Secretariat should devise mechanisms to ensure that the Revised RISDP
2015-2020 is the basis for reporting on the implementation of the regional
integration agenda, the continental level towards the AU Agenda 2063 and global
reporting requirements towards the UN - SDGs. In this regard, the meeting
directed the Secretariat to convene a workshop for Monitoring and Evaluation
(M&E) experts by the end of November 2016 to scrutinize and validate the
SADC M&E System, as well as fine-tune the indicators of the Revised RISDP
2015-2020, while incorporating AU Agenda 2063 and UN SDG Agenda 2030. The meeting
also directed the Secretariat to provide financial and technical assistance to
the Member States to establish and strengthen the SADC National Committees. The
Secretariat was further directed to provide technical assistance to the Member
States to facilitate common understanding of the SADC M&E System, including
on the use of the online M&E platform by end of January/beginning of
February 2017.
2.1.
Progress on the
Implementation of the Recommendations of the Joint Meetings
Significant progress has been made since
October 2016, towards the implementation of the recommendations of the Joint
Meetings of the SADC National Contact Points and the National Planning
Entities:
(1) Some Member States submitted requests to the
Secretariat to establish and strengthen the SADC National Committees. So far,
technical and financial assistance have been provided to Mozambique, Malawi and
Zambia while Scoping Studies have been undertaken in Tanzania, and currently
underway in Swaziland and Lesotho.
(2) The Secretariat has been collaborating with
the African Union Commission to ensure that there is alignment between the
national development plans, the SADC RISDP, the Agenda 2063 and the UN Agenda
2030. There is also need for SADC to continue to input into the African Common
Positions on the SDGs, including coordination of Voluntary National Reviews
(VNRs) of the SDGs.
(3) A validation workshop was organized in
November 2016 to finalize the indicators for the Monitoring and Evaluation
(M&E) system and to present the system to the Member States. The system was
also presented to the Finance Sub Committee and Audit Committee in December
2016. The M&E System was further presented to Council in March 2017, during
which the Secretariat was directed to:
(i)
Roll-out and train Member States on the use of the online SADC Results
Based Monitoring and Evaluation System starting from April 2017; and
(ii) Translate the System into the three SADC
official languages.
At the same meeting, Council also urged Member States to participate in
the implementation of the System. The Secretariat has since invited Member
States to submit their requests for training.
(4) Five Member States namely Lesotho, Mauritius,
Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe were successfully trained on
the M&E System during 2017/2018 Financial Year. The trainings enabled the
countries to log into the system and enter data on the review of RISDP for
2016/17 and indicators for different outcomes. The recommendations from the
trainings in the Member States include the need to train trainers from Member
States who will continue to backstop experts in their respective countries as
part of the sustainability plan. This training of trainers will augment the
ongoing trainings in Member States. Focus will be on providing some intensive
training to SADC National Contact Point, Planning Entities, and other technical
experts.
3.
Third Joint Meeting of the SADC
NCPs and Platform for NPEs
Following the reported progress and lessons
learnt thus far, there now exists a need to convene a Third Joint Meeting of
the SADC National Contact Points and the SADC Platform for the National
Planning Entities. The proposed date for the meeting is 10th – 12th
October, 2018 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The Specific Objectives of
the meeting are to:
(1)
Review progress on
the establishment and strengthening of the SADC National Committees in the
Member States and formulate recommendations to address capacity constraints;
(2)
Assessing the level
of alignment between Regional and National/Sectoral Development Plans and review
progress in the implementation of the plans;
(3)
Review progress on
the implementation of the SADC M&E System in the Member States and make
recommendations for strengthening current SADC M&E Framework/system for
improved monitoring and evaluation of the SADC agenda at the national level.
(4)
Develop a framework
for the Annual Meetings of the SADC National Committees (SNCs) per the 2016
Council directive and resolutions of the Second Joint Meeting of SADC National
Contact Points (NCP) and the Platform for National Planning Entities;
4. Expected Outcomes of Workshop
The overarching
outcomes of the meeting will be:
i.
Recommendations on strengthening the national
coordinating structures to enable effective implementation of the SADC regional
agenda and commitment by Member States to the measures identified;
ii.
Recommendations on strengthening alignment between
Regional and National/Sectoral Development Plans and commitment by Member
States to the measures identified;
iii.
Recommendations on strengthening SADC M&E system
for improved monitoring and evaluation of the SADC agenda at the national level and commitment by
Member States to the measures identified;
iv.
A framework for the Annual Meetings of the SADC
National Committees (SNCs) is drafted and ready for implementation with effect
from June 2019. The framework will also recommend the modality for convening
the meeting jointly with NPEs.
5. Proposed methodology
The official opening of high level policy deliberations of the Third
Joint Meeting will take place on the 10th of October, 2018 and this
will also mark the closing of the three day Programme of the Joint Meeting. This
day is to take the format of a SADC meeting and will be chaired by South Africa
with opening remarks by the SADC Secretariat Deputy Executive Secretary –
Regional Integration (DES-RI)
This will be preceded by a 2-day technical workshop to accommodate an
in-depth participatory process of review and reflection of the Meeting
objectives by technical representatives of SNCs (SADC Units Directors, NPE
Directors and/or other relevant key desk officers) who support the SADC NCPs
and the NPE counterparts (PS Level) directly in the implementation of the SADC
agenda. Outcomes of the two-day workshop will be presented at the high-level
policy meeting described above for further deliberations, final resolutions and
way forward.
Moderation of the two-day workshop is to be conducted by an experienced
facilitator supported by key resources person/s. The purpose of key resource
person/s is to ensure depth and quality context specific discussions based on
reliable and relevant data where necessary. TORs for the facilitator and the
resource persons will be developed by the SADC secretariat in collaboration
with GIZ. The TOR of the main facilitator will include development of a
comprehensive and detailed programme for the two days to be approved by the
Secretariat.
The workshop will use both the plenary and break away session to generate
outputs towards the objectives outlined above. As much as possible focus will
be given to facilitated discussions in the breakaway sessions to maximize
interaction and participation by all workshop participants. This is to ensure
quality preparation for the High-Level meeting.
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