The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is a regional economic community comprising 16 Member States: Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The SADC is committed to regional integration and eradicating poverty in Southern Africa by promoting economic development and ensuring peace and security. Social and human capital development is essential to achieve its objectives of regional integration, economic development and improving the livelihoods of citizens. As such, the SADC’s Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) includes a pillar on social and human capital development. This pillar seeks, inter alia, to boost job creation and decent work opportunities for full and productive employment in the region.
To build and implement this social component, the SADC promotes social dialogue at both national and regional levels.
Regional tripartite social dialogue takes place at meetings between the ministers of SADC countries responsible for employment and labour and social partners, namely, the SADC Employers’ Group and the Southern African Trade Union Coordinating Council. These meetings shape policy frameworks, such as the Employment and Labour Policy Framework (2020-2030 no link available) and the SADC Decent Work Programme (2021-2025, no link available), and their implementation.