SANBio - Southern African Network for Biosciences

Steering Committee

The Steering Committee (SC) will consist of government delegated representatives from countries of the region, a representative from the CSIR and a representative from the NEPAD secretariat. The SC will be the ultimate authority for the network. The duties of the SC amongst others will include:

Defining an appropriate legal structure for the regional network and any contractual agreements that have to be developed.
Allocating resources and identification of additional resources needed.
Approving terms of reference for task forces, panels, working groups and any other such groups.
Overall monitoring of projects with input from the Scientific Advisory Committee regarding the technical progress.
Defining performance indicators.
Developing or sub-contracting a biosafety, ethical, IPR guideline and ensuring that projects undertaken comply with these measures.
Developing guidelines on a commercialisation strategy.
Identifying with advice from the Technical Scientific Advisory Group (TSAG) the relevant themes.
Determining the criteria for Node identification.
Determining a process for project approval.
Identification of the network personnel and their requirements.
Promoting exchange of information at the regional and national level.

Members of the steering committee

The country representatives for the steering committee have been appointed by their governments. There is representation from each of the 12 countries. A representative from the CSIR and the NEPAD S&T secretariat are members of the steering committee. Principles regarding composition of the steering committee were based on seniority, diversity and level of expertise. The chairperson was appointed by the members. Gender was taken into consideration in selecting this committee. At least 30% of the committee are females.

Term of service

The steering committee members will serve for a period of two years renewable once and a maximum of four years. The chair shall serve for a maximum of three years and shall be rotated between the countries.