Development Partner’s Forum enables Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration to achieve NDPs, Vision 2030 and SDGs

The National Planning Commission (NPC) and UN Namibia co-chaired its annual Development Partners Forum (DPF) on Thursday, 28 October 2021 in Windhoek, Namibia. The forum provides an important platform for development partners to explore ways to partner with the Namibian Government on emerging issues, National Development Plans and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 

Under the theme, "Innovative Partnerships for sustainable socio-economic growth to accelerate the SDGs to achieve Vision 2030", participants discussed progress and challenges on Namibia’s development endeavours. Including strategising how partnerships could lead to meaningfully leveraging resources for the common purpose of contributing to Namibia’s development agenda.

Speaking at the event, NPC Executive Director Wilhencia Uiras noted that the forum offers an opportunity to strengthen coordination - both inter-sectoral and among diverse partners for efficient and effective use of limited resources.

“This meeting today will not only foster and strengthen the relationship between Namibia and her Development Partners, but it will also enable us to discuss potential possibilities of curbing the economic and social effects impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.”

The DPF continues deliberations held in 2020, which aimed to promote effective cross-sectoral collaboration to alleviate the impact of COVID-19 and jointly address national socio-economic challenges. This year's forum produced plenty engaging discussions between stakeholders from Government, Development Partners, Private Sector, Academia, Civil Society, Youth, etc; who were attended the forum physically or virtually.

“UN Namibia reiterates our commitment to coordinate efforts to strengthen existing partnerships and to build new partnerships with multiple sectors in Namibia: to deliver tangible and lasting results; contributing to the achievements of the Sustainable Development Goals”, said UN Namibia Resident Coordinator Sen Pang.

Pang added that to have a lasting effect, partners need to fully maximize their collaborative advantage to deliver solutions and impact beyond that of a single actor or actors working independently, to ensure that ‘no one is left behind’ and that vision 2030 is achieved.

The DPF 2021 included an update on the 2030 review and briefing on the Development of NDP 6; the Covid-19: Pandemic Recovery Plan and the Performance Delivery Unit Implementation plan. Furthermore, progress reports from sub-groups on Health; Innovative Development Finance; Digital Technology and ICT and Tourism were presented, inviting feedback and lively comments from present.

Small-group discussions were encouraged throughout the event to develop a shared understanding and inform how collective work could be harnessed to accelerate the National Development Agenda and SDGs.

The Forum serves as one of the highest-level coordinating body of its kind; responsible for overseeing the broader development coordination system, but not limited to, the European Development Fund (the latest being EDF11), the United Nations Partnership Framework (UNPAF02) including various Bilateral and multilateral Agreements concluded with the different Development Partners.