NPC, Congoma hail Zambia study tour
The National Planning Commission (NPC) and the Council for Nongovernmental Organisations (Congoma) on Friday described the study tour they took to Zambia to appreciate how government and civil society are cooperating in national development as a success.
The study tour came at a time the NPC is developing a new national development blue-print to succeed the Vision 2020.
NPC Director General, Thomas Munthali, said close cooperation between civil society and government is critical in ensuring success of national development plans.
“We have seen that in their long-term planning they are looking at broader themes instead of looking at each sector. And so they have engaged the civil society a lot as well as other groups such as the private sector in this approach.
“It shows that there is a lot of evidence-based planning. In that think-tank thinking, civil society is actively engaged such that you wouldn’t that these are public sector institutions of research because civil society has a lot of confidence in them,” Munthali said.
He added that Malawi has also learnt how the government and civil society could work together in the implementation of flagship programmes.
The Malawi delegation on Thursday toured the Kafue Gorge Lower Hydropower Project where Zambia is building a $2 billion worth 750MW power station.
Munthali said it was encouraging to see that the civil society and private sector have thrown their weight behind the project which is expected to be completed next year.
On his part, Congoma Chairman, Steven Duwa, said it was interesting to note that the Zambian Government is engaging the civil society and the citizenry at every level of development planning.
“We have also seen that apart from planning the civil society is also involved in implementation and monitoring of the various development projects,” Duwa said.
The study tour was made possible with financial assistance from IM Swedish.
The NPC was established under the National Planning Commission Act of 2017 with a mandate to identify Malawi’s social economic development priorities and formulate national vision and strategy for social and economic goals, taking into account the country’s resource potential and comparative advantage.
Currently, Malawi is crafting a successor plan to Vision 2020 in line with Africa’s Agenda 63.
By 2063, Malawi, which attained independence in 1964, would have clocked 100 year of political independence.
