New dates for SCECSAL 2020 announced

Delegates from Malawi at SCECSSAL 2018 in Uganda

The SCECSAL 2020 Conference and Exhibition will be held on 8-12 February 2021 at the Safari Hotel and Conference Centre in Windhoek, Namibia, according to communication from the Namibia Information Workers Association and the SCECSAL Secretariat.

The SCANUL-ECS meeting will be on 7 February 2020.

The SCECSAL General Council, made up of Presidents/Chairpersons of SCECSAL Member Library and Information Associations from Botswana, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, approved the new dates on 24 March.

The conference was initially scheduled for 20-24 April 2020 but was postponed due to the global coronavirus pandemic.

Current registrations will remain valid for the conference on the new dates in 2021. Individuals wanting to cancel their registrations can do so, in writing, and will be charged 25% of the registration fees to cover administrative costs incurred thus far. Requests for refunds should be sent to Ms Ritva Niskala at rniskala@unam.na and copied to Mr. Wilheim Uutoni at wuutoni@unam.na and Dr. Chiku  M. Mchombu at cmchombu@unam.na.

NIWA will revise the conference budget and registration fees for 2021 to take into account the anticipated increase in costs due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.  The revised registration fees will be announced in August 2020.
More information will be made available on through the following digital platforms:

Conference website: http://scecsal2020.org/
SCECSAL Forum Blog: http://scecsal.blogspot.com/
Follow us: @SCECSAL

SCECSAL 2020 conference postponed

Some NIWA members at the official launch of the
SCECSAL 2020 conference  in Windhoek, Namibia on
4 February 2020

The XXIVth Standing Conference of Eastern, Central and Southern African Library and Information Association (dubbed SCECSAL 2020) scheduled for 20-24 April 2020 in Windhoek, Namibia has been postponed until further notice.

The Namibian Information Workers Associations (NIWA), the SCECSAL member Association that was to host the conference, took the decision to postpone the conference on 12 March.

The postponement of the conference comes after a meeting of the SCECSAL General Council on 11 March at which an unanimous decision was taken to postpone the meeting, following the review of on ongoing developments in the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) across the globe and the concerns expressed by the SCECSAL member Associations.

In related developments,  on 11 March the Namibia Minister of Health, Dr Kalumbi Shangula, advised Namibians to avoid face-to-face meetings with international participants to minimize chances of contracting covid-19, and later in the evening on the same day, the World Health Organization (WHO) Director General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, declared the covid-19 a pandemic, both events gave strong justification to the SCECSAL General Council’s proposal to postpone the conference.

NIWA and the SCECSAL Secretariat will monitor the developments and, in due course, propose the new dates for the conference.

SCECSAL member Associations that took part in the General Council meeting were:

• Eswatini Library Association (ESWALA)
• Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA)
• Library and Information Association of Zambia (LIAZ)
• Lesotho Library Association (LLA)
• Malawi Library Association (MALA)
• Namibia Library and Information Workers Association (NIWA)
• Tanzania Library Association (TLA)

For further information and clarifications, please contact the SCECSAL Secretariat at scecsal.secretariat@gmail.com.

SCECSAL 2020 officially launched!

By Sylvia Umana

The Twenty-Fourth Standing Conference of Eastern, Central and Southern

African Library and Information Associations (SCECSAL XXIV), also dubbed SCECSAL 2020, was officially launched on 4 February at the National Library of Namibia in Windhoek.

Ms. Edda Bohn Deputy Executive Director of Formal Education
 from the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture

The Deputy Executive Director of Formal Education, Ms. Edda Bohn, representing the Minister of Education, Arts and Culture as the Guest of Honour, officiated at the launch which was witnessed by over 40 participants from various institutions such as government ministries, universities, parastatals organizations as well as the media houses.

In her keynote speech, Ms. Bohn recapped the audience on Namibia’s Vision 2030 which is aimed at enabling the country to set up a vibrant knowledge economy by the end of this decade, a vision which requires access to information to all young and old alike. It also requires free access to ICTs and ICT Literacy as we journey towards this goal. Hence the relevance of this conference forthcoming at the time when all these important policy decisions are being implemented. She therefore concluded that, the success of SCECSAL 2020 is the success of Namibia and Africa in entirety.

The launch of SCECSAL 2020 primarily aimed to inform the participants on the progress, challenges and opportunities pertaining to the preparations of the upcoming conference to take place on 20-24 April 2020 in Windhoek, Namibia.

The SCECSAL 2020 National Organizing Committee Chairperson, Dr. Chiku

Members of the National Organising Committee

Mnubi-Mchombu, highlighted the progress made thus towards arrangements to hots the conference in Namibia. This includes establishment of Sub-Committees which are tirelessly working towards the preparations of the conference, the registrations of over 100 participants who showed interest in attending the conference, the review of all the papers to be presented at the conference, as well as securing support from a few sponsors/partners.

The chairperson also acknowledged the support received various partners who

have sponsored some aspects of the conference arrangements. These include the Namibia Library and Information Council (NLIC), the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), Emerald Publishing, International University of Management (IUM), the Goethe-Institut, Elsevier Publishing and the Namibia College of Open Learning (NAMCOL).

Organizations interested in sponsoring any aspects of the conference with any form of sponsorship are welcome and should contact the Chairperson of the National Organizing Committee at the following address:

Dr Chiku Mnubi-Mchombu
Chairperson
National Organizing Committee
SCECSAL XXIV Conference
Windhoek, Namibia
Email: cmchombu@unam.na
Tel: +264 (0)61-2063664

Professor Katjavivi to officiate as guest of honour at SCECSAL 2020 conference

Hon. Prof. Peter Katjavivi (middle) with some
members of the National Organazing Committe
for SCECSAL 2020 conference

Honourable Professor Peter Hitjitevi Katjavivi, the Speaker of the National

Assembly of the Republic of Namibia, will be the guest of honour at the opening ceremony of the twenty-fourth Standing Conference of Eastern, Central and Southern African Library and Information Associations (SCESSAL) to be held in Windhoek, Namibia, from 20 to 24 April.

Hon. Katjavivi has an illustrious career in academia and politics and has contributed immensely to nation building in Namibia.

From 1992 to 2003 he served as the founding Vice-Chancellor of the University of Namibia and transformed a previously segregated academic institution into a national university with relevant programmes that are increasingly accessible to all Namibians. Currently he also the founding Chancellor of the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST).

He also served as Namibia’s ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium, The Netherlands, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the European Union (2003-2006), and ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany (2006–2008).

Hon. Katjavivi was also a Member of the Constitutional Committee (1989-1990) that drafted the Republic of Namibia’s Constitution, and a signatory to the Constitution.

The Namibian Information Workers Association (NIWA) will be hosting the SCECSAL conference for the second time, in the history of both NIWA and SCECSAL, having hosted the fifteenth SCECSAL conference in 2000 on the theme – “Information 2000: a Vision for the SCECSAL region”.

Paper presenters at this year’s SCECSAL conference will come from the SCECSAL region and beyond and more than 350 library and information professionals are expected to attend the conference at the Safari Park Hotel, which was also the venue for the 2000 conference.

Visit the SCECSAL 2020 website for  online registration, Call for International Exhibitors, and Call for Posters (deadline is 28 February 2020).