Uganda lauded on National Development Plan

CEO of APRM Continental Secretariat Eddy Maloka interacting with the Chair Uganda APRM National Governing Council at National Planning Authority Robert Okello

Photos by Godiver Asege

Uganda has been lauded for being among the first countries in African to have a National Development Plan (NDP) that is inclusive with 76% of it being in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

During an ongoing African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) workshop at Imperial Royale hotel, Kampala, the Chief Executive Officer of APRM, Prof. Eddy Maloka noted that Uganda has the best NDP and has been able to commit its own resources to implement it.

Currently, Uganda is in the process of implementing its NDP II, which according to the chairperson of the National Governance Council NGC) APRM, Robert Okello, incorporates all the SDGs.

"Uganda was chosen to host this meeting because it is implementing its second NDP and has incorporated a lot of the SDGs in it and other countries are here to learn from its success story," Okello said.

He said that representatives from 10 countries especially those from the planning ministries and authorities are here to see how Uganda is incorporating the AU agreed framework.

"The AU has launched agenda 2063 and asked APRM secretariat to monitor the implementation in Uganda. What we do is get together agree on a program and ask individual countries to implement it but some of them may ignore the agreed priorities and go with others, so we have to check and help where necessary," he said.

Agenda 2063 is a strategic framework for the socio-economic transformation of the continent over the next 50 years. It's builds on, and seeks to accelerate the implementation of past and existing continental initiatives for growth and sustainable development.

Some of the past and current initiatives it builds on include the Lagos Plan of Action, The Abuja Treaty, The Minimum Integration Programme, the Programme for Infrastructural Development in Africa (PIDA), the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP), the New partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), Regional Plans and Programmes and National Plans.

During the subsistence of the two day meeting, the APRM secretariat is expected to come up with a concept note that will see the formation of the APRM network on national planning as a best practice.

Being the first countries to incorporate agenda 2063 in its national plans, Uganda and South Africa are expected to share their experiences to benefit other member states attending the workshop.

Chair Uganda APRM National Governing Council at National Planning Authority Robert Okello

Okello noted that the major issue hindering Africa from implementing its development agenda is governance and therefore, there is need for countries doing poorly in dealing with governance issues to learn from others who are doing well in that aspect and improve.

He noted that the meeting is seeking to create a standard mechanism which will be used as a yard stick to measure the implementation of the development goals under agenda 2030 and 2063.

While making a presentation of agenda 2030 which hinges on the SDGs, Sylivian Boko, the Principal Advisor for United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) said that there is still need to create public awareness and stakeholder engagement if African countries are to successfully implement the development goals.

"People want to see how relevant the SDGs are to their development plans. It has to make sense to people and must adopt a whole society approach," he said.

He noted that countries do not necessarily have to implement SDGs as a whole but rather pick those priorities that match their national plans and implement.

David Bahati, the minister of state for planning who was expected to open the workshop did not come and neither did he send a representative.