| Executive
Summary
What is the purpose
of this policy guidance?
At the 1992 UN Conference
on Environment and Development (UNCED), governments made a commitment
to adopting national strategies for sustainable development. The OECD’s
Shaping the 21st Century (1996) calls for the formulation and implementation
of such strategies in every country by 2005 one of the seven International
Development Targets (IDTs) and for development co-operation agencies to
support such processes in developing countries. The 1997 Special Session
of the UN General Assembly set a target date of 2002 for introducing strategies.
Although it is nearly
ten years since UNCED very little guidance has been available on how to
fulfil these commitments. This document aims to fill that gap. Based on
international experience and multi-stakeholder reviews in developing countries,
it seeks to clarify the purposes and principles underlying effective national
and local strategies for sustainable development; describes the various
forms they can take in developing countries; and offers guidance on how
development co-operation agencies can support them.
Although prepared
as guidance for donors, it is hoped that this document will also be able
to inform the World Summit for Sustainable Development and provide a basis
for broader international discussions and agreement on this issue.
Why are new approaches
to strategic planning needed?
Understanding of
the pressing problems of unsustainable development has improved since
UNCED. More is now known of environmental degradation, and social and
economic marginalisation. But responses have not been concerted. There
have been success stories, but they are fragmented. There have been improvements
in meeting some environmental, social, or economic needs, but often in
ways which cause other problems. Traditional approaches to ‘sustainable
development’ are often overlooked by policy-makers.
Moving towards sustainable development presents tremendous challenges.
Important structural changes are needed to the ways societies manage their
economic, social and environmental affairs. Different countries may settle
for different solutions, but all will have to make hard choices. Strategies
for sustainable development are about making and implementing such choices,
in a realistic, effective and lasting way.
What has been learned
about previous strategic approaches?
Many countries have
tried to plan their way out of problems in a technocratic manner, producing
comprehensive, one-off national plans with accompanying sets of projects
to be implemented. They were very often required (or inspired) by an external
agency, and connected to financial conditionalities. Examples include
National Conservation Strategies and Environmental Action Plans.
A review of experience
shows that successful approaches share certain characteristics. They set
priorities and establish a long-term vision; seek to promote convergence
between already existing planning frameworks; promote ownership; can demonstrate
national commitment; and are built on appropriate participation. Lower
levels of success can be attributed to strategies which over-emphasise
a product, take the form of one-off, separate initiatives, and are exclusively
top-down. Strategies which have been presented as new concepts, have undermined
existing processes and wasted scarce resources by starting new processes
from scratch. In addition, many strategies have failed to address
the deep economic, social and institutional changes needed for sustainable
development.
While most countries
have a number of strategic planning processes in existence, few, if any,
have a system to effectively co-ordinate them. Developing such a co-ordination
system will assist in integrating all the components of sustainable development
into mainstream planning processes. Enhanced co-ordination and convergence
between different planning frameworks can also relieve the the burden
on capacity and resources .
What are strategies
for sustainable development?
This guidance defines
a strategy for sustainable development as comprising: "A co-ordinated
set of participatory and continuously improving processes of analysis,
debate, capacity-strengthening, planning and investment, which integrates
the economic, social and environmental objectives of society, seeking
trade offs where this is not possible".
To substantiate the
definition, this guidance also offers a set of principles. These encompass
a set of desirable processes and outcomes which taken together are likely
to help ensure success of strategies for sustainable development. The
principles emphasise local ownership of the strategy process, effective
participation from all levels, and high-level commitment. They point to
the importance of convergence and coherence between different planning
frameworks, integrated analysis, and capacity development.
What does this
mean in practice?
An effective strategy
for sustainable development brings together the aspirations and capacities
of government, civil society and the private sector to create a vision
for the future, and to work tactically and progressively towards it. It
identifies and builds on ‘what works’, improves integration between approaches,
and provides a framework for making choices where integration is not possible.
Focusing on what is
realistically achievable, an effective strategy will benefit from comprehensive
understanding, but will not be paralysed by planning overly comprehensive
actions on many fronts at once. As a process of practical institutional
change aimed primarily at mainstreaming sustainability concerns, the strategy
is likely to be focused on only a few priority objectives.
A strategy for sustainable
development will rarely imply initiating a completely new or stand-alone
strategic planning project. Rather, a number of initiatives, taken together,
could meet the definition and the principles. Bringing existing initiatives
closer to an effective strategy for sustainable development might involve
complementing them with a broad ‘umbrella’: a vision and set of co-ordinated
mechanisms and processes to improve their complementarity, smooth out
inconsistencies, and fill gaps when needed.
In practice, many
countries have taken the approach of building on whichever strategy models
have been found useful. These include development plans, poverty reduction
strategies or action plans, national green plans, decentralised planning
and consultation processes – or the national exercises that have proliferated
over the last two decades connected to international agreements. In some
countries, alternative approaches have been developed by civil society
organisations. In recognition of this broad range of starting points,
this guidance emphasises that the label does not matter – what
is important is the consistent application of the underlying principles
referred to above .
Depending on circumstances,
a sustainable development strategy may be viewed as a system comprising
the following components:
- Regular multi-stakeholder
fora and means for negotiation at national and decentralised levels,
with links between them.
- A shared vision
and set of broad strategic objectives.
- A set of mechanisms
to pursue those objectives in ways that can adapt to change (notably
an information system; communication capabilities; analytical processes;
international engagement; and co-ordinated means for policy integration,
budgeting, monitoring, and accountability).
- Principles and
standards to be adopted by sectors and stakeholders, through legislation,
voluntary action, market-based instruments, etc.
- Pilot activities,
to generate learning and ownership.
- A secretariat
or other facility with authority for co-ordinating these mechanisms.
- A mandate for
all the above from a high-level, central authority such as the prime
minister’s office and, to the extent possible, from citizens’ and business
organisations.
How can external
partners support strategies for sustainable development?
Development co-operation
agencies have offered financial and technical support to strategic planning
approaches such as National Conservation Strategies and Poverty Reduction
Strategies. This support has provided opportunities for country stakeholders
to explore sustainable development options. Sometimes, however, bilateral
and multilateral development agencies have heavily influenced the strategy
process, its timing, and its outcomes – and then supplanted one strategy
with another.
Agencies can effectively
and efficiently support sustainable development strategies by applying
the principles outlined in this policy guidance – assisting country-driven,
capacity-enhancing participatory processes that reflect the priorities
of stakeholders. Particular commitment to such principles is needed for
any strategic framework that has its conceptual or institutional origins
outside the country in question, so as to improve coherence between international
frameworks and to strengthen and improve synergies with existing national
strategies. The role of external partners strategies should be catalytic
and supplementary, with a strong focus on using and developing local capabilities,
and methodological support. This is a challenging approach, which will
require changes in the policies, procedures and capacities of development
cooperation agencies. This guidance details action that agencies can take
to put their commitments into practice and suggests ways of monitoring
agency observance of the guidance.
Finally, strategies
for sustainable development prepared by individual developing countries
can be greatly compromised by external policies and institutions (e.g.
those concerning trade and investment) over which developing countries
often have little direct control. Development agencies can help by communicating
such vulnerabilities to international stakeholders, including the private
sector.
How can sustainable
development strategies be monitored?
Monitoring is a core
component of strategies. It needs to cover processes (such as the quality
and coverage of participation and information systems), outcomes, and
the changing baseline. Monitoring is not a separate exercise. On the contrary,
process and outcome indicators need to be considered on a regular basis
by stakeholders at the same time as vision and objectives.
International reporting
and information-sharing (as part of a harmonised international system
of monitoring of all IDTs) must be agreed in appropriate international
fora. This guidance advises that it should not be based strictly on one
model, but should reflect the fact that many different approaches to strategies
could meet the definition and the principles outlined in this policy guidance.
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