The current outlook of SADC socio-economic development challenges
The socio-economic index of SADC varies depending on several factors which some key ones relevant to our mission will be highlighted in this section. Some states in SADC have undergone socio-economic strains are experiencing problems in human living standards due to past history of wars, racial segregation, and incompatible political systems for social transformation. According to SADC's desk information available the ‘average level of per capita income, as measured by Gross National Income (GNI), is very low and has been declining in most countries over the last three decades. In the year 2002, SADC average GNI per capita stood at USD 1,563. Seychelles, a SADC country with approximately only 82,000 inhabitants, has the highest GNI per capita at US $6,530. Other high-income countries in the region include Mauritius (US $3,830), Botswana (US $3,100) and South Africa (US $2,820). The low per capita income countries in the SADC region, with income levels below USD $500, are DRC (US $80), Malawi US $160), Mozambique (US 210), Tanzania (US $270), Zambia (US $320), and Zimbabwe (US $480)’ . Nevertheless, in considering the situation of poverty, even the better GNI per capita states such as SA and Botswana still have high levels of poverty and widening gap between the middle-income and the poor income or nothing-to-earn (mostly rural dwellers).
The SADC region has high level of poverty with about ‘70% of the population in the region lives below the international poverty line of US$2 per day while 40 percent of the region's population or 76 million people live below the intentional poverty line of US$1 per day’ . The situation renders reduction in standard of living with population growth and rural migration due to ‘low levels of productivity’ and high unemployment caused by poor education and lack of basic skills as household and individual capital. The poverty situation is further compounded by the increasing ‘vulnerable groups such as households headed by old people and child-headed households due to HIV/AIDS pandemic which the region has one of the highest incidence (E.g. SA is around 5% of population and Swaziland over 40% adults are HIV positive) .
The unemployment situation has been worsened currently by the global recession from late 2007 rendering massive job losses in the industrial and mining sector especially in 2008/9. As the situation will take about over a year and more to improve, the livelihood of many household has in reality been disconnected within this period. The reality again is that adding huge job loss to existing burden of the unemployed has consequence for SADC states governments and society in general. Normally, the consequence has been high crime incidences and increase in all kinds of human abuses (child labour and slavery) and sexual immorality which include underground sex trade. The wake of the global economic pressure upon already vulnerable situation in SADC, does not imply there cannot be other ways and strategies for people affected to earn some dceent income or change their living standards.
Some of the glaring challenges indicators in SADC desk information are the issue of ‘lack adequate capital assets - physical, financial, human, natural and social’ for individuals and communities. In crop farming there has been significant decline in harvests, e.g., the ‘region has a cereal deficit of 4.35 million tons in 2007/ 2008 as compared to 2.18 million tons recorded in 2006/2007 farming season’ . Meanwhile in places such as Botswana with much rainfall disadvantage ‘rain fed farming, yields have increased from 200 kg per hectare to 270kg per hectare in communal areas and from 1 tonne per hectare to 2 tonnes per hectare in commercial areas’ . This is indicative of greater potential of food production where all stakeholders put in effort for improvement.
There is also lack of management of available household meagre resources; the striving by some of the poor income group to live above their means result in mismanagement of household assets. Unlike SA, in most of the SADC countries there is serious lack or inadequate financial support facilities and markets. In the wake of these problems among others, the informal economic sector remains the option for many so-called jobless people, especially, the young people. But the informal sector remains unrecognized in some countries and in most places highly unorganised. In this case the optimal benefit of this sector to the micro-economy and households sustenance is minimal or mismanaged.
What can be observed in the scenario of SADC socio-economic challenges is the over burdening of the state institutions with limited (and sometimes) less skilled staff to deal with increasing challenges which become problematic. The is acknowledgement that ‘International donors recognise the progress being made by pan-African and regional institutions but capacity is restricting their abilities and needs greater support’. SADC has also been affected by HIV/IADS and brain-drain of experienced skills in the area of doctors, nurses, engineers, teachers, managers, etc., into the larger unregulated global skills market . Therefore, the challenge of SADC as stated is ‘to overcome the underdeveloped structure of the regional economy, improve macroeconomic performance, political and corporate governance and thus, unlock the untapped potential that lies in both the region's human and natural resources’ is herculean. For example, in Botswana, government agricultural empowerment initiative recognises that ‘… we [the state] want to produce enough crops for the nation, … but we don't want this to be government driven’ . SADC onerous development task cannot be shouldered by the states’ institutions alone, but it requires the full participation and partnership with the private sector and civil society organizations to improve strategies and devise other means required by unpredictable events and situations to meet the goals of reducing poverty and making life better for the majority of people in SADC.
Bernard N Owusu - Sekyere
2009 |