Lusaka, Zambia, 12 September 2025 (ECA) - The National Planning Entities Community of Practice online portal was officially launched by the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Secretariat on the side-lines of the Southern African Think Tanks-National Planning Entities (NPEs) meeting held from 10 to 12 September 2025 in Lusaka, Zambia on the theme ‘From Research to Policy: Enhancing Regional Integration Through Evidence-Based Decision Making.’
The SADC Secretariat organized the meeting and the launch in collaboration with the ECA-Subregional Office for Southern Africa office and the Alliance for African Partnership (AAP). Countries represented included Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar (SADC Chair), Zambia, Botswana, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe.
The overall objective of the SADC NPEs online portal is to provide a space for knowledge sharing, networking, facilitate peer to peer discussions, learning, knowledge cross-fertilisation, and avoiding silo approaches by countries and institutions in handling topical issues of common interest in the SADC region.
ECA provided technical and financial support through the SRO-SA office and Knowledge Management Services Section (PCKMD). Until the official launch, the SADC NPE COP online platform had been hosted by the ECA through the PCKMD. During the handover of the online platform to the SADC Secretariat, Ms. Zodwa Mabuza, Chief of Sub-Regional Initiatives stated that “ The success of the NPE portal will depend on a combination of a clear purpose, strong member engagement, a commitment to develop the community's collective knowledge, and a creation of a safe, collaborative space where members feel empowered to contribute and learn from one another, supported by accessible content and reliable technology”.
During the event, a draft Multi-Year Programme (MYP) of the SADC NPE platform, developed with financial support from ECA was also presented. The MYP includes a roadmap, resource requirements, sustainability mechanisms, platform development priorities, knowledge sharing enhancement, and collaborative research frameworks for regional integration coordination.
Mr. Awung Frankline, Knowledge Management Officer, ECA-PCKMD demonstrated the technical function of the online platform and emphasised the importance of interactive nature of the portal which will serve the purpose of collaboration and networking among NPEs, ministries, think tanks, academia, SADC secretariat staff members and other stakeholders. The meeting discussed management of the platform, underscoring the need for the active involvement of high-level officials from the respective ministries, sustainable funding arrangements, and long-term strategies to ensure the platform remains active and effective.
In her closing remarks, Ms Mabuza reaffirmed ECA’s commitment to supporting member States and the SADC Secretariat, assuring them that platform managers will be equipped with the requisite skills to keep the platform operating optimally.
Visit the portal @https://community-sadc.uneca.org/
Issued by:
Communications Section
Economic Commission for Africa
PO Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251 11 551 5826
E-mail: eca-info@un.org