Formation of the Southern African Development Information System (SADIS) Introduction The irop;)rtance of establishing information infrastructures in developing nations like those of SOUthern Africa has been stressed in the United Nations WOrld Plan of Action for the Application of Science and Technology to Developrent, prepared for the Second United Nations Develotment Decade. The plan states that efforts srould be made to provide adequate facilities for the transfer of knowledge arrong nations, which cannot be aco::lTplished witlout the existence of proper information channels responsible for the collection, treatment and dissanination of relevant data. The overall Information and [))cumentation Services in this region is clear to many information services personnel and need rot be over-erphasised. All science and other research workers in SOUthernAfrica are involved in devel0Em2nt in one way or another. They alone koow exactly v..hat the l:ot- tlenecks are that militate against their work. High am:mg these l:ottle- necks is lack of scientific and technical documents necessary for their work. The need for Information Resource Sharing arrong the SAOCC Countries There has been a need to have resource sharing undertaken on a regional level in SOUthern Africa for various reasons; arrong them being: (a) Research duplication and overlap ~ different research organisations working in the same field. (b) Poor disssnination of research findings to users e.g. policy makers, l:usinessmen, fanners etc. (c) Lack of p..Iblic awareness of research findings arrong the SOUthern African coordination conference (SAIXX:) countries. It has been there- fore orserved that a well organised information resource sharing systan arrong the SAOCC countries, will be able to identify the problens of knowledge or information generation arrong the SADCC countries. The concern is not rrerely one of eliminating duplication, overlap and low utilisation levels, b.lt one of increasing the utility and rele- vance of a nationally expensive activity. Pro~Sed Establishment of a Southern African Deve opnent Information System (SADIS) A proposal to establish a SOUthern African Develq:ment Information System, was considered after three consecutive consultative meetings held in Harare, in 1981 and 1982. COuntries representP.d at these meetings included: Botswana, Lesoth::l, Swaziland, Malawi, M:>zambique, Tanzania, zi.mbaJ:;Jwe and SWAPO also sent representatives. It was agreed unaninOusly ~ the partici- pants that Z:inlJ::ah.Jewas to h:>st the secretariat. At the time of licy fomulation, planning, IlOnitoring and evaluation through the following series of activities: (a) Cataloguing, indexing and abstracting. (b) CUrrent awareness and retrospective bibliographic searches on demand. (c) Selective dissemination of information. (d) Consolidation and repackaging of information. (e) Documentdelivery. (f) Facilitation of the user's access to pr:l.marydocument oollection, l::oth with direct supply of microcopies and with info:cnation oon- cerning hard copy availability in and outside the UNfamily. (g) Provision of information-bearing magnetic tapes from PADISand other information systems to interested countries of 5o.lthern Africa. (h) Advisory services to Southern African co..mtries on information and doa.mentation problems. (i) Providing advice to rrsnber states and preparing guidelines regar- ding suitable hardware and software oonfigurations selected on the b3sis of COlIpatibility oost and other factors. (j) SADISwill establish a register of ongoing socio-econanic research and develop:nent projects. (k) SADISwill act as a clearing rouse for informaticn on all forms of technical assistance to SAOCC countries for the developnent of socio-eo:manic, scientific and technological information systans and services. (I) SADISwill identify appropriate institutions in and outside Southern Africa wrose formal training progranmes in Library, Documentation aTld Info:cnation sciences ~d provide the neces- sary professional and sub-1>rofessional personnel training for staffing information services in 5o.lthem Africa. 88 A continuously updated list of such institutions will I::epreparErl for the guidance of SOUthernAfrican g:>vemmentsand donor agencies in the award of scholarships to technical personnel participating in SADISat the natio- nal, sub-regional and regional levels. It is generally oopErl that a system like SADISonce establishErl, will I::e able to facilitate free infonnation flow in SOUthernAfrica, and to aca:xn- plish regional ccoperation in the area of information as follows: (1) Establishment of repertories of documentary institutions and research insti tutions in the region. (2) Publication and circulation of information (thesauri, indexes, biblio- graphies, and other documents) arrong researchers, documentalists in the different SOUthernAfrican countries. (3) Exchange of research information I::e~en all the countries of SOUthern Africa. (4) Continued training of docurrentalists in these countries. (5) Periodic international conferences on research and OOcumentation. (6) Standardisation of documentary techniques in the whJle region. (7) Integration and ccordination of docurrentary activities at national and international levels. FRANCIS IN3l\NJI Documen talistjResearch Fellow National Institute of Developnent Research & Documentation University of Botswana 89