adminGolden Sibanda Harare Bureau
THE public and private sectors will from now on hold regular dialogue on the implementation of the government’s economic blueprint, Zim-Asset, following the launch of a manual on effective consultations yesterday.
The National Economic Consultative Forum developed the dialogue manual to drive policy formulation, implementation and evaluation relating to the government’s medium-term economic policy.
Officially launching the public private sector handbook in Harare, the Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Misheck Sibanda, said the document should go a long way in supporting evidence-based policy formulation, implementation and evaluation, especially as it relates to Zim-Asset.
The launch was attended by captains of industry and commerce, executives from public enterprises, officials from the government and civil society.
Zim-Asset (Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation) is a five-year economic blueprint crafted by the government to guide its economic development agenda from 2014 to 2018.
“The launch of the PPD manual has come at a time when there’s a strong desire for extensive consultation on various socio-economic aspects in both government and the private sector,” Sibanda said.
He said a number of countries had supported the development of new industries that managed to compete effectively on global markets using information gained through public-private dialogue platforms.
“These are electronics in Malaysia and Singapore, car parts manufacturing and assembling in Morocco, wine production in South Africa and Chile, salmon production in Chile and production of fresh asparagus in Peru, just to mention but a few,” he said.
Zimbabwe, Sibanda said, adopted the strategy for consultation and formation of NECF, whose patron is President Robert Mugabe, in 1997 as evidence of a desire by all stakeholders to consult on issues affecting the country.
He said it was in recognition of the importance of the PPD process that the NECF had developed the manual to standardise the consultation process to anchor evidence-based dialogue process in an inclusive, well-structured, well-managed and effective manner.
“It’s therefore my belief that the PPD manual will be used to generate consensus among stakeholders, both at conceptualisation, implementation and evaluation levels of Zim-Asset programmes,” said Sibanda.
He said the manual should complement evidence-based policy making by building trust and partnership among stakeholders.
If properly implemented, Sibanda said, the manual would go a long way in creating common understanding of the challenges facing the country and forge inclusivity to addressing them.
He said when the manual was implemented, Zimbabweans would realise that some of the things they had taken for granted were important when it came to effective consultative processes.
The manual is structured into facilitating and planning well-structured and effective consultations, raising visibility and support of consultative processes and monitoring implementation and evaluating impact of reforms.
Public Private Dialogue is an engagement mechanism used to ensure more inclusive and sustainable policy reforms through well structured and participatory reform process and is used across the world.
It is result-based management compliant, emphasising on key result areas, setting out objectives, outputs and outcomes of the PPD process.
It also seeks to achieve mutual outcomes for all in policy dialogue and the manual outlines important steps to be taken before and after the consultation process.
Online Reporter