SADC to Convene Regional Meeting to Accelerate Sexual and Reproductive Health Strategy
Matebeleland Pulse Reporter
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) will next week convene a regional meeting in Harare to assess progress in implementing its Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) Strategy 2019–2030, with a particular focus on monitoring, reporting and accountability.
The high-level meeting, scheduled for 31 August to 4 September 2026, will bring together senior SRHR programme managers, monitoring and evaluation specialists, human rights experts and strategic partners from across the SADC region.
The meeting will be held under the theme “Accelerating Implementation, Monitoring and Reporting of the SADC SRHR Strategy 2019/2030.”
According to SADC, the gathering is intended to provide an opportunity for regional stakeholders to take stock of progress in implementing the strategy, identify emerging challenges and strengthen collective action towards improved sexual and reproductive health and rights outcomes.
“This meeting will serve as a strategic platform for SRHR programme managers and partners to undertake a comprehensive assessment of progress in implementing the SADC SRHR Strategy,” the regional bloc said in a statement.
The discussions are expected to focus on accelerating implementation, strengthening governance and accountability, and addressing gaps that may be slowing progress across the region.
SADC said participants will also examine ways of improving regional coordination and harmonising SRHR interventions, while strengthening monitoring systems and the use of evidence in programme planning and decision-making.
The meeting is being convened in collaboration with United Nations agencies under the Together4SRHR initiative, including the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO AFRO).
The initiative is supported by Sweden and the European Union.
A major area of discussion will be the generation, management and use of data to measure progress and guide interventions.
“Particular emphasis will be placed on strengthening the generation, management, and utilisation of data and evidence to inform programme planning, monitoring, evaluation, and decision-making,” SADC said.
The regional bloc also said the meeting would advance the operationalisation of its Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning Framework, with the aim of ensuring that regional monitoring and reporting systems can demonstrate measurable results and impact.
The meeting comes as the 2019–2030 strategy enters a critical phase of implementation. SADC’s strategy describes a scorecard as a tool for tracking progress towards the region’s 2030 commitments, including identifying areas where corrective action may be needed. SADC has previously used its SRHR scorecard to track progress at regional level. In 2023, SADC said the scorecard was designed to track progress towards the outcomes of the 2019–2030 strategy and to facilitate comparisons and the sharing of good practices among member states.
For the Harare meeting, however, the immediate focus will be on implementation, monitoring and reporting.
SADC said the gathering ultimately reflects a collective commitment by member states and partners to ensure that regional SRHR priorities are translated into tangible improvements in health, rights and well-being across Southern Africa.
