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1.
Background to the Study
1.1
Background to the review process
Agenda
21 (UNCED, 1992) called for the preparation of national strategies for
sustainable development (NSSDs). The OECD DAC in its “Shaping
the 21st Century” document (1996), set a target of 2005 for NSSDs
to be in the process of implementation. In 1997, the UN General Assembly
Special Session set a target date of 2002 for all countries to have introduced
such strategies. Shaping the 21st Century commits DAC members to support
developing countries in the formulation and implementation of NSSDs through
a partnership approach.
Despite
these international targets, there is a lack of clarity on what an NSSDs
actually is (there is no internally agreed definition, nor any official
guidance on how to prepare an NSSD). The donor community has done little
work to understand the issue or to determine how best to assist developing
countries with NSSDs. In the past, many strategic planning initiatives
have had limited practical impact because they have focused on the production
of a document as an end-product, and such documents have often been left
without implementation. Instead, the focus of an NSSD should be on improving
the integration of social and environmental objectives into key economic
development processes.
A clarification
note was endorsed by the DAC High Level Meeting in May 1999 which defined
an NSSD as “a strategic and participatory process of analysis, debate,
capacity strengthening, planning and action towards sustainable development.”
However, an NSSD should not be a completely new planning process to be
conducted from the beginning. Rather, it is recognised that in an individual
country there will be a range of initiatives that may have been taken
in response to commitments entered into at the Rio Earth Summit (UNCED)
or as part of commitments to international treaties and conventions and
that these may be regarded in that country, individually or collectively,
as the NSSD. But the challenge is: to gain clarification on what initiative(s)
make up the NSSD; and then to identify what improvements need to be made
to these initiatives – or developed between them such as umbrella frameworks,
systems for participation and national sustainable development fora –
so that they meet the (above) definition of an NSSD.
The
DAC Working Party on Development Cooperation and the Environment (WP/ENV)
has mandated a Task Force, co-led by the European Commission (EC) and
the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), to produce guidance
on best practice for assisting developing countries with the formulation
and implementation of NSSD processes. A scoping workshop in November 1998
brought together Task Force and developing country representatives to
discuss the broad directions for this work. The workshop recommended a
systematic in-country consultation with developing country partners in
order to elaborate good practice for donors.
The
February 1999 meeting of the DAC WP/ENV endorsed the recommendation to
initiate a project to undertake informal consultations, or ‘dialogues’,
in a number of developing countries and regions, involving donors and
a range of stakeholders. The dialogues will review experience with NSSDs
and examine how donors can best assist developing countries in such processes.
As well as contributing to the production of generic guidance for donors,
the country/regional dialogues aim to make a concrete contribution to
NSSD processes and donor coordination in the participating countries.
In support
of the DAC Task Force’s work on NSSDs, this project will involve full
dialogues in five developing countries (Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Tanzania,
Nepal and Thailand). It will also seek to draw lessons from existing processes
to audit or learn from NSSD experience (Ghana, Namibia and Pakistan).
This
process will lead to the preparation of DAC policy guidance on NSSDs and
a detailed sourcebook with country case materials.
The
Task Force has contracted the International Institute for Environment
and Development (IIED) to coordinate and administer the project to implement
these dialogues and review activities, and to prepare policy guidance
and a sourcebook for publication by the OECD. In Ghana, the review process
was facilitated as a partnership between IIED and the National Development
Planning Commission (NDPC).
1.2.
Objectives of the review
The
broad objective of the study is to gain an understanding of the process
in Ghana to help identify successful and unsuccessful elements of the
process of developing and implementing NSSD in Ghana. In addition to contributing
to the identification of international best practices in NSSD design and
implementation, this should provide a useful input into the on-going process
of developing the Second Step Policy Framework (2001-2005) for Ghana’s
Vision 2020.
1.3.
Study tasks
The
aims of the status review of the process of developing and implementing
NSSDs in Ghana constitute the tasks to be undertaken for the review. These
assignments are to:
- Determine the historical,
political and economic context of major strategic planning processes
- Determine the
current status of past and present strategy work
- Identify key stakeholders
and their participation and responsibilities in strategic planning and
implementation
- Identify key institutions
and policy processes – responsibilities, relationships and integration
- Determine the extent
and effect of political commitment and shared vision regarding the strategy
processes
- Identify lessons
learned from strategy work in Ghana.
1.4.
Methodology
1.4.1
Study Focus
The
focus of the study is on the processes of designing and implementing various
strategies for sustainable development in Ghana. The study does not involve
a review of the content of individual strategies or plans. Thus, the emphasis
will be on determining the extent to which effective mechanisms for strategy
development and for facilitating stakeholder participation were utilized
in designing and implementing individual development strategies.
1.4.2
Main issues for review
Key
issues for analysis during the review cover the main analytical themes
in the categories listed in the May 2000 IIED Guide to Key Issues in National
Strategies for Sustainable Development and Methods for Analyzing Strategy
Processes: A Prompt for status reviews and dialogues (The Guide). These
categories are: context, actors, integrating institutions and initiatives,
processes and impacts. Details of the issues under each category are presented
in the Guide but those selected for review in the study were those determined
to be relevant to the Ghanaian situation. In addition, due to time constraints,
only important issues judged to be pertinent to the analysis were included
in the review.
1.4.3
Steps in undertaking the assignment
In terms
of the broad approach to the study, the study was conducted in three phases.
The first involved the review of key issues in implementing NSSD in Ghana.
A stakeholders’ workshop was organized during the second phase to discuss
and review findings, conclusions and recommendations from the first phase.
The third phase involves finalizing the report of the study including
integrating suggestions from the stakeholders workshop.
The
study was conducted in five phases. The Team:
(a)
reviewed key issues in implementing NSSD in Ghana
(b)
held a stakeholder workshop to review preliminary findings, with participation
from the national planning commission, ministries and departments, academics,
national council on women and development, the parliament, donors, development
projects and IIED
(c)
prepared the Country Progress Report for the Thailand Mid-Term Review
Workshop of the OECD-DAC Donor-Developing Country Dialogues on National
Strategies for Sustainable Development (October 2000), including integrating
suggestions from the stakeholder workshop
(d)
prepared a draft Country Report incorporating comments from the Thailand
Workshop that was presented at the Final Workshop of the OECD-DAC Donor-Developing
Country Dialogues on National Strategies for Sustainable Development (February
2001)
(e)
finalized the Country Report, including integrating comments from all
sources and activities.
The
full list and institutional affiliation of the participants in the first
stakeholder review workshop is presented in Annex A.
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