The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has called for integrated planning and collaboration among stakeholders in the water, energy, and food (WEF) sectors in order to achieve security targets and improve efficiency in managing natural resources. Speaking during a courtesy call on Mr Malefetsane Nchala, Lesotho’s Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Water, on July 27 2022, Dr Patrice Kabeya, Senior Programme Officer in the SADC Water Division, said “It is, therefore, crucial that these three sectors collaborate and improve natural resource use efficiencies and promote regional cooperation in the Region. Water, energy, and food security are inextricably linked and actions in any one area usually impact the others.”
The meeting at the Ministry of Water centred on, among other issues, the upcoming 10th SADC Multi- Stakeholder Dialogue which will be held from 5th -7th September 2022 in Maseru, Lesotho. The Dialogue, themed “Bolstering regional productive capacities for water, energy, food security and ecosystem resilience to achieve inclusive and sustainable industrial transformation”, will be hosted by the Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho through its Ministry of Water.
Mr Nchala welcomed the gesture and expressed gratitude to SADC for hosting the event in Lesotho. “The 10th SADC Dialogue is a great opportunity for the country to share regional experiences and showcase ongoing water initiatives in Lesotho, including the National Integrated Catchment Management (ICM) project in Lesotho,” he said.
To showcase and appreciate the work and learnings from the integrated catchment management in Lesotho, the ICM Coordination unit is organising site visits to the Metolong Dam and/or Makhalaneng (Puete Wetland) and Likhetla Sub-catchment on 7th September as part of the Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue.
Targeting experts and practitioners in water and related sectors, including representatives from the 16 SADC Member States, the Dialogue provides a forum for stakeholders to deliberate on pertinent issues that need to be addressed to deepen regional integration and address poverty in the Region. Moreover, the Dialogue is an opportunity for the Region to ensure that the implementation of the approach is aligned to the regional imperatives and works towards delivering tangible benefits on the ground. The main objective of the Dialogue is to ensure that the Region unlocks the potential of sustainable water resources development in contributing to regional integration, poverty eradication and socio-economic development.
The base funding for this year’s Dialogue comes from the European Union (EU) supported by SADC WEF Nexus Dialogue Project and the “Support to Integrated Catchment Management (ICM)” Project in Lesotho, co-financed by the EU and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). Through the subsidiarity principle of SADC, Global Water Partnership Southern Africa (GWPSA) has been mandated to facilitate this process on behalf of the SADC Secretariat Water Division since 2007.
