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The
Minister of Finance and National Planning, Hon. Magande,
Senior Civil Servants
Representatives of the International Community
Civil Society Representatives
All
distinguished guests
May
I simply say all Partners in Development
On
behalf of Civil Society Organizations, it is with sincere thanks
and gratitude that we receive this invitation to speak at the
official opening of the National Stakeholders Meeting for the
5th National Development Plan. We are grateful to government,
through the Ministry of Finance and National Planning, for
affording Civil Society this opportunity to comment on and
further strengthen the draft National Long Term Vision and draft
Fifth National Development Planning (FNDP).
We commend government for embarking on this important but
challenging process of formulating a longer term plan for the
development of our country. We also join the Government in
commending the cooperating partners who supported and continue
supporting the NDP process with financial and technical
resources.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I speak here representing the overall
views of more than 200 civil society organizations from
different parts of Zambia that met on the 13th July 2006, to
contribute to a consolidated civil society response to the draft FNDP.
Ladies and gentlemen, civil society positively received the
invitation to be part of formulating the FNDP. An invitation
that led to our engagement in the formal government process
(through the SAGs, PDCCs and DDCCs), as well as through an
independent civil society process.
The
latter has been characterized by a society inception workshop
(to get things started), civil society thematic and provincial
consultations, a consensus building workshop (to agree on
critical priorities) and a civil society indaba to respond to
the draft FNDP. The civil society consultations resulted in a
publication entitled ‘A fifth National Development Plan for
Zambia- A civil society perspective’.
We
are now pleased to engage with other stakeholders present here
over the next few days on the draft FNDP. The process of
providing civil society feedback to the draft was undertaken
through the CSPR coordinated thematic and provincial group
consultations and consolidated through the civil society indaba
of over 200 civil society organizations.
Much of this feedback will be discussed through our
participation in the group work discussions and as such I merely
state the overall civil society impressions and most cardinal
points.
Rather than dwell on the issues that have been reflected, this
statement, positively and in the spirit of partnership, raises
areas that require strengthening in order for the FNDP to be an
effective tool for pro-poor development in Zambia.
1.On Sectors;
The
draft FNDP is largely a credible plan for Zambia’s pro-poor
development. It largely shows a pro-poor focus with the
exception of the segments of gender, HIV/AIDS and Governance,
which are core themes for effective pro-poor development. The
draft FNDP reveals areas that require strengthening, more focus
and better targeting. Specifically, the draft would need to;
Should show linkages with some key previous and ongoing plans (e.g
PRSP,NRWSSP).
Link
the FNDP targets to MDG targets including breaking these down to
district annual targets.
Make
more specific some broadly reflected strategies, and strengthen
the linkages between plans/activities and the strategies. Lack
of specificity would make monitoring of impacts difficult.
Incorporate disability in the various draft chapters of the FNDP
and;
Incorporate civil society’s contribution at provincial levels in
the draft provincial section of the draft FNDP.
2.
On Financing;
With
regards to financing, we realize that a core measure of
commitment is the resources that government is putting on the
priorities areas. Government must exhibit the highest show of
political will by allocating and disbursing funds to the
priority areas. This is the only way to ensure that the NDP
programmes move from plans to action.
Looking at the draft, it is not clear to civil society what the
resource allocation criteria has been and in many cases there
appears to be inadequate budgetary allocations. We call upon the
government to;
Undertake a realistic assessment of the cost of Zambia meeting
the MDGs and align the FNDP budget and resources to these costs.
Implement fiscal decentralization and place district authorities
at the centre of the local development process to ensure
community involvement in priority setting of resource
utilization.
Increase its investment in the social sectors and strengthen the
public service capacity to deliver services.
We further urge the donors to;
Make
good their pledges to increase their AID flows to enable the
implementation of the NDP. These donor flows must be timely and
predictable.
Not
impose conditions that prevent government from investing in the
social sectors - this is important if we are to meet the MDGs
and reduce poverty.
Donors must instead encourage our government and the people of
Zambia to set conditions that promote inward accountability to
local institutions and citizens.
3.On Implementation:
Many
lessons can be drawn from the PRSP implementation to be
considered as we implement the NDP.
Government in the FNDP recognizes the importance of a robust
institutional framework as a determinant of successful
implementation. For this, we urge government to carry out an
assessment to know both the institutional and human resource
capacity inadequacies that currently exist and put forward plans
to fill these gaps.
The Implementation strategy in the draft FNDP does not clearly
reflect the decentralization process. Cabinet must quickly move
to adopt and put into action the Decentralization Implementation
Plan (DIP) with a clear and participatory roadmap to allow for
local communities and non state actors participation in the
development process. Government must strengthen to ensure
absorption, the existing implementation structures and align
these to the decentralization policy.
There is an urgent need to institutionalise the participation of
non state actors in pro-poor development processes. We
appreciate that government time and again has acknowledged the
role of civil society and non state actors in the development
process. We are now calling upon government to move from a
tokenism approach with regard to the role of civil society.
There should be political will to institutionalize the
participation of civil society and other stakeholders in the
implementation and monitoring of the NDP and the different
programmes contained in the plan.
4. On monitoring
There must be strong institutional arrangements for monitoring
programmes and plans, these monitoring structures should include
non state actors – backed by legal status
The
monitoring system for the NDP must accommodate and commit to
utilising monitoring reports and studies produced by non state
actors. Currently, the draft only allows to share during forums
such as the SAG conference and the Annual poverty conferences
without guarantee on use of information.
There must be clearer indicators and targets, backed by time
frames.
There is need to reflect baseline data for FNDP implementation
and monitoring.
Need
to strengthen coordinating mechanisms for implementation and
monitoring, especially in noting the over stretched role of the
planning department of the MoFNP.
Conclusion
Ladies and Gentlemen, what has been stated are overall
reflections from the civil society indaba on a joint response to
the draft FNDP? There are individual detailed 3 page civil
society reviews of each chapter which shall provide the basis of
our engagement in the group work as well as our formal response
to the MoFNP. As civil society, we see ourselves as partners in
development and thank Government for increasingly recognizing
and supporting this role. We commend the government for the work
done so far on the draft and look forward to seeing the final
and improved FNDP for Zambia, and supporting its implementation
and monitoring.
We thank you.
PRESENTED BY MR. ROBERT KELLY SALATI, CHAIRPERSON - CSPR BOARD
OF DIRECTORS
Mulungushi International Conference
Centre, 24th July 2006
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