Title: The role of regional economic communities in Africa: perspectives from stakeholders in urban Zambia

Authors: Mwata Chisha; Ahmed Al-Asfour; Léo-Paul Dana

Addresses: College of Menominee Nation, 722 S. Ridge Road, Green Bay, Wisconsin, 54304, USA ' Oglala Lakota College, 490 PiyaWiconi Rd., Kyle, South Dakota, 57752, USA ' Montpellier Research in Management, Montpellier Business School, 2300 avenue des Moulins, Montpellier, France

Abstract: While regional integration is perceived as an important component of Africa's development strategy, some economic development programs have underperformed, delayed, or failed altogether due, in part, to inadequacy of resources. Examined in this paper are community perspectives on the role of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in eradicating poverty in Zambia. The focus of the research was to review the relationship of SADC to various definitions of poverty and to severe poverty. Our findings suggest a variance between current SADC development initiatives in Southern Africa and what communities perceive as their needs.

Keywords: poverty; Southern African Development Community; SADC; Zambia; stakeholder perspective; regional communities; cities; urban poor; economic development.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBG.2016.077565

International Journal of Business and Globalisation, 2016 Vol.17 No.1, pp.33 - 44

Received: 24 Jan 2015
Accepted: 26 Mar 2015
Published online: 06 Jul 2016 *

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