Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is all set to launch a Strategic Partnership Development Framework (SPDF) in the first week of next month (October) which provides concrete programme for addressing the basic problems of the people of the province in a comprehensive manner.
This was revealed in a meeting held here in the Pakhtunkhwa House in which the country level heads of almost all development partners of the province (international donors) based in Pakistan including World Bank, USAID, Asian Development Bank, European Union, JIACA, GTZ etc actively participated. Planning Additional Chief Secretary Khalid Parvez and Chief Economist Shahab Ali Shah briefed the participants about the SPDF, the progress in its formulation, the goals set and the expectations attached to it. Finance Additional Chief Secretary Syed Said Badshah Bukhari, Power Secretary Sahibzada Saeed Ahmad, PE&DD secretary, industries secretary, education secretary, agriculture and senior officers of PE&DD actively participated in the meeting who too responded to the quarries put forward by representatives of these international donor agencies so that each and every point is properly explained.
The meeting was part of the consultative process, the provincial government has initiated so that before taking of the programme everyone is taken on board and the development process are initiated in a targeted manner. The input of the donor agencies received on the occasion will be properly adjusted in the final draft of the framework, assured Parvez.
Opening the meeting Parvez said that the SPDF has been prepared in consultation with not only all the local stakeholders but the donors/development partners and it is backed by all political parties forming coalition government in the province. He said that today’s participatory discussion of the SPDF is also aimed at sharing its draft with the international development partners and once finalised its final will be shared (in the first week of October) again with these partners. Later in response to a quarry, he also stated that even the opposition parties will be invited to the launching of this framework. The strategic objectives, targets in each and every sector of the province set in the framework were explained to the participants so that their input is included in the programme on the one hand and they are given proper opportunity to align their priorities with it (SPDF) and further strengthen their partnerships.
It was informed that a Reforms Implementation Cell at the very office of the chief secretary of the province had already been established to implement the ambitious reform agenda of the government, a Change Management Unit at the PE&DD, established, working groups, attracting memberships from experts from all fields including the private sector and civil society not only notified but worked round the clock to finalise the draft. It was pointed out that to ensure transparency and accountability in governance the Right to Information Law had already been promulgated while work on legislations regarding accountability, citizens empowerment at the grassroots level providing for devolution of powers down to the village level and a Provincial Finance Commission Award with 50 percent resource transfers to the districts, allocating funds on the basis of poverty and backwardness instead of population only, the right to service etc is in final stages. The government expected to achieve universal primary education and removal of gender, ethnic and regional disparities in education by the year 2018.
Some of the goals of the SPDF included 500 percent increase in energy generation, creation of 200,000 new jobs and reduction of one-fourth poverty by the year 2018. The framework provides for simplified and reduced process of dispute resolution to ensure peace building and the rule of law in the province, and addressing the achievement of millennium development goals.
The representatives of the international donor bodies appreciated the initiatives and assured the provincial government of their full cooperation in strengthening the partnership.
ISLAMABAD: The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is all set to launch a Strategic Partnership Development Framework (SPDF) in the first week of next month (October) which provides concrete programme for addressing the basic problems of the people of the province in a comprehensive manner.
This was revealed in a meeting held here in the Pakhtunkhwa House in which the country level heads of almost all development partners of the province (international donors) based in Pakistan including World Bank, USAID, Asian Development Bank, European Union, JIACA, GTZ etc actively participated. Planning Additional Chief Secretary Khalid Parvez and Chief Economist Shahab Ali Shah briefed the participants about the SPDF, the progress in its formulation, the goals set and the expectations attached to it. Finance Additional Chief Secretary Syed Said Badshah Bukhari, Power Secretary Sahibzada Saeed Ahmad, PE&DD secretary, industries secretary, education secretary, agriculture and senior officers of PE&DD actively participated in the meeting who too responded to the quarries put forward by representatives of these international donor agencies so that each and every point is properly explained.
The meeting was part of the consultative process, the provincial government has initiated so that before taking of the programme everyone is taken on board and the development process are initiated in a targeted manner. The input of the donor agencies received on the occasion will be properly adjusted in the final draft of the framework, assured Parvez.
Opening the meeting Parvez said that the SPDF has been prepared in consultation with not only all the local stakeholders but the donors/development partners and it is backed by all political parties forming coalition government in the province. He said that today’s participatory discussion of the SPDF is also aimed at sharing its draft with the international development partners and once finalised its final will be shared (in the first week of October) again with these partners. Later in response to a quarry, he also stated that even the opposition parties will be invited to the launching of this framework. The strategic objectives, targets in each and every sector of the province set in the framework were explained to the participants so that their input is included in the programme on the one hand and they are given proper opportunity to align their priorities with it (SPDF) and further strengthen their partnerships.
It was informed that a Reforms Implementation Cell at the very office of the chief secretary of the province had already been established to implement the ambitious reform agenda of the government, a Change Management Unit at the PE&DD, established, working groups, attracting memberships from experts from all fields including the private sector and civil society not only notified but worked round the clock to finalise the draft. It was pointed out that to ensure transparency and accountability in governance the Right to Information Law had already been promulgated while work on legislations regarding accountability, citizens empowerment at the grassroots level providing for devolution of powers down to the village level and a Provincial Finance Commission Award with 50 percent resource transfers to the districts, allocating funds on the basis of poverty and backwardness instead of population only, the right to service etc is in final stages. The government expected to achieve universal primary education and removal of gender, ethnic and regional disparities in education by the year 2018.
Some of the goals of the SPDF included 500 percent increase in energy generation, creation of 200,000 new jobs and reduction of one-fourth poverty by the year 2018. The framework provides for simplified and reduced process of dispute resolution to ensure peace building and the rule of law in the province, and addressing the achievement of millennium development goals.
The representatives of the international donor bodies appreciated the initiatives and assured the provincial government of their full cooperation in strengthening the partnership.
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