AU-IBAR held a workshop on “Development of proposed pathways for adoption and domestication of priority actions and other policy instruments for SADC Member States” from the 7th to 8th July 2022 in Arusha, Tanzania. The workshop had several objectives:
• Review causes of low adoption and domestication of policy instruments
• Conduct a review of proposed pathways for adoption and domestication of regional instruments
• Critically analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of these pathways
• Propose other pathways for adoption and domestication of policy instruments for SADC Member States
• Rank and select the pathways which will most likely result in higher rates of adoption and domestication
• Provide details of the necessary steps for each pathway
• Develop a working document/template on the proposed pathways for the SADC region
Fifty-four (54) participants from 12 SADC Member States (Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe), including a representative of COMESA and a consultant on value chains, attended the workshop. The delegates comprised Directors of Animal production, Chief Veterinary Officers, National coordinators, farmers, representatives of parastatals, breeders’ associations and the private sector.
Speaking during the official opening of the workshop, AU-IBAR’s Executive Director, Dr. Nick Nwankpa highlighted the contribution of the Live2Africa Project in responding to the continental agenda of the transformation of the African livestock sector. He noted that this has been achieved through strengthening the systemic capacity of continental, regional and national livestock sector stakeholders for the economic, environmental and social sustainable transformation of the sector.
Prof Hezron Emmanuel Nonga, Director of Veterinary Services, on behalf of the Honourable Minister Mashimba Ndaki, of the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries of Tanzania encouraged participants to actively participate in the development of regional policy instruments and enhance their adoption and domestication by their respective national governments.
On behalf of the Secretary General of COMESA, Her Excellency Chileshe Kapwepwe, Mr. Pardon Njerere noted that these workshops are key in determining the direction and growth pathways of the regional value chains based on strong background of shared vision and joint programming. Mr Njerere emphasized that COMESA presents a huge market opportunity for SADC. However, this market requires a well-coordinated approach to be competitive and requires the adoption and domestication of regional priority actions and instruments through sharing of experiences, lessons learnt and best practices.
Participants presented the systems currently in use in their respective countries. It was clear that SADC countries have varying systems and procedures which are meant to result in the adoption and domestication of SADC instruments. It was also apparent that there were some similarities among the pathways which could be harnessed and incorporated into pathways/systems that could work in the different countries. Participants agreed for the need for the country systems to be consolidated. Together with some of the proposals, the synthesized and harmonized pathways, would be presented to the SADC Member States for their consideration.
The activity was undertaken through the AU-IBAR "Sustainable Development of Livestock for Livelihoods in Africa Project - Live2Africa, funded by the European Union, with the general objective of supporting the transformation of the African livestock sector for an increased contribution to sustainable and climate-resilient, socio-economic development and equitable growth. The project focuses on capacity building in 7 livestock components being Investment in value chains, Animal Health, Animal Production, Productivity and Ecosystem Management, Resilience Building, Technology adoption in the Value Chains to inputs, Services and markets and strengthening institutional capacities.
