Lusaka, 21 November 2022 (ECA) – Today the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) kicks off a four (4) day applied training program on the Integrated Planning and Reporting Toolkit (IPRT) for stakeholders, from the Zambia Ministry of Finance and National Planning and other key line Ministries. The training is organized by the Development Planning Section of the, Macroeconomics & Governance Division and the Sub-regional Office for Southern Africa, ECA, in collaboration with the Zambia Ministry of Finance and National Planning.
Monitoring of progress towards national and continental commitments such as the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2063 remains a key challenge to many countries, including Zambia. Therefore, the training will introduce Zambian planners to the functionalities of the IPRT and facilitate its use in planning and the alignment of their national development plan with Agenda 2030 and Agenda 2063, including the monitoring of the progress towards their implementation. This training aims to familiarize planners and experts with the applications of the IPRT and equip them with the skills to use them effectively.
Mr. Trevor K. Kaunda, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance and National Planning, Zambia in his opening remarks explained that he views the “IPRT training as an important capacity building event aligning the national development plans to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well as the Africa Union Agenda 2063 the training will also feed into the preparation of the Voluntary National Review (VNR) to be presented at the 2023 High Level Political Forum to be held in New York, in July next year.”
The training comes at an opportune time for Zambia, when the country has just launched her Eighth National Development Plan (8NDP 2022-2026), which supports the path of an integrated multisectoral approach to development. The IPRT will help to better track progress through the alignment of Zambia’s 8NDP results framework at goal, target and indicator levels with the SDGs and Agenda 2063.
Speaking on behalf of UN Resident Coordinator, Ms. Beatrice Mutali, Ms Eunice G. Kamwendo, the Director of UNECA’s Sub Regional Office for Southern Africa explained that “the integration of planning and reporting across the various frameworks simplifies the tracking and the attendant reporting of progress.”
The Director alluded to the commitment of the United Nations to supporting the Zambian Government in achieving its development agenda as well as the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2063. She urged the participants to take the training with utmost dedication and attention. “You are the national champions on the IPRT and as a practical and hands on training, everyone amongst us should endeavour to make the toolkit their own.” she said.
Zambia is the third country in the Southern African Development Community region (SADC) to be trained on the IPRT after Botswana and Malawi and it is anticipated that the toolkit will be formally adopted at the end of the training session.
In 2015, the United Nations endorsed the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development goals as well as the continental agenda, Agenda 2063, to spearhead the transformation of the continent. Many African Member States are making efforts to mainstream both the SDGs and Agenda 2063 into their national development plans. To support member States in this endeavour, ECA developed a toolkit, the IPRT, to anchor alignment of continental and global development agendas with national development plans, assess progress towards the achievement of SDGs and Agenda 2063 goals and enhance national development planning capacities.
The IPRT has already been deployed in 26 member States and one Regional Economic Community (SADC) with ongoing efforts to ensure its use by all countries on the continent. The countries that have so far deployed the IPRT with the support of ECA are; Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Comoros, Republic of Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia Gambia (Republic of The), Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Morocco, Namibia, Niger, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Zambia.
Communications Section
Economic Commission for Africa
PO Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251 11 551 5826
E-mail: eca-info@un.org
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