ADDIS ABABA, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) on Wednesday reiterated its commitment to continued technical support to African countries in development planning.
This came at the opening of a two-day intergovernmental meeting on development planning on Wednesday in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa.
Experts from the national planning and statistics institutions of Cameroon, Benin, Egypt, Kenya, Zambia, as well as from ECA and other international organizations converged in the meeting, according to ECA.
The five nations are pilot countries for the 10th UN Development Account project on "Strengthening the Capacities of African Governments for Integration of Accountability in National Development Planning."
The Development Account was established by the UN General Assembly in 1997 and provides a mechanism for promoting the exchange and transfer of skills, knowledge and good practices among target countries through cooperation with a wide range of partners in the broader development assistance community.
The ECA's principal regional advisor, Sylvain Boko, noted that ECA has been collaborating with the five pilot countries over two years.
Two technical studies have been done in each pilot country to evaluate and asses the status of their planning and statistics systems; and a national strategy for integrating accountability in national development planning has been developed in collaboration with each country, based on the findings of the technical studies, Boko has said.
The third phase of the project consists of working with each government to implement training programs to address the capacity gaps identified in the national strategies, which will need to be addressed for a successful implementation of the national strategies, he has indicated.
Speaking on his part, Stephen Karingi, ECA's Director of Regional Integration and Trade, noted that the project builds on ECA's track record in providing advisory services and technical support to member States.
"It rests on specific interventions that mainly focus on people and institutions that are central to the success of the implementation of member states' national development goals," he added.
Karingi has reiterated that the project looks at planning as an instrument to enhance accountability in order to achieve the best possible outcomes.
