Call for Partnership in the establishment and operationalisation of the Southern African Technical and Scientific Cooperation Support Centre
The South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) has been selected as one of the 18 regional and/or subregional technical and scientific cooperation support centres under the Technical and Scientific Cooperation Mechanism established by the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in its Decision 15/8: (December 2022).
SANBI’s responsibility, as the Southern African Technical and Scientific Cooperation Support Centre (hereafter referred to as the Support Centre), is to promote and facilitate technical and scientific cooperation and technology transfer among the member states of the Southern African region to enable them to effectively utilise science, technology, and innovation to support the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF). This includes serving as a ’one-stop service centre’ for all the stakeholders in the Southern African Region involved in the implementation of the KM-GBF including the member states, indigenous peoples, local communities, women, and youth organisations.
The Support Centre is also expected to facilitate technology transfer, foster innovation, create job opportunities, and offer capacity building programmes in the Southern African Subregion. More information on the functions of the support centre can be found here. This crucial responsibility places SANBI, as the Support Centre, at the forefront of establishing and operationalising an effective centre to support the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in meeting the KM-GBF goals and targets.
Why partner with us?
SANBI will adopt a ‘network of partners’ institutional model for the establishment and operationalisation of the Support Centre. This will allow the centre to achieve its strategic goals and objectives, not by undertaking all the necessary functions and activities in-house, but by fostering structured relationships with a variety of strategic partners in the public and Non-Governmental Organisations sectors.
We are therefore calling for all interested and relevant organisations, institutions, academia, and regional and subregional bodies to respond to this Expression of Interest for partnerships and collaborations in the establishment and operationalisation of the Support Centre. We believe that it is only through partnership and collaboration that SANBI can deliver an effective hub of expertise, technical cooperation, capacity building, and knowledge sharing. Join us in building a Support Centre of excellence that fosters scientific collaboration and technology transfer across Southern African member states.
How to respond to this call?
Relevant and interested organisations or regional and subregional bodies are invited to submit their expression of interest to this call by 30 January 2025 by completing this form.
Enquiries:
Ms Ntakadzeni Tshidada
Director of Biodiversity Policy
E-mail: n.tshidada@sanbi.org.za