Applied Training on the Integrated Planning and Reporting Toolkit

The Director for Monitoring and Evaluation, Ministry of Finance and National Planning, Madame Prudence Kaoma;

Senior Government Officials present;

Colleagues from the United Nations System in Zambia;

Colleagues from Economic Commission for Africa;

Dear Participants;

Members of the media;

Ladies and Gentlemen

A very good morning to you all!

On behalf of the UN Resident Coordinator, Ms. Beatrice Mutali, and indeed on my own behalf, I wish to welcome you to this face to face training on the Integrated Planning and Reporting Toolkit (IPRT).

Allow me to firstly express my appreciation on behalf of the UN System in Zambia, to the Government of the Republic of Zambia for the decision to adopt this development planning tool and for inviting the Commission to accompany Zambian stakeholders in strengthening capacity in the use of this Toolkit. In the same vein, allow me to thank colleagues from the Macroeconomic Policy and Governance Division in Addis Ababa for pioneering the development of the toolkit, as well as for spearheading its popularisation and use across the continent. The IPRT has so far proven itself to be a very useful application for development planning in the region.

You may wish to know that Zambia is the third country in the Southern African Development Community region (SADC) to be trained on the IPRT after Botswana and Malawi and we anticipate the adoption of the toolkit at the end of this training session. I am reliably informed that the virtual training organised last week for some of you provided a strong footing for work to be accomplished this week, to ensure that Zambia fully adopts the toolkit. As you are aware, this is a tool for planning and reporting the progress on the continental and global development agendas—Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their correlation with the national development strategy.

Ladies and Gentlemen

As you are aware, monitoring of progress towards national and continental developments and the Sustainable Development Goals remains a key challenge to many countries including Zambia. The training on the IPRT, which integrates and mainstreams individual member States’ NDPs to both Agenda 2063 and SDGs, will be key in facilitating tracking of the progress and impact of these initiatives against set targets. The integration of planning and reporting across the various frameworks simplifies the tracking and the attendant reporting of progress.

Ladies and Gentlemen

I strongly believe that this training has come at an opportune time when the country has just launched her Eighth National Development Plan (8NDP 2022-2026), which supports the path of an integrated multisectoral approach. The IPRT will be a better instrument to track progress through the alignment of Zambia’s 8NDP results framework at goal, target and indicator level with the SDGs and Agenda 2063. Such reporting facilitates planning for future development plans and strategies.

As you may be aware Zambia has indicated its desire to prepare the 2nd Voluntary National Review (VNR) to be presented at the High-Level Political Forum in mid-2023 and this toolkit will be invaluable in assisting the country in conducting a meaningful review, hence the importance and timeliness of this training. The United Nations System has commenced consultations with the Government in readiness to support this process.

As we pursue development and track progress, we need to be mindful of the adverse effects on the environment and our just concluded Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts (ICSOE) meeting in Maputo underscored the critical importance of green industrialization and called on member States, including Zambia, to prioritize such initiatives so as to support structural transformation of the economy, build resilience and fight food insecurity and address inequality and poverty.

As I conclude, allow me to remind you that in our planning as the sub regional office, Zambia is one of our focus countries and we are involved in supporting many development initiatives, directly and through the United Nations System, including for example, the living conditions monitoring survey to update the 2015 data on poverty and other indicators; the common agro-industrial park between Zambia and Zimbabwe; the DRC-Zambia Battery Precursor initiative; and the implementation of the country’s AfCFTA strategy, among others. As part of the UN System in Zambia, ECA contributes to the implementation of the UN cooperation framework and continues to play a pivotal role in supporting development. This training on the IPRT strengthens our footprint in Zambia in terms of supporting macro-economic planning and development and anchoring development planning.

The United Nations remains committed in supporting the Government in achieving its development agenda as well as the Sustainable Development Goals. I kindly urge you to give this training your 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.

I wish you a fruitful training.

Thank you/Zikomo!