Final Evaluation of the ‘Support to Peace and Security in the SADC Region (SPSS)’ Programme

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has a long-term vision of a regional community that has a common future and that will ensure socio-economic well-being, improvement of the standards of living and quality of life, freedom and social justice and peace and security for the people of Southern Africa. In particular, by 2050, SADC envisions a peaceful, inclusive, middle-to-high income industrialised region, where all citizens enjoy sustainable economic well-being, justice and freedom.

Background

The SADC Vision 2050 is expressed in three pillars: Industrial Development and Market Integration; Infrastructure Development in Support of Regional Integration; and Social and Human Capital Development, all built on a firm foundation of Peace, Security and Good Governance. SADC currently has 16 Member States.

The EU has been a long-term cooperating partner of SADC, supporting the regional integration process and advancing SADC’s regional integration agenda. To this effect the EU allocated €15 million for an intervention on peace, security and regional stability, that resulted in the ‘Support to Peace and Security in the SADC Region (SPSS)’ Programme.

Our work

Ecorys recently finalised an evaluation of this SPSS Programme. The project was composed out of two components, i) the Final Evaluation of the ‘Support to Peace and Security in the SADC Region (SPSS)’ Programme and ii) the identification and formulation of a successor intervention ‘Building the Capability and Effectiveness of the Peace and Security Architecture in SADC (BICEPSS)’ Next to the evaluation, our team of experts also assisted the EU Delegation in the identification and formulation of the successor intervention of the SPSS programme, by assessing how the future funding support should be provided to SADC to continue to promoting peace, security, stability and democracy as a foundation for regional integration.

Key findings

Our evaluation aimed to provide recommendations on how to best link and synergise with the forthcoming EU funded programmes and on lessons learnt regarding the implementation modality and conclusions for the next programming period. This evaluation is important for ensuring the continued promotion of peace, security, and regional integration in Southern Africa. Ecorys remains dedicated to supporting the EU in evaluating its programmes to draw upon the lessons learned and to recommend how this can feed into the future programming.

For more information, please contact Kim Groenewegen