1. Workshop Medium-term Expenditure Planning for National Sustainable Development
National Planning, Government Expenditure and Sustainable Development
David Smith and Sanjesh Naidu
3 November 2015
Nadi, Fiji

2. Sustainable Development
Long standing international commitment by Pacific SIDS to pursue sustainable development in all its 3 dimensions:
SDGs – global
Samoa Pathway – 2014 – SIDS
Regional at ESCAP, PIF, PIDF, MSG…..
SD has been the overall development goal of PICs for many decades.

3. SDGs – Latest Global Goals Developed with Member States Involvement
Established ‘special case’ of SIDS and called for the 1st SIDS Conference
Recognised need for integrating the environment and economy
Earth Summit
Set global agenda for development
Focused primarily on social development
MDGs
Stressed the need for integrating social development with the environment
Monitoring and accountability
Rio+20 and 3rd SIDS
Recognized a need for a focus on inclusiveness and sustainability
2030 Development Agenda (SDGs)
Convergence on the need for integrated planning which covers economic, social and environment

5. Global versus national
Global and regional development agenda
Set a general direction for global development
Provide a framework for holding countries and development partners accountable
Include a set of goals, targets and indicators for monitoring progress
National development planning
Takes into account national priorities and challenges
Governs the path toward sustainable development at the national level
Framework for national monitoring and accountability
World’s promise by Brookings Institute

6. Global Goals “Localised” in NSDSs in the Pacific
Commitments countries have made at an international level to sustainable development have already to a large extent been incorporated into national development plans.  

7. NSDSs in the Pacific
Key means of implementation for sustainable development: preparation and implementation of NSDS/National Plan.
All Pacific SIDS have a NSDS document = national development plan;
Three pillars of sustainable development are covered (economic, social, environmental)
All Pacific SIDS have policy, planning and budgetary processes aimed at achieving national development goals. But how effectively?
All PICs have NSDSs and processes.

8. Sustainable development progress in the Pacific
Uneven progress across Pacific:
low growth in GDP per capita; lack of diversification; weak export growth
growing ‘basic needs’ poverty
mixed MDG achievement
environmental degradation - population pressure; water; reefs; fish; waste; pollution; climate change
However, progress has been poor

9. Slow policy implementation
“there is a need for a more integrated approach to the sustainable development of SIDS” (SAMOA Pathway)
“a more ‘integrated planning process’ “ is needed (MSI+5)
“‘Integrated planning and decision-making’ is acknowledged as ‘essential for progress’”
“lack of public participation in planning processes, lack of coordination among government ministries and agencies with competing priorities, and lack of human resources and technology capacity.”
Policies have not been implemented – for which there are many reasons. UN global and SIDS meetings have identified a number.

10. A ‘good’ NSDS Sustainable Development principles:
Integration of economic, social and environmental priorities;
Wide participation of stakeholders in the development process;
Strategic Planning principles:
Country ownership and commitment;
Comprehensive and coordinated policy process;
Targeting, resourcing and monitoring.
So where is the problem? Earlier work by DFID and UN identified 5 key principles for the successful preparation and implementation of an NSDS.

11. Typical Planning Processes: multi-year
National Plan, Vision, Strategy
(can contain Development Goals, situation analysis, medium term strategic policy objectives)
Sector Plans (often included in national plan)
(Policy objectives and strategies for the various sectors of the economy e.g. agricultural policy, education policy)
Corporate plans (Ministry operational plans)
(Policy objectives and strategies of sector ministries which may be different from sectors above)
Budgetary and donor allocations
(recurrent budget, development/capital budget, aid resources)
Development outcomes
(Activities, projects, programmes of government, NGOs, donors, communities)
Most PICs have robust planning systems – on paper at least!!

12. Typical Budgetary Processes: annual
National Plan, Vision, Strategy
Sector Plans
Corporate/Ministry plans
Budgetary and donor allocations
(recurrent budget, development/capital budget, aid resources)
Development outcomes
Economic and fiscal assessment
Annual policy priorities established
Budget preparation
Budget approved
(recurrent budget, development budget, aid resources)
Monitoring of budget implementation
And have a budgetary process that links to the Plan – on paper at least.

13. Why do the linkages not work?
Linkages do not exist
NPOs do not have sufficient capacity to coordinate and monitor plan implementation
Plan implementation is hampered by poor coordination between ministries & central agencies
Various plans are ‘out of sync’ and have different time horizons
Plans are ignored
Plans are too complex to implement
Plans only assist development partners to plan their programmes
Plans don’t have sufficient local ownership.
But, in many cases these processes or ‘linkages’ are not working for a variety of reasons.

14. Most importantly… Budget allocations do not reflect plan priorities
Medium Term Expenditure planning is an important tool to help
And so is a system of monitoring budget and plan progress – can help ensure that policies and plans are implemented - “If it’s not monitored it won’t get done!”