The Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF) was established in 1997 in accordance with Article 9 (2) of the SADC Treaty as an autonomous institution of SADC It is a regional inter-parliamentary body composed of Thirteen (13) parliaments representing over 3500 parliamentarians in the SADC region. These member parliaments are Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South, Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The Forum seeks to bring regional experiences to bear at the national level, to promote best practices in the role of parliaments in regional cooperation and integration as outlined in the SADC Treaty and the Forum Constitution. Its main aim is to provide a platform for parliaments and parliamentarians to promote and improve regional integration in the SADC region, through parliamentary involvement.

The objectives of the Forum address a wide range of issues, including but not limited to:

(i) Promotion of human rights, gender equality, good governance, democracy and transparency;
(ii) Promotion of peace, security and stability;
(iii) Hastening the pace of economic cooperation, development and integration on the basis
of equity and mutual benefi ts;
(iv) Facilitating networking with other inter-parliamentary organizations;
(v) Promoting the participation of non-governmental organisations, business and intellectual
communities in SADC activities;
(vii) Familiarising the peoples of SADC with the aims and objectives of SADC; and
(viii) Informing SADC of the popular views on development and issues affecting the region.

The Forum has taken a keen interest in election observation in its member states. In this regard the Forum has observed elections in Namibia and Mozambique in and Zimbabwe Mauritius and Tanzania in Based on these observations the Forum has developed and adopted Electoral Norms and Standards for the SADC region which serve as bench marks against which to assess the management and the conduct of elections in the region

Concurrent with the adoption of Norms and Standards for elections in the SADC region, the Forum also decide to abandon its earlier focus on the observation of polling and counting activities and extend its missions to the other phases of an electoral process namely the pre election and post election phases.

SADC Parliamentary Forum Strategic Plan (2006 - 2010)

This strategic plan gives an analytical work of the revision of the Forum’s vision and mission statements and identification of strategic objectives that the Forum will seek to achieve by 2010. It is the result of a protracted process that included a review of the 2000-2005 strategic plan and its implementation, identifying priorities and making strategic choices by the Forum’s Standing Committees and Secretariat staff, as well as consultations between all the national parliaments. The plan was subsequently adopted by the 19th Plenary Assembly of the Forum. It also involved a review of regional trends and challenges, the Forum’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as programme options.  Read More...

SADC Parliamentary Forum Constitution

We the representative of the people of the Southern Africa Developement Community, having solemnly resolved to constitute a Parliamentary consultative Assembly to be known as the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum with a view to develop into a regional Parliament structure, for the purpose of strengthening the capacity of the Southern African Development Community by involving Parliamentarians of member statesin its activities. Read More...