The Strengthening Capacity in Agricultural Research and Development in Africa (SCARDA) programme is now being implemented in the SADC region. The purpose of the SCARDA programme is to strengthen the institutional and human capacity of African agricultural research and development systems to identify, generate and deliver research outputs that meet the needs of poor people. SCARDA will achieve this purpose by working with key research and development institutions in sub-Saharan Africa to help them fulfill their mandates more effectively. At the same time, the ability of capacity strengthening organizations to deliver relevant and high quality services will be sustainably enhanced.

In the SADC region, this initiative supports the medium to long-term objectives as outlined in the Dar-es-Salaam Declaration of 2004 on Agriculture and Food Security and the RISDP of 2002 on Research, Technology Development and Dissemination as well as on Human Resource Development.

The SCARDA Programme will focus on two components. The components and outputs are presented below:

Three pilot countries, namely Botswana, Lesotho and Zambia are selected for the implementation of SCARDA in the SADC region. It is envisaged that lessons in the three pilot countries will be cascaded to the other SADC Member States.