By Ebrima S Jallow
On Thursday, 8th December 2022, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs engaged development partners on the draft Green Recovery-Focused National Development Plan (RF-NDP 2023-2027) at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Centre. The event brought together UN agencies, the diplomatic corps, the private sector, and Civil Society Organisations.
The Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, Abdoulie Jallow, said the draft RF-NDP is the result of extensive consultations and engagement with various stakeholders, including the citizenry, development partners, the private sector, and civil society. He added that these consultations provided a platform for stakeholders to engage and provide inputs into the formulation process.
“These inputs have shaped the draft plan,which is the basis of today’s engagement. Once finalised and adopted, the Green Recovery-Focused NDP (2023-2027) will address the recovery needs of the country and provide development partners an avenue to align their support to the country’s recovery and medium-term development needs. The Plan will also help address the triple development challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, and the risk of debt distress,’’ he said.
The draft document sets out goals for governance and institutional reforms, macro-economic stability and growth, human capital development, agricultural and fisheries development, environmental management, climate change adaptation and mitigation, infrastructural development and connectivity, poverty reduction, and resilience building among others.
Speaking further, PS Jallow said the RF-NDP will serve as the vehicle for implementing Agenda 2030 and the African Union Agenda 2063.
A key focus of the RF-NDP is partnership and international cooperation for enhanced implementation of the plan and attainment of national development objectives.
‘As a government,’’ he continued,“we recognize and acknowledge the immense contributions of our Development Partners toward national development; and these contributions have over the years, strengthened the socio-economic and infrastructural development of the country”.
In her statement, Madam Seraphine Wakana, the UN Residence Coordinator suggested that the Green-Focused Recovery NDP framework will aim to drive the country’s recovery efforts in building back better.
In her solidarity statement, the UNDP Residence Representative, Aissata DE submitted that UNDP supported the formulation process by providing financial and technical support through an evaluation of the current NDP 2018 -2021 now extended to the end of 2022; making available experts in the sectoral areas; supported the local, regional, and national consultations; organized 13 Sector working group sessions and, recently held a technical review of the draft and plan.
She reckoned that the Green Recovery-focused NDP will strengthen national capacities and build resilience at national, regional, and community levels.
Alhagie Fadera, Director of Development Planning, Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs said the draft has been shared with all stakeholders to ensure proper review and necessary inputs added before finalizing the document.
