Transcript Concepts and Issues - Strategic Planning Directorate

The Regional Strategy: Context and
Prospect
Essien Abel Essien
Director, Strategic Planning
Content
 Background
 Basic Strategic Framework for Regional
Integration
 The Short/Medium to Long Term Strategy
 Regional Strategic Goals
 Main Challenges and Key Opportunities
 Current Responses and Initiatives
Objectives of the Presentation
 Underscore the importance of a vision and strategy to
regional economic integration in West Africa
 Present the long term strategic priorities of the region as
encapsulated in the ECOWAS Vision 2020
 Highlight the short to medium term strategic goals derived
from this Vision
 Indicate the major challenges to the implementation of the
regional strategic plan
 Highlight current responses and initiatives
Background (1 of 3)
 Founded in 1975 and is a regional grouping of 15 countries
 Recorded success albeit miniscule
 Several challenges have bedeviled the integration process in
recent times.
•
Socio-Economic Bottlenecks
•
Human Insecurity
•
Gender Inequality and Vulnerability of some Segments of the Population
•
Poor Quality of Social Services
•
Population Pressures on Scarce Resources
•
Slow Process of Economic Integration
•
Infrastructure Inadequacy
•
High cost of Doing Business
•
Nascent and Weak Private Sector Capacity and Institutions
•
Over-dependence on Commodity Exports
Background (2 of 3)
•
•
Political Challenges
•
Fragile Political Fusions: Across the sub-region
•
Political Commitment to Deepen Regional Integration
Adverse External Factors
•
•
Climate Change and Environmental Degradation
Intra-regional Challenges
Background (3 of 3)
Response
• ECOWAS Secretariat transformed into a Commission in
order to sustain and step-up the momentum of integration
in West Africa
• There are now several institutions driving the process of
integration with competent and efficient manpower, and
full support of developing partners
• ECOWAS is currently refocusing its activities to align with
the Vision set by the Authority of Heads of State and
Government to create an ECOWAS of People
Basic Strategic Framework
LONG-TERM
REGIONAL
STRATEGY:
ECOWAS
VISION 2020
REGIONAL
STRATEGIC
PLAN
INSTITUTION
STRATEGIC
PLANS
THE
REGIONAL
MEDIUM
TERM
ACTION
AREA
The Long-term Strategy of ECOWAS
The Vision Statement
To create a borderless, peaceful, prosperous and cohesive region, built on
good governance and where people have the capacity to access and harness
its enormous resources through the creation of opportunities for sustainable
development and environmental preservation
KEYWORDS
ENABLERS
OBJECTIVES
• Borderless
• Access
• Peace
• Harnessing
• Sustainable
development
• Prosperity
• Creation of
opportunities
• Environmental
preservation
• Cohesion
• Good governance
Building Blocks of the ECOWAS Vision
Peace and Security
• a secure and socially cohesive West Africa devoid of
conflicts, whose leaders and people place a high
premium on peace and collective regional security.
Governance
• governed using the principles of good political and
economic governance, transparency, and
accountability and where fundamental human rights
are protected and respected
Economic and Monetary
Integration
Private Sector
Regional Resource
Development
• A single unified economic space characterized by a regional
market and a common currency supported by an integrated and
efficient financial market and payment settlement system
• private sector will be the primary engine of growth and
development
• an inclusive society achieved through human capital
development and empowerment as well as institutional capacity
reinforcement.
The Short to Medium Term Strategy: Purpose
o Provides an opportunity for the citizens to participate in the process and take
a genuine interest in their future, thereby increasing morale
o Promotes a common sense of purpose and cohesion
o Indicates a “road map” for development and service delivery in the near and
distant future
o Raises their collective awareness on current and future issues and operations
o Facilitates a reconciliation between past ways of doing things versus modern
ideas and the projection of future service demand
o Sets the stage for the Community’s institutions to operate at a new,
purposeful, and efficient level
Regional Strategic Goals
Goal 1
• Promote good governance , justice and upgrade the conflict prevention,
management and resolution mechanism
Goal 2
• Promote Infrastructural development and a Competitive Business
Environment
Goal 3
• Sustained development and cooperation in the region
Goal 4
• Deepen economic and monetary integration
Goal 5
• Reinforce Institutional Capacity
Goal 6
• Strengthen the mechanism for integration into the global market
Goal 1
Promote good governance , justice and upgrade the conflict
prevention, management and resolution mechanism
Challenges
>
The need to mainstream conflict prevention into stabilization and post
conflict interventions
>
The need to improve the regional management systems and human
resources to be able to better manage multiple tasks efficiently and
effectively
>
The need to improve the structural and operational architecture, e.g.
social infrastructure, diplomacy, humanitarian issues etc.
Strategy
>
Mobilize the resources and enhance the strategies required to fulfill the
region’s mission of maintaining peace, stability and security in the
region, within the context of good governance, as a basis for sustainable
development
Goal 2
Promote Infrastructural development
Environment
and a Competitive
Business
Challenges
>
Provision of basic economic and technological infrastructure
>
Education and skill development
>
Entrepreneurship and enterprise development
>
Innovation and creativity
Strategy
>
Provide the necessary policy input that would ensure regional and
national competitiveness as well as a conducive business environment for
the development of the private sector and build capacity to support a
regional investment framework
Goal 3
Sustained development and cooperation in the region
Challenges
>
Lack of adequate social and physical infrastructure for the establishment of a
strong and viable private sector
>
Absence of political will to implement the various protocols that would engender
cross-border transactions, particularly those related to free movement of persons,
goods, services, capital, etc.
>
Lack of capacity to manage the development process
>
Lack of coherence and consistency in collective bargaining and negotiation
>
Lack of an industrial policy harmonization agenda that would promote the orderly
development of the industrial sector and facilitate cost reduction in the productive
sectors of the regional economies
Strategy
>
Support and encourage all initiatives that would facilitate compliance with
existing policies and protocols, and provide the enabling environment for
sustained development in the region
Goal 4
Deepen economic and monetary integration
Challenges
>
Absence of common economic policies and legal, accounting and statistical frameworks
>
Lack of coherence and synergy in the multilateral surveillance mechanism of the various
ECOWAS institutions responsible for implementing the ECOWAS Monetary Cooperation
Program (EMCP)
>
Paucity of research on socio-economic development issues to aid the preparation of position
statements and policy briefs to evaluate the status and depth of regional integration
>
Non-achievement of primary and secondary convergence criteria on a sustainable basis by
member countries
>
Non-operationalisation of the relevant institutions (WACB, WAFSA, and WAMZ Secretariat)
necessary for the establishment of the second monetary zone (WAMZ), the introduction of the
ECO currency and ultimate single currency for the region
Strategy
>
Promote economic policy harmonization and monetary co-operation as a means of achieving
macro economic convergence and eventual attainment of single currency within the region
Goal 5
Reinforce Institutional Capacity
Challenges
>
Low investments in human capital development
>
Lack of organizational culture, dearth of tools and unfriendly work
environment
>
Inefficient organizational structures and poor management system that
do not conform to modern and best standards of global practices
>
The region suffers grossly from low ICT penetration, knowledge,
accessibility, availability and applicability
Strategy
>
To develop an efficient and functional work environment for enhanced
productivity and the coordination of activities that are necessary for
the timely realization of the Vision of the region
Goal 6
Strengthen the mechanism for integration into the global market
Challenges
>
The institution of a strategic planning and programming system that would not only be
forward looking, but key into the vision of the region and mirror the expectation of the
international development partners
>
Lack of effective mechanism for an integrated approach to trade promotion
>
Low value addition and poor quality of products emanating from the region that would
make them competitive in the international market
>
Poor state of infrastructure in the region, which remains regrettable, disastrous and
production-reductive
>
The current global crisis, global meltdown contagion (GMDC) and their likely effects on
aids and foreign direct investments flow
Strategy
>
Implementation of the ECOWAS Vision 2020, Strategic Plans of ECOWAS Institutions
and the creation of a favourable environment for effective integration into the global
market
Main Challenges and Key Opportunities:
Pyramid of Success
How are we going to
achieve this?...What
plan should we
follow?...How do we
know when we have
met our goals?...How do
we keep on track?
How do we do this?
The methods and tools necessary to
achieve our mission. It involves preparing
the best way to respond to the
circumstances of the organization's
environment, whether or not these
circumstances are known in advance.
STRATEGY
CAPABILITIES
ARCHITECTURE
Processes
Good
Governance
Funding
How should we structure our
capabilities to realize value and work
efficiently as an organization?
Technology
Institutions
Culture
Organization
Facilities
People
Current Responses and Initiatives
(1 of 2)
Regional
Strategic Plan
Technical/Financing
Assistance Road Map
A Capacity
Development
Strategy
Mapping of
Institutions Plans to
the regional plan
A Regional
Action Area
Current Responses and Initiatives
(1 of 2)
Institutional
Arrangement
Control
Systems
Process
Redesign
Strategic
Alliance
Communication
Strategy
Financial
Strategy
ICT
Overhaul
Concluding Remarks
•
The region has come along way in
evolving into a viable economic and
monetary block
•
All hands must be on deck as it is
apparent that the process is irreversible
THANK YOU
MERCI
OBRIGADO