National Development Plan by June 2015
11/18/2014
Christie said it is “a damnable omission” that after three prime ministers in an independent Bahamas, such a plan is only now being developed.
During his extemporaneous remarks before giving his prepared speech, Christie told students gathered in the Harry C. Moore Library at The College of The Bahamas (COB) that there is no model in the region for The Bahamas to follow. He said the plan is being launched now because, while there have been three prime ministers in an independent Bahamas, national development has not proceeded in accordance with any grand design.
The launch ceremony at COB provided an opportunity for new President Dr. Rodney Smith to make his debut at a public event. Dr. Smith said he was excited about the role the University of The Bahamas would play in the creation of the plan.
“The University of The Bahamas will play an important role in national development,” Dr. Smith insisted, positioning the institution as a “neutral space for critical thinking” and the provision of “professional expertise.”
Minister of State for Investments Khaalis Rolle pointed out that in 2011, $1.5 billion was injected into The Bahamas in foreign direct investment (FDI). The downstream investment of that money in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) was minimal, he said. It is for that reason that a National Development Plan is important, Rolle said.
National Development Plan Secretariat
Director of Financial Services Dr. Nicola Virgill-Rolle heads the National Development Plan Secretariat, which features members of civil society and the public service: Winston Rolle as project coordinator; Carol Young from the Bahamas Investment Authority; Samantha Rolle and Nikki Reid-Simmons from the Office of The Prime Minister; Carl Oliver from the Ministry of Finance, and IBM General Manager Felix Stubbs as chairman of the Steering Committee.
The secretariat, will report to a Cabinet subcommittee on sustainable development, which Dr. Rolle said had already been formed. The Steering Committee will be tasked with integrating the views of civil society (including all political parties) and the wider public into the process.
An additional vehicle Rolle identified was what she termed “consultative groups based on key themes” (youth, the environment) to gather the views of specialists in areas deemed particularly important.
Dr. Rolle pointed out that the designing of the plan - being funded by a $450,000 grant for “Strengthening the Institutional Capacity of the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM)” from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) - places The Bahamas in the company of countries in the region with national development plans: The Cayman Islands, Barbados and Jamaica.
“We at the secretariat and the nascent Economic Development and Planning Unit within the OPM recognize that there are many risks to this project,” Dr. Rolle said. “The largest one being that it ends up as another report on a shelf.”
She outlined the three ways in which the secretariat hopes to avoid that fate. First, the plan is to utilize a “center of government” approach to dependable, evidence-based planning, which Dr. Rolle said could be institutionalized to ensure that development planning is a routine function within government. Next, the secretariat will ensure that stakeholders are involved in the planning process, understand the proposed outcomes and agree the to plan and execution framework.
“Finally, we would like to ensure that we build planning capacity within the public sector and reinforce the understanding that planning is necessary. We wish to ensure that senior public servants have a dedicated “strategic planning space” within their workweek to plot out strategic issues,” Dr. Rolle said.