This policy advisory group seminar was held in Botswana from 19 to 20 September 2015 and convened about 30 mostly African policymakers, scholars, and civil society actors. Senior officials
attended from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC), as well as key policymakers from the SADC region and donor governments. The seminar considered five key objectives: first, strengthening Southern Africa’s evolving security and governance architecture, as well as the important role of civil society in the sub-region; second, contributing to the policy development efforts of the South African and SADC governments, as well as to those of the SADC secretariat; third, assessing critically efforts to promote region-building and peace-building in Southern Africa, and the specific roles of SADC, SACU, and the COMESA-EACSADC
Tripartite Agreement; fourth, strengthening dialogue between South Africa and its neighbours in order to foster dialogue among SADC members about critical governance and security challenges in
Southern Africa; and finally, exploring strategies that can encourage SADC members to promote foreign policy goals consistent with human rights, peace and security, and democratic governance.
