The Southern Africa Trust supports civil society to engage effectively in regional-level policy processes aimed at overcoming poverty and inequality in southern Africa. The purpose of the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) is to deepen regional integration in southern Africa. It provides SADC countries with a comprehensive programme for harmonising long-term economic and social policies. It also provides the SADC secretariat and other SADC institutions with a clear view of SADC’s priorities. The RISDP prioritises sustainable and equitable economic growth and socio-economic development with the aim of poverty eradication, with the following main areas of focus: • Trade/financial/economic liberalization • Development of infrastructure and services • Food security • Social and human development Cross-cutting areas included in the RISDP are: • Gender and development • Sustainable environment • HIV and AIDS • Information and communication technologies • Science and technology • Private sector development • Statistics As the RISDP provides direction for SADC policies and programmes over the long term, it is crucial that civil society organizations (CSOs) understand the RISDP and engage with it in an informed and independent manner. Inclusive SADC national committees are meant to be the primary fora for the implementation of SADC policy frameworks. The Southern Africa Trust invites submission of concept notes from eligible organisations for work that addresses the RISDP and strengthens SADC national committees, in application for grants. Through this call the Trust aims to promote greater awareness of the RISDP and encourage analysis and action that strengthens its regional ownership and effectiveness. The Scope of Proposals: The Southern Africa Trust is interested to receive applications that respond to any of the following questions: • What are the strengths, weaknesses, and gaps in the RISDP and how can it be taken forward? Does the RISDP provide an appropriate framework for poverty eradication in southern Africa? • What are the obstacles to implementing such an appropriate poverty eradication framework and how can the obstacles be overcome? • What processes should be put in place to accelerate the achievement of the RISDP milestones for regional integration? What should be done to ensure that the different risks and benefits between the ‘small’ and ‘big’ national economies and between their poor and rich citizens are managed for more effective poverty eradication? • What are the linkages or contradictions between the RISDP and national poverty reduction strategies in southern Africa and how can these be overcome? • What influence do civil society organisations and communities have on the policy frameworks developed at regional level and in their implementation and how can civil society organisations improve their engagement in this sphere? • How should the impact of migration in southern Africa be considered in the RISDP and in all planning processes for development? What, for example, can be done within the RISDP framework to ensure the portability of social benefits for migrant workers across the region? • How can the RISDP’s impact on food security in southern Africa be strengthened? • How can the RISDP make a difference in the lives of people living in poverty through the rapid and effective delivery of basic social services? • What is the status of the establishment of effective SADC national committees and how can SADC national committees be strengthened with civil society participation? • How can RISDP and SADC national committee processes work coherently with other regional and continental processes such as AU ECOSOCC and NEPAD processes? • What capacity building needs should be prioritised and implemented for the roll-out of effective poverty reduction strategies in southern Africa? Criteria The Southern Africa Trust is especially interested in proposals that adopt innovative approaches that include a mix of the following areas of work: Research: policy-relevant research and analysis that is drawn from the actual experience of people living in poverty and that sheds new light on the RISDP as a regional approach which may have the potential for added impact over and above what can be achieved through national-level policies. Policy dialogue: inclusive stakeholder dialogue and engagement on aspects covered by the RISDP that are linked to specific poverty reduction programmes or policy frameworks aimed at producing real change in the lives of people living in poverty in the region. Building regional civil society organisation: networking among and consolidation of a diverse range of interest-based forms of civil society organisation across more than two SADC countries so as to strengthen the capacity for credible engagement and impact of regional civil society organisations in policy processes such as the RISDP. Proposals that do not demonstrate how the specific work proposed fits into a broader ongoing process in each of the above areas will not be considered favourably. In addition, joint applications from alliances, partnerships, or coalitions between different types of organisations across national borders will be favoured, where two or more organisations propose a joint piece for work for the Trust to support. If you are submitting a joint application, a lead organisation must be identified, in whose name the application is made. All applications must: • have a wide impact, aimed at changing wider policy and practice or have the potential to be taken up more widely for maximum impact to overcome poverty; • add value by, for example, levering additional funding; • identify and address the causes of problems, rather than dealing with the symptoms only; • demonstrate how good practice and learning will be communicated and shared; and • produce clear policy influencing outputs throughout the duration of the proposed work, not just at its end. Application Process: The Southern Africa Trust invites those organisations or alliances of organisations with a regional-level presence, a mandate relevant to overcoming poverty, and a policy-influencing agenda to submit concept notes in the Trust’s prescribed format. The template for concept notes is available at www.southernafricatrust.org or by contacting Ms Shupikai Gwabuya at tel. +27 11 313 3065 or sgwabuya@southernafricatrust.org. Applications submitted in any other format will not be accepted. Applications should not exceed US$150,000 a year over a maximum period of three years, beginning January 2007. Budgets must be presented in US dollars.