SCECSAL Secretariat issues a call for bids for XXIV SCECSAL Conference in 2022

Mr. John Paul Anbu K (r) and Mr. Justin Chisenga (l)
consulting during the SCECSAL conference in 2016 in
Ezulwini, Swaziland
[Photo: Khosie Ndalangamandla]

The SCECSAL Secretariat, hosted by the Swaziland Library and Information
Association (SWALA), on Tuesday issued a call for bids for hosting the XXIV conference of the Standing Conference of Eastern, Central and Southern African Library and Information Associations (SCECSAL) in 2022.

The call was distributed on the SCECSAL discussion forum for Presidents and Chairpersons of the SCECSAL member Associations on the Dgroups platform.

The host for the XXIV SCECSAL conference will be confirmed in Entebbe, in April 2018, thus consolidating the 2016 decision of the SCECSAL General Council to select future conference hosts four years in advance.

In an interview with the SCECSAL Forum Social Reporter, Mr. John Paul Anbu, SWALA President, welcomed the decision to announce the SCECSAL conference hosts four years in advance.

“Selecting hosts four years in advance gives a chance for the hosting country to plan well in advance. This also provides an opportunity for the associations that are not very active to put their act together to host a successful conference”, Mr. Anbu said.

Eligible member associations

Participants from Lesotho at the SCECSAL 2008
conference in Lusaka, Zambia [Photo: Justin Chisenga]

The SCECSAL General Council recently adopted new guidelines for selecting the hosts of future conferences and under these guidelines only SCECSAL member Associations from Botswana, Lesotho, South Africa and Swaziland are eligible to bid for the 2022 conference.

The Uganda Library and Information Association (ULIA) is set to organize the XXIII SCECSAL conference next year and the Namibian Information Workers Association in 2020.

The new guidelines divide SCECSAL into three sub-regions -  Eastern: Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda; Central: Namibia, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe; and Southern: Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and South Africa – and forbid a sub-region from hosting consecutive conferences unless circumstances dictate so and the decision is approved at least by two thirds of the members of the SCECSAL General Council.

“Rotation of SCECSAL conferences among sub-regions provides equal opportunity for the associations in the sub-regions in terms of hosting and equal opportunity for participants to visit other sub-regions for conferences”, Mr. Anbu said.

The four countries in the Southern sub-region have all hosted SCECSAL conferences in the past with Lesotho first hosting the conference in 1980 and later in 1996; Botswana in 1986 and in 2010; South Africa in 2002; and Swaziland in 1988 and 2016.

Deadline for bids

The closing date for submitting the bids, which should adhere to the new guidelines, is 31 January 2018.

All bids should be submitted to:

The President
Swaziland Library and Information Association
P.O. Box 2309
Mbabane, H100
SWAZILAND
Tel: +268 2517 0153
Fax: +268 2404 3863
Email: anbuj@uniswa.sz