Background of the Organisation
Southern African Endogenous Development Programme (SAEDP) is a home-grown rural community-owned Organisation registered by the Government of Zimbabwe on 6 February 2020 as a Private Voluntary Organisation (PVO) of Traditional Institutions characterized by a chain of command system of an esteemed supreme body originating from the Spirit Mediums through Chiefs anchored by a well-regarded team of Headmen/Women, Village Heads, Elders and Natural Experts, all parts as integral members within their rural Communities. The stakeholders have a mutually shared focus and understanding towards rural community development. The Traditional Institutions (Spirit Mediums and Chiefs) from different stakeholder Communities in Manicaland Province constitute the SAEDP Executive Committee. The Executive Committee is the centre of policy formulation and governance of the Organisation.
The vision and mission of SAEDP originate from a survey in 1997 when a feasibility study involving Traditional Institutions was conducted in nine countries – Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe - within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Region. The survey revealed that there is dire need of Bio-cultural Diversity conservation, Promotion of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS), Culture and Cosmovision and Local languages, Sustainable Food and Seed Security, Traditional Health Delivery, Promotion of Appropriate Technology, Research on IKS, Culture and Cosmovision. The Traditional Institutions, as major stakeholders and custodians of SAEDP, confirmed that the alternative biological conservation of natural resources and sustainable agricultural approaches, practices, processes and systems enshrined in the interdependence of the Spiritual, Human and Natural Worlds are, indeed, very important and urgent issues.
In line with its mandate, and responding to the needs expressed above, SAEDP is sanctioned to facilitate and strengthen the capacities of Traditional Institutions and their communities to use IKS in the management of bio-cultural diversity to promote and protect their cultural expressions, identities, philosophy, values, norms, and socio-cultural initiatives towards achieving culture-based sustainable development. The Spiritual World through the Traditional Institutions, therefore, dictated and directed the formation of SAEDP as a rural community-owned Private Voluntary Organisation to formerly implement the agreed resolutions in an integrated participatory approach in its wide-ranging bio-cultural diversity management operations that include Natural Resources Conservation; Indigenous Agriculture; Appropriate Technology; Traditional Health Delivery; Promotion of Local Languages and IKS, Culture, Spirituality and Cosmovision cutting across all activities.
The traditional community-centred approach of SAEDP in designing, planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating field development operations harmonizes well with the wellbeing indicators consolidated during the community resources diagnosis and baseline survey initially conducted before the implementation of the initiative.
