Poverty is one of the biggest challenges Southern Africa faces. Here many people still live on less than $1 a day. Last August, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit decided to hold an International Conference on Poverty and Development to develop new policies and mobilise stakeholders in the fight against poverty.
“This conference is an important landmark for the region as it enables us to reflect on our current interventions towards eradicating poverty and gives us he opportunity to strategise how … we can strengthen what the SADC governments are doing so as to meet our Millennium Development Goals by 2015,” said SADC secretariat representative Janah Ncube.
The conference, which will take place in Mauritius from April 18 to 20, envisions a multi-stakeholder strategic dialogue that will give participants the opportunity to reflect and adopt innovative approaches to the region’s poverty-eradication strategies.
It will provide a platform for SADC, international cooperating partners, civil society, the private sector and the international community to engage in policy dialogue, forge consensus and review progress of the SADC integration agenda.
Another target of the conference is to develop an action plan on poverty and development, outlining a series of specific tasks and actions and a monitoring and evaluation mechanism.
The Southern Africa Trust, which is supporting civil society organisations in preparation for the conference, wants to put poverty eradication at the top of the regional policy and political agenda, as well as develop a shared regional vision for overcoming poverty.