The ZIM/ZAM Senior Parliamentary Staff Seminar was this year held from 23rd to 25th August, 2017, at Kingdom Hotel, Victoria Falls town, Zimbabwe, under the theme: ‘Results With Resolve: From Rhetoric To Impact In Parliamentary Administration’ Honourable Ambassador Cain N G Mathema, Senator, Minister of State – Matabeleland North Province, said in his keynote address to the staff that the idea of the Staff Seminar was coined by the Parliaments of Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe in the late 1990’s. It was, still is and will continue to be the overarching objective of the seminar to enhance administrative service delivery through the creation of an ideal forum for Senior Parliamentary Staff to exchange views and share best practices on Parliamentary operations. He further informed the delegation that this was the eighteenth (18th) Seminar, following seventeen (17) seminars which have since been held. The first seminar was held in 1996 while the last was held last year in Livingstone, Zambia. Hon Mathema also thanked the Clerks of Parliament for consistently ensuring that such an importatnt forum was held without fail. He further said there was obviously something good and beneficial coming out of this seminar in so far as how deliberations and recommendations were shaping and enhancing best practices in legislative and administrative processes. This year’s seminar was running under the theme, ‘Results with Resolve: From Rhetoric to Impact in Parliament Administration’. As aptly captured in this theme, it was no rocket science that a gauntlet was being laid on every one’s desk to self-introspect on one’s effort and how positively it was impacting on Parliament’s work. The Acting Clerk of Zambia, Mrs Cecilia N Mbewe gave a vote of thanks and in her speech, she thanked the Minister of State – Matabeleland North Province, the Clerk of Parliaments of Zimbabwe, Botswana, Uganda, Namibia, Mauritius and His Lordship, Councillor, Mayor of Victoria Falls, Developmemnt Partners, Senior Management and Staff of Parliaments present for attending the seminar. She also thanked the Minister for a well presented speech which was appealing and enriching, highlighting the importance of research in Parliaments as well as the importance of motivating staff of Parliament with good conditions of service. Zim/Zam brought people from different countries together to learn about the best practices and procedures of varoius Parliaments, develop ideas that would benefit Parliaments and Members of Parliaments. She also said Zim/Zam was an opportunity to share cultural expirences. Some of the topics interrogated during this seminar were:

1. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and what Parliaments could do to enhance their implementation;
2. The importance of monitoring and evaluation and the enhancement of mutually beneficial relationships beyond this seminar are other areas to whet any administrator’s appetite for knowledge;
3. Beyond ZIM/ZAM: How Parliaments can enhance mutually beneficial relationships;
4. The Ugandan experience on the role of the Parliament Budget Office, which is a relatively new phenomenon in SADC National parliaments, and;
5. Managing interpersonal relationships at the workplace which proved beyond any reasonable doubt that the seminar was growing in leaps and bounds in carefully packaging knowledge and information that would keep Parliaments in tandem with contemporary trends and practices.

The ZIM/ZAM Senior Parliamentary Staff Seminar is an annual premium event for Senior Staff from the Parliaments of Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Malawi, Swaziland, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mozambique, Tanzania, Seychelles, PAP, SADC-PF, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Namibia, and South Africa. Uganda has been attending by invitation since 2015. It is a platform for participating Parliament Administrators to share knowledge and experiences in best Parliamentary practices and procedures. The 2017 seminar is being hosted by the Parliament of Zimbabwe at the Kingdom Hotel, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.