The gathering is the latest milestone for a Technical Working Group that, after earlier sessions in Johannesburg and Windhoek, has already produced a comprehensive Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) Framework, Theory of Change and Minimum Programme Standards.
“This Dashboard is more than a digital tool. It is a breakthrough in accountability and oversight,” SADC PF Secretary General Ms Boemo Sekgoma declared in her opening address.
She added, “For the first time, we will have real-time access to harmonised, reliable data on how Member States are implementing the Model Law.”
Ms Sekgoma said that the initiative responds directly to a resolution of the SADC PF’s 57th Plenary Assembly, which urged national parliaments to accelerate domestication of the Model Law and to report progress to regional and global bodies.
According to a concept note circulated ahead of the meeting, delegates will finalise the design and structure of the regional Digital Dashboard; validate the MERL Framework, Theory of Change and Minimum Programme Standards; test and collect feedback on the Dashboard’s functionality; and strengthen stakeholder ownership and technical capacity so each country can embed the tools in its own monitoring systems.
The dashboard will feed on existing data sets including national Demographic and Health Surveys as well as education and health-ministry records, and present them in one intuitive interface.
Once operational, lawmakers debating child marriage legislation will be able to pull up country-specific indicators “from the chamber floor or a rural constituency, on a tablet or phone, in seconds,” organisers said.
Ms Sekgoma paid tribute to the Technical Working Group, “whose leadership has anchored this process.” She also thanked development partners Plan International, Girls Not Brides, HIVOS, UNICEF, UNFPA and CARE International for “a vote of confidence in regional solutions and in the power of data to drive change.”
“Let us ensure that this tool is institutionalised, with clear data-sharing protocols, defined user roles and safeguards for data protection,” she urged, noting that sustained political and financial commitment from Member States would be vital to keep the dashboard current and credible.
The workshop builds on momentum generated at a Windhoek session in April, where Mr Bevin Kapaso, Plan International’s M&E Specialist and technical lead, observed: “The Model Law was a huge step, but without a mechanism to track progress, we could not measure impact.”
Ms Sekgoma echoed that sentiment, calling on delegates to “own, use and sustain” the new mechanism.
While in Cape Town, participants will run live demonstrations, stress-test indicator definitions and draft data-sharing agreements. Feedback will be incorporated before a pilot launch later this year, after which the dashboard will be tabled for formal endorsement by SADC PF parliamentarians.
Ms Sekgoma invoked the region’s collective responsibility to end a practice that robs girls of education, health, and opportunity.
“Together, let us give the Model Law the tools it needs to live and breathe in policy and in practice,” she said.
She added, “Let us embrace the dashboard, let us act and let no girl be left behind.”
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