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Introduction
This brief report
is divided into six sections. Section one which is the introduction
is followed by a presentation of objectives and the focus of the status
review in section two. Section three and four present the key actors
in the status review as well as the approach and activities carried
out to-date respectively. Section five points out activities which have
been completed and those ongoing. Section six provides the results and
lessons learnt from the status review exercise. Section seven presents
a brief note on "meeting the objectives".
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Objectives and
Focus
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Objectives
The status and dialogue
review are carried out in order to meet the following objectives:
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to jointly come
up with guidance on how Tanzania can better prepare and implement
NSSDs and how donors can assist
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to identify
causes of the weaknesses in the national strategies for sustainable
development which are typical in the following circumstances:
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during preparation
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during implementation
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strategies
are left in shelves/not implemented
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strategies
implemented but in a dragging fashion
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strategies
not prepared at all
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strategies
not correctly prepared.
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to propose remedial
measures/options to the current weaknesses.
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Focus
Both the status
review and the dialogue process are guided by the criteria of nssds
which were set by the stakeholders during the first workshop which
was held in May 2000, and the field interviews. The agreed criteria
for nssds were the following:-
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Coverage: The
nssd must be either national, multi-sectoral or sectoral
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Contents
coverage: vision, time frame (short, medium, long-term),
implementers, resources, outputs, and indicators for monitoring
and evaluation. Above all, a strategy must be backed up by a policy.
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Sustainability
factors:
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economic:
ensuring growth in GDP per capita income;
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social: ensuring
accessibility to basic needs and improved living standard
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environment:
ensuring environmental standards.
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Ownership:
Its formulation
and implementation, must be participatory and it has to indicate
transparency and a sense of commitment and accountability.
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Key Actors
The dialogue initiative
in Tanzania is being carried out by the Dialogue Steering Committee
and the Lead Team.
3.1 The
Dialogue Steering Committee – Functions and Compositions
The major functions
of DSC are:-
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to assist
and guide the Lead Team
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to promote
the dialogue process
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to build constituency
and support for the process
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to endorse
outputs submitted by the Lead Team
The DSC is composed
of the following eight members:-
(i) Permanent
Secretary, Planning Commission (Chairperson)
(ii) Permanent
Secretary, Vice President’s Office
(iii) Permanent
Secretary, Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism
(iv) Permanent
Secretary, Ministry of Regional Administration and Local Government
(v) Tanzania
Chamber of Commerce Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA)
(vi) AGENDA
for Environment and Responsible Development - NGO
(vii) University
of Dar es salaam,
(viii) Departments
for International Development (DIFD)/United Kingdom
The committee first
met on August 7, 2000 and is due to meet again in October, 2000.
3.2 The
Lead Team
The Lead Team has
the following major functions:-
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to organize
stakeholder workshops
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to conduct
the status review
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to conduct
the dialogue process
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to prepare
the respective reports and submit to the government of Tanzania,
donors and key stakeholders.
The Lead Team is
currently made up of five members, namely: the Team Leader, two substantive
members, and two alternate members. The Lead Team is complemented
by three short-term consultants with orientation in plant protection
and environment (Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives), environmental
sociology (Private consultant) and environmental economics
(National Environmental Management Council).
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Approach and Activities
of Conducting the Status Review
4.1 Approach
In conducting the
status review, the following approaches have been used:-
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Stakeholder's
Planning Workshop
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the workshop
guide
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group consensus
approach
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Collection of
existing strategies and initiatives
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Review and identify
gaps of strategies
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Interviews
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Focus group
discussion using interview checklist
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Personal interviews
using interview checklist
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Status Review
Workshop
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Dynamics
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Mock Strategy
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Revision of
Status Review Report
4.2 Activities
Since the Arusha
Launching Workshop in April 2000 the following activities related with
the status review exercise have been covered:
Activity
1: Holding of Stakeholders Planning Workshop
Issues discussed:-
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Setting criteria
for national strategies for sustainable development
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Listing nssds
and initiatives towards sustainable development
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Identifying
problems of nssds during formulation and implementation
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Reviewing
and commenting on the status review process.
Activity 2: Review of Status Review Process
Activity 3: Preparation of interview checklist
Activity 4: Collection of existing strategies and initiatives
The distribution
of the collected strategies was as follows:
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Category
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Strategies
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Policies/Initiatives
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Total
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Economic
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9
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4
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13
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Social
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7
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14
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21
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Environmental
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8
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9
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17
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Total
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24
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27
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51
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Out of the 24 strategies,
18 were reviewed and the results were presented in the second stakeholders’
workshop in August 2000.
Activity
5: Review of the Collected Strategy Documents
Major issues examined
during the review included:-
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the origin of
the idea of formulating a strategy
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major objectives
of the strategy
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extent of achieving
strategy objectives
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key stakeholders
involved in the strategy
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extent of involvement
of key stakeholders
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methodology
used to formulate the strategy
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institutions
responsible for strategy implementation
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institutional
relationship and integration.
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current status
of implementation of the strategy
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political commitment
and policies towards the strategy
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sustainability
of the strategy (conditions, criteria/indicators)
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major problems
encountered during formulation and implementation
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proposed solutions
to the problems
Activity
6: Preparation and Presentation of Strategy Profiles
Three members
of the Lead Team and three consultants were hired and given the task
of reviewing the strategy documents and preparing a profile report based
on the outline given to them by the Lead Team. Afterwards all of them
had to present the reports to the Lead Team where the findings were
discussed and comments given to the presenters for revision of the reports
before final compilation into one report.
Activity
7: Review of the interview checklist
This was done
taking into account of the gaps, which were identified in reviewing
the strategies.
Activity
8: Conducting interviews
An interview
checklist was used to carry out focus group discussion or personal interviews.
Interviews were conducted in five ministries. They were intended to
fill gaps identified during the process of reviewing the strategies.
Activity 9: Preparation
of Status Review Report Outline Format
Activity 10: Preparation of Draft Status Review Report
Activity 11: Holding of Stakeholders Workshop to Discuss the
"Draft Status Review Report"
With the help of
a "workshop guide" and using the "group consensus
approach" the following workshop activities were performed:-
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Preparing a
"mock vision" for an imaginary "Ketibongo
Republic"
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Preparing an
outline of a national strategy for sustainable development for "Ketibongo
Republic"
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Review of two
selected "national strategies"
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Presentation
of draft status review report
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Discussion on
draft status review report
Activity 12: Finalizing the "Status Review Report"
and the "Preparation of Workshop Process
Report"
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Completed and
Ongoing Activities
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The "status
review" is completed.
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The "dialogue
process" would start towards the end of October, 2000,
although some activities have been covered during the status review.
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Results and Key
Lessons of the Status Review
6.1 Results
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Conceptual understanding/definition
Many stakeholders
appear to be not very clear with the concept of "national
strategies for sustainable development". The concept "strategy"
was difficult to conceptualize and so was "sustainable development".
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Contents of
the strategy
Clarification
is needed on what constitutes a "strategy for sustainable
development" and how does one go about preparing it.
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Global changes
and external assistance
Most strategy
documents were prepared due to global changes and availability of
external assistance. Internal forces played an insignificant role.
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Sequencing
There is discrepancy/inconsistency
in the sequencing of strategies and initiatives for sustainable
development. Cases exist where there is a policy but no strategy
or vice versa.
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Stakeholder
participation
The process
of preparing strategies needs more participatory input of stakeholders
at all levels, that is from parliament to local communities.
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Implementation
Plan
Most strategies
lack an implementation plan which defines the day-to-day operations
of the strategy
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Harmonization
of strategy preparation methodology and contents
Currently each
stakeholder prepares a strategy the way s/he feels it is right,
and there are no "Strategic Planning Manuals/Guidelines".As
a result, strategies available reflect a diversity in the methods
of preparing and contents.
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The time
lag
After policy formulation,
it takes very long to have strategies and action plans operationalized
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Number of
Objectives
Most strategies
have too many objectives
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Criteria
for final strategy adoption
The standard criteria
of approval do not seem to exist.
6.2 Key Lessons
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Externally influenced
strategy
In many cases
strategies which are formulated on the basis of external pressure
and influence on appear as if they have taken refuge in Tanzania.
Put it differently, the strategies do not seem to have the owner.
The strategies are either put in shelves after preparation or start
being implemented without being sure of achieving the objectives.
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Necessity for
Home-Grown Strategies
Strategies which
are home-grown and more dependent on home resources are likely to
be sustainable (PRSP)
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The Magic of
Ownership
Ownership of strategies
through stakeholders participation ensures transparency, accountability
of implementation and results, and sustainability.
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Capacity Building
at all levels
Most strategies
fail to take-off or be sustained for lack of capacity (human capacity,
financial capacity, infrastructural capacity, information and communication
capacity).There is need to improve the strategic planning capacity
at all levels. This is likely to come through training. Specific training
programmes will have to be developed for the purpose of enhancing
capacity of designing, implementing and M & E. This capacity building
programme should run through all levels down to the household level.
Building capacity at lower level is important because that is where
implementation actually takes place.
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Management
Information System (MIS)
Records, reporting
and data are necessary in preparing, implementing and monitoring
of performance. Resources are needed to enable analysis, comment
and compile information which is to be passed on to decision makers
and those responsible for implementing the strategy that is the
stakeholders.
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Constraints Encountered
The constraints
encountered when conducting the status review can be summarized as follows:-
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too much time
was wasted in getting appointments for interviews to take place
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availability
of strategy documents
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time for interviews
and reviewing the strategies was too short.
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Meeting the Objectives
8.1 The
DAC Task Force Perspective
The following issues
have been observed during the status review and will have to be confirmed
during the dialogue process. The DAC Task Force will have to observe
and provide assistance in the following:
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conduct information,
education and communication (IEC) programme on national strategies
for sustainable development at all levels
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capacity of
preparing strategies for sustainable development is lacking at all
levels (capabilities, infrastructure finance)
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sustainability
conditions and criteria have to be built into nssds.
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the problems
and needs of sustainable development have to be identified by Stakeholders.
The role of donors should be more of facilitation and support
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The Next Steps
After the Thailand
Mid Term Review Workshop, the Lead Team under the guidance of the Dialogue
Steering Committee will undertake the final revision of the Status Review
Report before embarking on Dialogues as clarified in the Methodology.
9.1 The Tanzania
Perspective
Through status review
the following issues have been identified:-
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presence of
strategies without policies or vice versa
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the need to
harmonize the method of preparing strategies
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the lack of
capacity to prepare strategies
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the presence
of conceptual problem of national strategies for sustainable development.
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