On behalf of participating civil society organizations, CSPR wishes to launch the Fifth National Development Plan, 2006-2011: A Civil Society Perspective. Despite the short time frame given for formulating a six year Fifth National Development Plan (FNDP), civil society has been able to organise itself in constructive and timely engagement to the process through various civil society groups at the national level and provincial levels.

 CSPR wishes to urge government to seriously consider the input of civil society launched today as this is a key litmus test of its commitments towards productive partnerships for pro poor development. Further, CSPR cautions government that the overall positive reception of the final document (FNDP) is highly dependent on government’s ability not to politicise the formulation process and to maintain a ‘national spirit’ at all levels. To this effect, it is the view of CSPR that the draft NDP is tabled in the next sitting of parliament to allow the representatives of the people to debate and endorse the document before it is taken to cabinet for final approval.

 CSPR recommends that once the FNDP is finalized and implementation has begun, agreed upon recommendations and priorities of the document should be adhered to through out the implementation phase unlike the case with the just ended PRSP.  A number of recommendations in the PRSP, such as the abolishment of the office of the District Administrator, were not given due consideration during the PRSP implementation stage.

 CSPR will be keen to follow through how the government envisages the financing and implementation of the FNDP which should include the canvassing of various stakeholders to align their developmental programmes towards the priorities of the plan. CSPR also hopes that the resources saved from recent debt relief initiatives would be utilized to the benefit of ordinary citizens and towards the priorities of the NDP. 

 For the success of the NDP, the international community should begin to follow through the recommendations of the Commission for Africa report that reveal that apart from debt cancellation, Africa would require a doubling of aid to take it out of poverty.

 CSPR remains convinced that Zambia has a vast potential to be able to provide its citizens with all their basic economic and social rights only if only we can remain faithful to quality policies, prudent management of scarce resources and involvement of citizens in the affairs of the Nation.