Process to select host for the permanent SCECSAL Secretariat to start in May

SCECSAL General Council adopts guidelines for the selection process in Entebbe

Delegates at the opening session
of the XXIIrd SCECSAL conference in Entebbe

The process to select the SCECSAL member Association to host the permanent SCECSAL
Secretariat will be initiated in May following the adoption of the guidelines for the process on 24 April in Entebbe, Uganda by the SCECSAL General Council.

Since its establishments in 1974, the functions of the SCECSAL secretariat have been carried out on a rotation basis by the member Associations hosting the biennial SCECSAL conferences, an arrangement that has resulted in organization losing most of its records.

The SCECSAL General Assembly resolved, in April 2016 in Ezulwini, eSwatini, to establish a permanent SCECSAL Secretariat which is currently hosted on a temporary basis by the Swaziland Library and Information Association (SWALA).

The decision of the SCECSAL General Council in Entebbe, composed of the representatives of member Associations from eSwatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, to go ahead with the process of selecting a host for the SCECSAL secretariat is a bold move considering that SCECSAL member Associations have since 1998 resisted the idea to establish a permanent Secretariat to coordinate and monitor activities and decisions of the organization.

Copies of the guidelines for selecting the host for the permanent Secretariat will be distributed to the member Associations and published soon on the SCECSAL website, and members will be asked to express their interest to host the secretariat, and later submit detailed bids to be evaluated by a five-person independent committee.

SCECSAL member Associations from Botswana and Tanzania were absent from the Entebbe General Council meeting.