Welcome
German development cooperation with SADC
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) was established in 1992 and has 16 member states – Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo (since 1997), Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa (since 1994), Swaziland, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Comoros – with a total population of 345 million. The SADC Secretariat is in Gaborone, Botswana, and the current Executive Secretary is Botswana national Elias Magosi. SADC’s most important decision-making institution is the Summit of Heads of State or Government.
German development cooperation with SADC
The G7 and G20, as well as the EU, are committed to strengthening regional organisations such as SADC. In its Federal Government Policy Guidelines for Africa, adopted in 2014, the Federal Government undertook to further strengthen regional integration in Africa. Intensified cooperation with the African Union (AU) and other regional organisations in Africa aims to help promote political and economic cooperation, defuse tensions, integrate fragile states into communities founded on shared responsibility, create larger markets with freedom of movement for labour and capital, remove trade barriers and thus make states more attractive for domestic and foreign investors. In supporting SADC’s integration agenda, German development cooperation also aims to advance the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
In addition to its multilateral commitment via the EU, Germany has provided aprox. 400 million euros in support for SADC since its creation in 1992. To this must be added Germany’s substantial bilateral development cooperation with eight of the sixteen SADC member states – Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia.
German development cooperation concentrates on the priorities set forth by SADC in its key development strategies, revised in 2015 – the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) and the Strategic Indicative Plan of the Organ on Defence, Politics and Security (SIPO) and SADC Vision 2050. The programmes are implemented by the three implementing organisations GIZ, KfW and PTB, in some instances with co-financing from the EU and the British Government (DFID).
