On March 19, 2025, His Excellency Mr. Elias M. Magosi, the Executive Secretary of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), welcomed Ms. Etleva Kadilli, the Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), during her visit to Gaborone, Botswana. Ms. Kadilli was accompanied by Dr. Joan Matji, the outgoing UNICEF Country Representative for Botswana to SADC.
The purpose of the visit was to fortify bilateral relations and to formalise the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between SADC and UNICEF for the next five (5) years from 2025 to 2030. Over the years, UNICEF has cultivated a strong working relationship with SADC, particularly in policy formulation and provision of technical and financial support for several programmes and initiatives. UNICEF has presence in all SADC Member States and has engaged through initiatives in humanitarian support, peace building, health, HIV, nutrition, Water, Sanitation and hygiene (WASH), education, child protection and social protection.
H.E. Magosi expressed his gratitude for UNICEF's sustained technical support and acknowledged the organisation's contributions to advocating for children's rights and promoting sustainable and socio-economic development within the SADC region. He acknowledged the ongoing efforts by the UNICEF to support the SADC region in the development of key regional nutrition strategies that align with the priorities of the SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP 2020-2030) and SADC Vision 2050. These approaches include large scale food fortification overweight and obesity prevention and food systems transformation.
He identified areas requiring attention to improve children's well-being, addressing challenges such as diseases, child abuse, trafficking, HIV/AIDS, climate change, and local manufacturing of medicines and vaccines. He highlighted UNICEF's role in advancing health and nutrition programmes and acknowledged progress made in these areas.
Ms. Kadilli expressed appreciation for the partnership and mutual cooperation between UNICEF and SADC at both national and regional levels. She advocated for continued collaboration to enhance policies that ensure equitable access to essential services for children, including health, nutrition, water, sanitation and education.
She underscored UNICEF's alignment with the region's vision and the African Union (AU)'s Agenda 2063, as well as Africa’s Agenda for Children 2040, which aims to secure a promising future for Africa’s young population. Ms. Kadilli emphasised the importance of disaster risk reduction and public health emergency preparedness in safeguarding lives and livelihoods, thereby fostering sustainable development.
The SADC region continues to face significant challenges regarding the high prevalence of growth stunting among children. As of 2024, approximately 21 million children under the age of five are affected, marking an increase from 18.6 million in 2022.
UNICEF continues to address HIV among children and adolescents, providing technical support to Member States through the Regional Hub and the Global Alliance to end Pediatric AIDS.
UNICEF has historically offered financial and technical assistance for developing HIV prevalence and progress reports and supported regional responses to multiple outbreaks. The organisation remains committed to resource mobilisation for epidemic responses at both country and regional levels.
The MoU signed between SADC and UNICEF is accompanied by a five-year action plan, with both parties agreeing to maintain close collaboration through ongoing engagements.
