The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has called for the urgent signing and ratification of the SADC Protocol on Statistics, citing delays that could undermine regional integration and access to international funding.
At a meeting in Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, the SADC Statistics Committee urged member states to seize the upcoming SADC Heads of State and Government Summit in August 2025, set to take place in Madagascar, as an opportunity to sign the protocol.
“Alternatively, member states may sign protocol in their countries at any convenient time with the facilitation of SADC Secretariat,” the committee said.
The SADC Protocol on Statistics, approved in 2021, is aims to harmonise data collection, improve regional cooperation on the generation of statistics and enhance decision-making across multiple sectors, including trade, agriculture and poverty alleviation.
However, continued delays in signing and ratification have stalled progress, limiting access to international financial support and hindering collaboration among member states.
The committee expressed concern that failure to ratify legal instruments in a timely manner has blocked effective policy execution and slowed critical programs.
“These delays undermine the timely execution of regional policies, limit access to potential funding from international cooperating partners and multilateral financial institutions and hinder effective collaboration among member states,” the committee said.
The committee outlined key priorities, including finalisation of guidelines for production of statistics on informal cross-border trade, strengthened collaboration for the regional agriculture information portal, and the adoption of harmonised tools and integration of migration modules in national censuses.
It also called on member states to produce labour statistics on a regular basis, and endorses a financial inclusion toolkit for gender-disaggregated data.
JN/APA