Senior Officer – Policy and Strategy at SADC

Lintlha

Location: Gaborone, Botswana

Reference: SADC/2/3/3

Closing Date: 20 November 2026

Background

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is a regional economic community founded and maintained by countries in Southern Africa. It aims to further socio-economic, political and security cooperation among its Member States and foster regional integration to achieve peace, stability and prosperity.

SADC currently has sixteen (16) Member States, with a population of approximately 340 million and a combined GDP of US$720 billion.

The SADC Secretariat is seeking to recruit a highly motivated and experienced professional who is a citizen of a SADC Member State to fill the position of Senior Officer – Policy and Strategy.

Primary Purpose of the Job

Conduct research to inform periodic reviews of policies and implementation of strategies in regional integration, development and cooperation, as defined in the SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP).

Coordinate the development, review and updating of policies and strategies in regional integration, development and cooperation.

Coordinate the harmonisation of regional frameworks with Member States.

Manage the efforts and performance of the team under the Senior Officer.

Duties and Responsibilities

Policy and Strategy

Support policy and strategy formulation in regional integration, development and cooperation within the SADC Secretariat, in consultation with Member States.

Facilitate the development and review of medium-term strategies, including the SADC Strategy Development, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation and Reporting (SPMER) and the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plans (RISDP).

Coordinate and ensure alignment of SADC regional policies and strategies with continental and international development initiatives.

Promote the Secretariat’s role as a policy think-tank on key regional integration issues, in collaboration with regional and international research networks, and produce periodic SADC Policy Dialogue and Analysis Paper series.

Coordinate with the Research and Statistics Unit to conduct research that informs policy development, analysis and monitoring of key regional integration, development and cooperation issues, and produce Research and Policy Paper Series.

Initiate relevant reports to Council and Summit.

Provide technical advice to align national policies of Member States with overarching regional integration policies and strategies.

Analyse and assess the effectiveness and outreach of SADC policies and programmes and make recommendations for corrective actions.

Coordinate with external policy-making bodies in Member States to develop papers on issues of interest to SADC that can inform policymaking.

Strengthen partnerships between the Secretariat and stakeholders through a stakeholder engagement mechanism.

Facilitate periodic Policy Dialogue Forums between Member States and other stakeholders on strategic regional integration and development issues.

Organise and coordinate policy dialogue forums on key regional integration issues.

Facilitate the effective functioning of SADC National Committees and follow up on the implementation of regional policies at national level.

Feed information into and service the think-tank mechanism led by the DES Regional Integration.

Coordinate with regional, continental and global bodies to promote strategic partnerships and advance the SADC Agenda.

Servicing of Relevant Technical and Policy Committees, Meetings and Workshops

Prepare reports, documents and annotated agendas for submission to various SADC policy structures.

Liaise with the Conference Services Unit to organise meeting and workshop logistics and process or produce the necessary meeting and conference documents and presentations.

Facilitate technical committees, meetings and workshops as required.

Prepare records of technical and policy meetings, including communiqués for policy meetings.

Management of the Unit

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