In response to the launch of the FNDP, CSPR has written a letter to the Minister of Finance and National Planning, Honorable Ng’andu Magande to raise some issues as stated below.

We commend the Government for taking this positive step of finally launching the long awaited FNDP and showing such high levels of political commitment as attested to by the President’s launch speech. We look forward to working with the Government and the Ministry of Finance in particular in contributing to ensuring the successful implementation of the FNDP and related policies and programmes.

Particularly we would like to draw government’s attention to the following issues as contained in His Excellency’s speech and the Honorable Minister of Finance’s remarks at the launch.

1. Need to Disseminate the FNDP

We echo and commend the Ministry of Finance and Government’s intention to disseminate the FNDP with the aim of sensitizing the general public and communities through out the country on the content and significance of the FNDP, this will enhance and facilitate public participation in the implementation and monitoring of the plan by a wide section of the communities as alluded to by the President. Civil society and CSPR in particular stands ready and intends to play its role in complementing this task of raising awareness and educating the general public on the FNDP content and process. Already CSPR has embarked on the task of simplifying the government’s FNDP document to enable the majority of the communities to be able to read and understand the contents. And we believe with partnerships between the government and civil society more can be done to this effect.

2. Involvement of Members of Parliament

We would like to once again reiterate the need to involve members of parliament in key development processes like the FNDP, in order to enhance and promote local accountability. Elected leaders must take centre stage in being part of the key decision making processes and priority setting for the nation.

3. FNDP priorities Good

We would like to share our agreement with the priority areas as spelt out in the FNDP. Given the resource constraints facing the financing of the plan, we believe the broad priority areas offer a reasonable path to addressing the growth and poverty challenges affecting Zambia at the moment.

4. Financing GAP

With regards to financing the plan, we commend government for the effort and progress made so far in securing some funds both locally and also pledges from cooperating partners. We are, however, concerned with the huge financing gap and would like to join government in appealing to donors to play their role by fulfilling their commitments and pledges. Donor commitment to meeting their pledges will help ensure that government does not resort to incurring unsustainable debt as a means of filling the financing GAP.

5. Public Participation and Decentralization in FNDP

Further we welcome the President’s call for public participation and interest in the implementation and monitoring of the FNDP. However, public participation can only be guaranteed if the implementation of the FDNP is brought closer to the people in every meaningful way. This entails placing the district councils and authorities who are ultimately the drivers of local development at the centre of key development processes at the local levels. Therefore the decentralization process is a key determinant to the successful implementation and public participation in the FNDP process. We would like to once again call upon government and Cabinet in particular, to support the speedy implementation of the Decentralization Implementation Plan (DIP)

6. Need for Public Accountability from leaders

We support and welcome the president’s call for Ministers and controlling officers to be accountable for the success or failure to meet the FNDP targets and goals. This will ensure real accountability and responsibility among the people charged with running the development process of the country. This should also involve reforming and improving the performance of the planning and monitoring structures like the sector advisory group (SAGs), District Development Coordinating Committees (DDCCs) including putting in place clear but robust indicators.

7. Institutional Arrangement of FNDP Implementation

CSPR welcomes and commends the government for acknowledging the obstacles and inefficiencies in the current institutional arrangement that might hinder or block the effective implementation of the FNDP, we further note that there are other obstacles that need to be addressed such as problems with the budgeting processing directly affecting the financial flows and the public expenditure management system. In this light we welcome the presidents move to move the planning department to a division solely to deal with issue of strategic planning and implementation aspects.

In conclusion, CSPR as usual stands ready to engage with government in dialogue and partnership around the best ways to address the above and other issues of national concern. We look forward to the continued partnership with the Government in the New Year.