African countries should effectively deploy development planning as a transformative tool to strengthen resilience and sustainable development in an era of unrelenting crises, according to panelists at a side event on development planning titled “Leveraging Digital Technologies for Integrated Planning to Advance the SDGs and Agenda 2063 in Times of Multiple Crisis” in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 

The event was organized virtually by the Macroeconomics and Governance Division (MGD) and the Sub-Regional Office for Eastern Africa (SRO-EA) of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) at the ongoing  10th Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (ARFSD) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Antonio Pedro, Deputy Executive Secretary (ECA) said global development agendas such as the Millennium Development Goals and Poverty Reduction Strategies have shaped countries’ development priorities by encouraging a focus on social development and the eradication of extreme poverty.

“Development planning in Africa is now being influenced by both the Sustainable Development Goals and the Continental agenda, Agenda 2063: The Africa we want,” said Mr. Pedro.

“Collectively, these agendas have placed sustainability, ethical and responsible use of technology, climate action, investment, industrialization as well as human-centered development at the heart of the development agenda, and tasked development planners to revisit their development priorities and paradigms to align accordingly.”

The other agendas that African countries are committed to, he said, include the Doha Programme of Action for Least Developed Countries, the Vienna Programme of Action for Landlocked Countries, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and the Sendai Framework on disaster risk reduction.

Hassan Hosow, Executive Director, National Executive council of Somalia said despite having emerged from civil war, the country has made significant progress in the economic recovery, in fostering peace and security, and has succeeded in the re-establish international relations.

As a fragile country he said Somalia requires a long term vision for development not just for the immediate post-debt relief, post-Al Shabaab arms embargo. This he said will require political commitment, national leadership with the right institutional arrangements.

Alastaire Alinsata, Chief of Staff for the Minister of Development and Coordination of Government action in Benin said under the national development plan, the government has prioritized agricultural mechanization, to make sure that people don't have very hard labor in the farms and are able to get  better results.

“To ensure that this is implemented, the government conducts training through the agricultural training schools it has created,” said Mr. Alinsata.

He added that the government has also set aside a special industrial area of over 10,000 hectares and up to 75% of the area is meant for textile and apparel processing.

Bartholomew Armah, Chief of Development Planning in the Macroeconomics and Governance Division at ECA said the ECA has developed a web-based planning tool called the Integrated Planning and Reporting Tool (IPRT) to enhance the responsiveness of planning frameworks to the demands of a rapidly evolving development landscape.

The aim is to strengthen the capacity of planning entities to design and implement integrated planning systems and strategies for the attainment of the SDGs and Agenda 2063 is imperative.

“The IPRT leverages digital technology to enhance precision in the alignment of international commitments with national plans; links budgets to development priorities; identifies gaps in the results framework of national development plans and; tracks performance of national development plans,” he said.

He noted that current planning approaches tend to be fragmented along sectoral and institutional lines, thereby undermining synergies, and fueling duplication of effort and the sub-optimal use of scarce resources.

Hence, it is crucial for countries to have an integrated development planning frameworks that reflect countries’ national, regional, and global commitments, are aligned with financial frameworks.