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The REWS is an integrated project comprising a Regional Early Waming Unit (REWU), based in Zimbabwe, and separate National Early Warning Units (NEWUs) in each of the 10 SADC member States whose activities are coordinated by the REWU. Its primary objective is to provide advance information on the food security prospects for the region through provision of regular assessments of regional food crop production, food supplies and food requirements, end to alert member States of impending food shortages/surpluses in sufficient time for appropriate interventions to be set in motion. Since the project began operating in the latter half of 1986, it has benefited member States and SADC by issuing regular food security bulletins providing early warnings on crop performance, crop failure and potential shortfalls in food availability, food stocks and projections of regional food needs, all being information vital for enhancing food security intervention and management at both the national and regional levels.
An early response by the international donor community, alerted to the southern African drought largely through the activities of the SADC/REWS, has prevented famine in most countries. SADC countries, also alerted to impending catastrophic food shortages by the REWS, started making import plans since the first evidence of prolonged drought became clear, although some countries such as Zimbabwe, which is in the process of implementing economic structural adjustment programmes, took too long to react.
The prospect of importing an estimated 12 million tonnes of cereals into Southern Africa (including South Africa) was a daunting task to SADC economies as nothing on this scale had ever been done in the region. However, the ready availability of regionally integrated information on food security provided by the REWS has greatly enhanced the ability of SADC to take a lead in responding to the adverse effects of the current drought.
While some ad-hoc emergency system of data collection would probably have been created in response to the drought had there been no REWS, the existence of a well-established mechanism for assembling and analyzing food security information has saved vital time, and allowed an earlier coordinated response by SADC countries than would otherwise have been possible, thereby averting a certain risk of widespread hunger and starvation among the 18 million people affected by the drought within the SADC region.
The REWS made timely presentations of the projected and impact of the present drought to meetings of SADC authorities. The impact of this has been reinforced by the widespread reporting of the food security implications of the drought in the national electronic news media and press of SADC countries as well as overseas, based principally on the contents of the REWU regional bulletins and updates.
As a result of the work of the REWU, in conjunction with FAO crop and food supply assessment missions, SADC has been able to respond as a single unit to the drought. This culminated in the preparation of a consolidated UN-SADC appeal that was presented at an international donors' conference on the Drought Emergency of Southern Africa held in Geneva in early June this year.
Intentional donors concerned with both national food programmes and with regional aid coordination have used the regional bulletin as a source of information with which to support requests for aid back to their headquarters. The regional bulletin has also served as one source of information on the likely magnitude of port-handling and transport constraints which have been faced when moving food aid imports.
Of the main organizations involved in the provision of food aid to the SADC region, the World Food Programme is already working with SADC on the management of food aid flows and logistical support being provided to the region during the current drought. The European Commission's Harare-based food security consultant considers the regional bulletin as the only reliable source of information of the food situation as the key to the Commission's food security operations.