Declaration on Productivity in the Southern African Development Community

Jurisdiction: African Regional Bodies · Southern African Development Community (SADC)
Date: 18 August 1999
Language: English
Type: Declaration
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Southern African Development Community

Declaration on Productivity in the Southern African Development Community

Published
Commenced in full
[This is the version of this document at 18 August 1999.]

PREAMBLEWE, the Heads of State or Government of:The Republic of AngolaThe Republic of BotswanaThe Democratic Republic of CongoThe Kingdom of LesothoThe Republic of MalawiThe Republic of MauritiusThe Republic of MozambiqueThe Republic of NamibiaThe Republic of SeychellesThe Republic of South AfricaThe Kingdom of SwazilandThe United Republic of TanzaniaThe Republic of ZambiaThe Republic of ZimbabweRECOGNISING that the Southern African Development Community was created to provide, inter alia, for:deeper economic co-operation and integration, on the basis of balance, equity, and mutual benefit, providing for cross-border investment and trade, and freer movement of factors of production, goods and services across national borders;common economic, political and social values and systems, enhancing enterprise and competitiveness, democracy and good governance, respect for the rule of law and the guarantee of human rights, popular participation and alleviation of poverty;strengthened regional solidarity, peace and security, in order for the people of the Region to live and work together in harmony, peace and security.NOTING the various factors, such as low levels of economic growth, low levels of investment, high levels of unemployment and poverty, lack of competitiveness of regional economies, intra-regional and inter-regional economic disparities, which negatively impact on the Region’s development, integration and competitiveness.DEEPLY CONCERNED about low levels of productivity, lack of a common vision and understanding of productivity, inadequate information about productivity improvement approaches, as well as low levels of co-operation among social partners on productivity issue.UNDERSTANDING that productivity is the efficiency and effectiveness with which labour, capital, materials, energy and other resources are combined and utilised in an environmentally and socially sustainable manner to produce quality goods and services for the satisfaction of human needs.ACKNOWLEDGING that increased productivity is best achieved under an environment characterised by:economic systems that are efficient, inclusive and competitive;human resources development which engenders productive behaviour;equitable distribution of the fruits of productivity gains;policies that embrace tripartism and facilitate harmonious industrial relations;productivity improvement which does not lead to a net reduction in employment, but rather one which results in job retention or yields net employment creation;a commitment by all social partners to productivity enhancement;gender equality and equity; andAWARE that the challenge for SADC is to ensure improved living standards for all its peoples, by harnessing the human, capital and material resources at its disposal in the most productive and sustainable manner.WE, the Heads of State or Government commit ourselves and our respective countries to meeting these challenges through increased productivity and WE therefore undertake to:

(a)formulate and adopt appropriate national and regional policies and strategies at the macro institutional and enterprise levels to enhance productivity:Macro levelappropriate fiscal, monetary, trade, industrial, sectoral and labour market policies to ensure adequate access to economic assets and income generating activities for the majority of the labour force;enhancing human resource development and technological capabilities at the enterprise, sectoral, national and regional levels; andpromoting and strengthening horizontal and vertical linkages among micro, small, medium and large-scale enterprise at national, regional and international levels;Institutional Levelestablishment or strengthening of an institutional framework for dispute settlement and productivity bargaining; andpromotion of participatory labour relations and work process and establishment of mechanisms for sharing in the gains from productivity enhancement;Enterprise Levelstrengthening the capacity of enterprises to redesign various aspects of their operations for the purpose of enhancing productivity and promoting vertical and horizontal linkages in production, resources used, distribution, and marketing among enterprises nationally ad regionally; and

(b)develop a framework for the implementation of this Declaration through the following actions:facilitation of the establishment of National Productivity Organization (NPO) in all Member States by 2001 by the Employment and Labour Sector (ELS) and ensuring the involvement of other key stakeholders that can contribute to the creation and sustenance of effective NPOs;establishment, by the ELS, of a mechanism for co-operation, sharing of experiences, know-how and information among NPOs in the Region; andmonitoring productivity growth by collating relevant national productivity statistics under the ELS and establishing benchmarks for productivity improvement.

IN WITNESS WHERE OF, WE, the Heads of State or Government of the SADC, signed this declaration.Done at Maputo on this 18^th day of August 1999, in three (3) original texts, in the English, French and Portuguese languages, all texts being equally authentic.

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