By Ebrima S. Jallow
Spearheading the national consultation process for the formulating a new National Development Plan and a long-term vision, dubbed the Green Recovery Focused National Development Plan (2023-2027) and Long-Term Vision 2050, to replace the NDP-2018-2021 and Vision 2020 respectively, the Directorate of Development Planning of the Ministry of Finance has introduced an online platform to ensure a wider reach of the populace.
With financial and technical support from UNDP, digital platform www.ndpp.gm, has been launched to ensure that citizens and friends of The Gambia who could not be reached in person in the just concluded exercise, are also engaged.
The survey questionnaire is on this platform and on the main MoFEA website. The online questionnaire avails opportunity to individuals or stakeholder groups who may wish to provide inputs but for various reasons, cannot take part in the physical consultations.
The initiative is facilitated by ‘Enketo Express for Kobo Toolbox’ and shared across the Ministry of Finance’s social media platforms as well as those of other ministries’ websites to get wide coverage. All citizens are encouraged to login to this survey and participate. The RF-NDP as a successor to the soon-to-elapse NDP will serve as the vehicle through which the short and medium-term needs of the country will be comprehensively addressed. The LTDV on the other hand will chart the long-term trajectory of the country’s development and transformation.
During this formulation process, the government plans to engage as many stakeholders as possible to obtain their input into the two planning frameworks and strengthen ownership. The formulation process is spearheaded by a team of consultants working hand in glove with the Directorate of Planning at the Ministry of Finance and the planning units of other Ministries, Departments, and Agencies. The United Nations Development Programme Country Office, through the COVID-19 Recovery Secretariat, is providing technical and advisory support to the process.
So far, the government has embarked on a month’s consultation and data collection exercise across the length and breadth of the country and with interest groups; such as youths, women, the physically challenged, the media, Civil Society Organisations, academia, etc.
Alhagie Fadera is the Director of Development Planning at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs. He said the month-long exercise was meant to better inform formulators on the most useful development trajectory to follow, to deliver sound policies and programmes for the government in the short, medium, and long-term plans.
“To further enhance the formulation process without leaving out any sector, the team has established sector working groups (SWGs) involving all MDAs. The SWGs are constituted to effectively provide the necessary technical inputs to support the process, contribute to the implementation and to the monitoring and evaluation once finalized”.
The functions of the SWGs are to effectively coordinate or oversee the activities of the sector using a sector-wide approach in the formulation, implementation as well as monitoring and evaluation of both medium and long-term plans; provide technical inputs in the formulation as well as monitoring and evaluation of both the medium and long-term plans.
Among other things, the SWGs are intended to optimise relevant sector expertise and competencies to provide an integrated review of sector-specific issues, including past trends and possible future performance of the sector; conduct a detailed situational analysis of issues relating to the thematic area as per their respective competencies and to advise and make recommendations on priorities, goals, and objectives of both the LTV and the RF-NDP; contribute in the development of the Results Measurement Framework (RMF) by helping in setting baseline indicators and targets.
The SWGs were officially launched on Friday 24th June 2022 by Mrs. Salimatta Touray, Secretary-General, and Head of Civil Service and they will commence work soon.