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The report analyzes the complex political economy of Southern African agriculture, identifying governance and external financing as the primary uncertainties affecting the region's future. Through a stakeholder workshop in Harare, four distinct scenarios were developed, ranging from a high-investment, high-policy-quality future ('I believe I can fly') to a state of total failure ('This is the end'). The authors argue that while the region currently sits in a precarious position characterized by poor domestic policy and weak state capacity, there are opportunities to pivot toward growth through improved infrastructure, transparent land tenure management, and the strategic adoption of agricultural technologies like GMOs.

The report analyzes how sustainability knowledge—comprising both substantive technical data and process-oriented expertise—influences public policy. Through six case studies, it identifies that policy impact is not linear but occurs through instrumental, interactive, political, and enlightenment models. Key success factors include the presence of high-level political 'champions', the use of stakeholder engagement to build legitimacy, and the development of long-term trust between knowledge providers and policy users. The document concludes with ten general suggestions for researchers to enhance their policy relevance, emphasizing the need to balance independent research with user-led collaboration and to communicate findings in accessible, timely formats.

The report examines the intersection of biomass, livelihoods, and international trade, focusing on the trade axis between the European Union and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). It highlights the growth of North-South trade in bioenergy, particularly liquid biofuels like bio-ethanol and biodiesel, driven by EU commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in transport. The document weighs the potential for economic growth and livelihood creation against risks of environmental degradation and economic exploitation, ultimately offering recommendations for future research, policy, and capacity building rather than definitive conclusions.

The paper examines the nexus between migration and human security, focusing on the vulnerabilities of undocumented Zimbabweans in South Africa. It identifies push factors in Zimbabwe, such as economic collapse and political repression, and pull factors in South Africa, including economic prosperity. The author argues that the lack of legal documentation renders migrants susceptible to employment exploitation, inadequate shelter, and physical abuse in detention centres. The document also discusses the SADC Protocol on the Facilitation of Movement of Persons as a potential mechanism to reduce illegal migration and improve human security, while noting institutional failures in both Zimbabwe and South Africa that perpetuate the current crisis.

The policy brief argues that Africa's high vulnerability to climate change necessitates 'anticipatory adaptation' driven by the effective use of climate science. It outlines seven key recommendations: improving access to historical climate data to enhance downscaling; strengthening the skills of African climate scientists and establishing regional science centres; bridging the communication gap between data producers and users through 'translators'; creating collaborative information-sharing platforms; leveraging existing local organisations; documenting successful adaptation cases; and ensuring donor aid is long-term and aligned with African priorities.

The document analyzes the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections, noting that while it establishes a regional commitment to standards such as judicial independence and media access, it contains loopholes regarding observer deployment and the acceptance of results. It highlights Zimbabwe as a critical test case where previous elections were marred by violence and irregularities, and expresses skepticism about the credibility of upcoming polls given the current political climate.

The report argues that Africa must prioritize 'getting the basics right' by shifting government spending from current consumption toward the maintenance of physical assets and the establishment of transparent legal and financial institutions. It outlines a ten-point plan to spur growth, including fighting corruption, reforming land ownership, adopting continent-wide macroeconomic targets, and accelerating the privatisation of key infrastructure to attract private investment.

The paper argues that the current trend of African countries belonging to multiple regional entities simultaneously is unsustainable, particularly as these groups move from free trade areas to customs unions. Because a country cannot realistically apply two different common external tariffs, overlapping memberships create legal contradictions and increased transaction costs. The author proposes four potential scenarios for rationalisation: equal sharing of members, a merger of SACU and SADC, the dominance of COMESA, or the creation of a single large regional trading bloc aligned with the African Union's goal of an African Economic Community by 2025.

The document analyzes the bilateral economic relationship between China and southern Africa, weighing the benefits of increased mineral and agricultural exports against the risks of industrial decline and displacement of regional production by cheap Chinese imports.

The report details a scoping workshop held in Johannesburg in October 2010 to launch the APRM Monitoring Project (AMP). The project seeks to empower civil society organisations (CSOs) in Southern Africa to track the implementation of National Programmes of Action (NPoA) through the APRM Monitoring & Advocacy Template (AMAT). The workshop identified challenges such as limited CSO resources, low public visibility of the APRM, and the need for collaborative rather than antagonistic relationships with governments. Lessons from Uganda's NGO Forum highlighted the value of aligning APRM monitoring with existing governance networks. The workshop concluded with a consensus on the need for an independent, inclusive, and grassroots-oriented review process.

The report uses scenario planning to analyze the uncertainties surrounding the WTO Doha Round and Southern Africa's trade relations. It identifies key driving forces and uncertainties, developing multiple scenarios for the multilateral trade talks, intra-regional integration (SADC, SACU, Comesa, EAC), and external relations with the US and EU. The document outlines 'preferred futures' and provides roadmaps with milestones to achieve them, emphasizing the need for proactive policy adjustments and strategic alliances.

The document highlights that Africa's vulnerability to climate change is driven by poverty, lack of infrastructure, and dependence on the natural environment. It finds a significant gap between climate science producers and agricultural decision-makers, noting that few practitioners successfully use projection data to improve productivity. The brief recommends strengthening communication between scientists and users, building local institutional capacity, and shifting donor funding from short-term pilot projects to long-term process support.

The document analyzes international migration patterns within the Southern African Development Community (SADC), highlighting the roles of South Africa, Botswana, and Namibia as primary destinations. It identifies significant gaps in migration data collection and the prevalence of xenophobia as barriers to regional integration. The author discusses the evolution of the SADC Draft Protocol on Facilitation of Movement of Persons, noting that while it has reached the signing stage, its success depends on the harmonisation of national laws and the adoption of standardised data collection methods, such as both de facto and de jure census enumeration.

The document proposes a study to expand upon a pilot analysis of South Africa-Zimbabwe trade by examining South Africa-Botswana trade. It argues for a broadened definition of non-tariff barriers to include "trade policy barriers" such as exchange controls and environmental levies. The research intends to move beyond individual company impacts to analyze how NTBs affect entire supply chains, utilizing a methodology of desktop analysis, interviews, and first-hand observations at selected border posts.

The report examines the 'aid for trade' concept, which aims to help developing countries, particularly least-developed countries (LDCs), build supply-side capacity and infrastructure to benefit from the multilateral trading system. It analyzes the recommendations of the WTO Task Force on Aid for Trade, the role of the African Group, and the impact of other initiatives like the Enhanced Integrated Framework (IF) and Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the EU. The author argues that for aid for trade to be effective in southern and eastern Africa, it must be driven by the recipient countries, integrated into national development strategies, and delinked from market access concessions in the Doha Round.

The document analyzes South Africa's strategic shift from its role as a dominant power in southern Africa during and after the apartheid era to a leader of the 'Global South'. It examines how South Africa uses its influence in the UN and within non-aligned blocs to challenge Western diplomatic dominance and advocate for a more equitable global order. The author highlights specific diplomatic actions regarding Iran and Myanmar as evidence of this strategy to shift power away from the UN Security Council toward the General Assembly and other non-Western constellations.

The document examines the application of global anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regimes in Southern Africa. It argues that 'one-size-fits-all' international standards, designed for developed formal banking systems, are often inappropriate for the region's cash-based economies and can hinder financial inclusion. The author finds that evidence of actual terrorist financing in Southern Africa is scanty, suggesting that development should take priority over the costly implementation of these complex measures.

The report examines the 'spaghetti bowl' of overlapping regional economic communities (RECs) in southern and eastern Africa, focusing on the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), and the East African Community (EAC). It highlights the institutional tensions caused by multiple memberships and the pressure from EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations. The authors argue that SACU should be positioned as a core 'fast-tracking' anchor for regional integration, but emphasize that it must first 'get the basics right' by improving trade facilitation, statistics, and its internal institutional framework before expanding.

The document analyses the transition of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) from a model of South African dominance and protectionism to one of 'open regionalism' and consensus-based decision-making under the 2002 agreement. Using game theory to explain the difficulties of regional cooperation, it argues that SACU's historical durability relied on a tradeoff where smaller members accepted South African policy dominance in exchange for generous shares of a common revenue pool. The 2002 agreement threatens this balance by seeking to reduce external tariffs, which would likely shrink the revenue pool, while granting smaller members veto rights over such reductions. The author suggests that for SACU to succeed in deepening integration or expanding membership to countries like Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, or Zimbabwe, it must find new ways to align the strategic self-interests of member governments with collective developmental goals.

The document discusses how the negotiation of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the EU has highlighted Southern Africa's struggles with political and economic integration, specifically the issue of overlapping memberships in various regional organisations. It notes a divide in opinion on whether the EU should wait for the region to resolve these internal integration issues or if the EPA process itself is acting as a catalyst for finding solutions.