The 7th National Development Plan (7NDP) under the theme: ‘Accelerating development efforts towards Vision 2030 without leaving anyone behind’, has been launched today at the Mulungushi international Conference Centre in Lusaka.
Speaking during the launch PRESIDENT EDGAR LUNGU says he is concerned with the huge disparity between the rich and poor in Zambia. President LUNGU said despite the poverty decline between 2006 and 2015 there was need for government to do more as rural poverty remains really high at over 70 percent.
The formulation of the 7NDP has been driven by its mother ministry; The Ministry of National Development Planning with wide and extensive consultation from line ministries.
Other involved were Provinces and Districts, Research Institutions, Think Tanks, Civil Society organizations, United Nations agencies and many Cooperating Partners.
The 7NDP which will cover the period 2017 to 2021 is in 2 parts comprising of Volume I and Volume II. Volume I outlines the aspirations of the development agenda for the next 5 years while Volume II is the clear implementation plan of the 7NDP.
The 7NDP has been classified into 5 Pillars namely:
(I) Economic Diversification and Job Creation
(II) Poverty and Vulnerability Reduction
(III) Reducing Development Inequalities
(IV) Enhancing Human Development
(V) Creating a Conducive Governance Environment for a Diversified and Inclusive Economy
The plan gives a direction of Zambia’s broad parameter of government development agenda in the next four years.
The 7NDP seeks to move away from the sectoral approach to the integrated approach; it also seeks to abandon the silo approach that takes away policy harmonization and policy consistency.
And the Head of State has urged Zambians from all sectors of life to support the implementation of the national development plan. This plan will become the broad framework from which annual fiscal budgets and the corresponding monetary policy decisions will be anchored.