Creating and executing supranational regional policies is a critical first step in preparing regions to become core players on the global stage. Such policies seek to modernise and restructure a region’s foundations, promote sustainable development across borders and address economic and social inequalities.
Prof Mariske van Aswegen and Prof Ernst Drewes from the North-West University (NWU) are the editors of a book titled Regional Policy in the Southern African Development Community. The book, published in March 2024, explores perceptive insights into regional economic policy planning, driving transformative practices and outcomes in the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Prof Van Aswegen is an extraordinary professor at the Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management (UESM), and Prof Drewes is in the School of Geo and Spatial Sciences under the subject group of Urban and Regional Planning. They are among the scholars and different research entities who have made a valuable contribution to the SADC regional policy and planning landscape. This area has historically been overlooked.
Enhanced collaboration among regions
The book addresses the three most pressing issues that the SADC has identified: policy, physical and structural aspects, and economic and trade perspectives. The final part of the book offers a comprehensive understanding and detailed proposal for each preceding section.
The premise of the book is that, by building regional connecting infrastructure, the southern African nations that make up the SADC Regional Economic Communities (RECs) can boost their functional trade interdependency to their mutual benefit. RECs are regional groupings of African states and are pillars of the African Union.
These nations are Angola, Botswana, Comoros, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, the Seychelles, South Africa, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The editors contribute to the continuation of regional policy talks by encouraging ongoing conversations about enhancing cross-border cooperation and promoting development in the regions. Their goal is to strengthen the Global South’s voice and research in spatial economic and regional development, among other things.
Up to now there has been little policy guidance from a regional and country-specific perspective in the SADC. This book fills some of the gaps by offering strategic policy thinking with alternative regional policy and planning approaches. It presents feasible and practical policy solutions to inter- and intra-regional collaboration, exploring attributes relevant to the formation of regional policy.
At the same time, the publication advances the mission of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences by emphasising the resilient and sustainable development of Africa. It reinforces the NWU’s position as the leading research institution in regional planning and policy formation in South Africa and within the SADC.
More about the editors
Prof Ernst Drewes is a renowned registered professional urban and regional planner with 30 years of experience in the industry. He is an accredited commercial mediator specialising in property development mediation, and a proud member of the South African Council for Planners (SACPLAN).
Prof Mariske van Aswegen’s research work focuses on resilience in the peripheral region, regional policy and regional strategic planning. She is a qualified and professionally registered SACPLAN urban and regional planner with 20 years of academic experience in the field.
Prof Mariske van Aswegen
Prof Ernst Drewes
The book, Regional Policy in the Southern African Development Community.
