UNDP, AfDB, AUDA-NEPAD launch ‘Guide for Integrated Planning in Africa’ at COP 25

The African Development Bank Group, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD unveiled the Guide for Integrated Planning in Africa at the COP 25 climate conference in Madrid. The objective of unveiling this guide is to assist the African countries grappling with the simultaneous implementation of key global initiatives.

The Guide for Integrated Planning in Africa will assist mainstream the Sustainable Development Goals, AU Agenda 2063, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change/Nationally Determined Contributions, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and The New Deal for Engagement in Fragile States into African countries’ national development plans. The step-by-step guide provides African planners with a new generation of national development strategic and operational plans that mainstream these global initiatives.

The new guide will help governments in the continent to accelerate the delivery of the SDGs in the decade of implementation; it will also support the implementation of UNDP’s Climate Promise whichs help countries revise and submit enhanced NDCs by 2020, and reflect them into their new national development plans. The UNDP Resident Representative in Togo, Aliou Dia called the guide a welcome addition.

“The Guide supports our vision to harness knowledge to deliver the Africa we want, fostering the development of the continent through effective and integrated planning, coordination and implementation of Agenda 2063 with Member States, Regional Economic Communities and Pan-African institutions, by leveraging partnerships and technical cooperation,” the Director of Programme Innovation and Planning at the African Union Development Agency, Estherine Fotabong opined.

“Good planning tools enable us to streamline our work; better planning facilitates efficient resource allocation and effective delivery. We are committed to working with Regional Member Countries to mainstream the global development agendas in the national development plans with the ultimate goal of ending poverty, generating jobs for youth and protecting the planet,” the Director for Climate Change and Green Growth at the African Development Bank Group, Anthony Nyong cited.

The guide will be available as a digital application, and in handbook format. The digital application will make it easier for African planners to search for and apply tools for developing a new generation of national development plans.