Ms Sibongile Mavimbela

Ms Sibongile Mavimbela
Senior Programme Officer for Environment and Climate Change at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat in Gaborone, Botswana

Sibongile Mavimbela is the Senior Programme Officer for Environment and Climate Change at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat in Gaborone, Botswana. She convenes the 16 SADC Member States and ensures environmental protection and compliance at national, regional and global levels. She also ensures the active participation of SADC Member States in the negotiations, ratification and implementation of decisions of major Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs).

To this end, the SADC Region has endeavoured to put in place mechanisms for the implementation of MEAs such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC); United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD); United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD); Basel Convention, Rotterdam Convention and Stockholm Convention; Migratory Birds Convention; UNESCO World Heritage Convention; Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, and Regional Seas Conventions (Abidjan and Nairobi). Ms Mavimbela further facilitates the implementation of programmes under the following economic development sectors: Blue Economy, Green Economy and Circular Economy.

The Environment and Climate Change Programmes that she coordinates seek to achieve the implementation of the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP 2020-2030), Africa Agenda 2063 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

On that note, Ms Mavimbela has facilitated the development, approval and implementation of several policy documents within the SADC region, including: the SADC Protocol on Environmental Management for Sustainable Development (2014); SADC Regional Green Economy Strategy and Action Plan (2015); Regional Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (2015, revised 2022); SADC Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (2008, revised 2025); SADC Blue Economy Strategy and Action Plan (2023); SADC Circular Economy Strategy (2023); SADC Marine Litter Response Plan (2023); SADC SEA and ESIA Guidelines (2025).