Discussion on national plan
CIVIL servants from the Ministry of Finance are part of a rigorous process to draft Fiji’s new National Development Plan (NDP).
Last November, Finance Minister Professor Biman Prasad announced the formulation of a new NDP. Now, work is progressing to accommodate a flurry of public consultations scheduled for this month.
And last week, a team from the Ministry of Finance, led by Kamal Gounder, the head of the ministry’s strategic planning office, met representatives from civil society organisations (CSOs) during a roundtable discussion in Suva.
“Any development plan is a mirror image of Government priorities, as well as in terms of advising the Government how to plan out the medium to long term resources,” he told the participants.
“The current five year and 20-year NDP that is there has become obsolete mainly because of two reasons, one is because of TC Winston. In 2016, it took away a lot of Government resources.
“The second is COVID, which also took away a lot of Government resources. Post COVID, we had to provide a lot of incentives to people, as well as to small and medium enterprises, for them to keep going.
“That’s the reason that most of the strategies and policies that were announced through the NDP could not be achieved because enough resources could not be allocated.”
Mr Gounder added that one of the difficulties in achieving the priorities under the NDP was because there was an inherent lack of a coordinated and cross-sectoral approach to policy monitoring and evaluation.
He said the de-establishment of the planning office in 2017 led to the poor monitoring and evaluation component of the NDP, which resulted in timelines or strategies present under the existing NDP to remain unachieved.
What will this NDP have?
Part of what is expected to guide this policy document are the outcomes of the 2023 National Economic Summit, recommendations from the Fiscal Review Committee, and resolutions reached during the Education Summit, as well as other plans of Government.
Mr Gounder said the NDP would also include policy initiatives contained in the current manifestos of the current threeparty elected Government.
“One point I want to make is the new NDP will also set out a new national vision as well, which will then translate into sectoral policies and strategies, and we welcome your ideas.
“The new NDP will ensure it is aligned with Fiji’s international and global commitments which are UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), so most of the chapters that has been done, we have ensured that the UN SDG goals are already mainstreamed into the charters.
“Secondly, the current NDP is a five-year and 20-year plan. The new NDP, there will be a three-year plan as well. So three, five and 20-year plans.”
Mr Gounder said the three-year would be very specific, very realistic and it would be costed.
“We will ensure that whatever KPIs and strategies that go in for three years is achieved in three years’ time. We are currently working with ministries and departments to ensure that the three-year targets are achievable and realistic.
“In terms of the guiding principles that we are following for the formulation of the new NDP, one is all-inclusive and participatory approach.”
Mr Gounder said they were trying to reach out to all segments of society to ensure that everybody was consulted before the NDP was finalised.
“We also wish to inform by evaluation and data. We have been working closely with the line ministries and departments to get the data.
“We had faced a lot of challenges in getting the data mainly because of poor data keeping as well.
“We have been talking with Reserve Bank, Fiji Bureau of Statistics, to ensure that we get the data so whatever policies and strategies are put in the plan is backed by the data.”
The new NDP will also focus on good governance, leaving no one behind, sustainable economic recovery as well as mitigating the impacts of climate change and protecting the environment.
A draft NDP
According to Mr Gounder, the ministry’s planning office was working on a timeline to ensure the plan could be tabled before Cabinet.
The process to draft the plan looks like this:
❏ December 23- January 2024: Cabinet Approval for plan preparation, framework and process
❏ Mid-November 2023 to early January 2024: Updating and drafting of the NDP: desktop assessment of the existing NDP, review of the outcomes of the Economic Summit, the Fiscal Review Committee report, the Education Summit outcomes, other plans
❏ Incorporating the joint policies from the Manifestos - Peoples Alliance, National Federation Party and The Social Democratic Liberal Party
❏ Data collection and ministries/departments revise policy objectives and KPIs
❏ November 22 to early December 2023: Introductory Meetings with ministries/departments/agencies
❏ January 17-22, 2024: Consultation with Thematic Working Groups (TWGs) (first meeting)
❏ By end of January 2024: Produce initial working draft of the New NDP
❏ February 12 to early March 2024: Nationwide Consultation (at least 100 meetings across Fiji with different segments of the society)
❏ March to April 2024: Drafting of new NDP (Draft 2)
❏ April 2024: Consultation with TWGs (2nd Meeting)
❏ May 2024: Final Round of Discussions with TWGs and other Focus Groups
❏ June 2024: Cabinet Endorsement Mr Gounder said there was an officials technical committee which reported to a core committee made up of the Finance PS and other permanent secretaries.
They would then report to the development sub-committee on the progress.
Once it was presented to Cabinet and endorsed, Mr Gounder said the plan would be presented to Parliament.
“In terms of the draft NDP, I just want to emphasise that this is currently a draft, this is subject to change based on the consultations that we have.
“This (draft) is based on our initial discussions with our consultants as well as our policy advisors.”
Draft copies of the NDP will also be published in iTaukei and Hindi.
NDP content ❏
Chapter One: talks about vision, mission and guiding principles
❏ Chapter Two: will have a 20-year vision and developmental priorities. Mr Gounder has urged the public to provide feedback whether Fiji should have a 20-year vision (2044) or a 2050 vision.
❏ Chapter Three: Cross-cutting priorities.
❏ Chapter Four: Both three-year and five-year plans.
❏ Chapter Five: Implementation. Monitoring and Evaluation Framework/Mechanism.
Mr Gounder said there was a lot of focus