## Cambodia’s National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP) 2006–2010

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [Cambodia’s National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP) 2006–2010](https://www.imf.org/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/pubs/ft/scr/2006/_cr06267.pdf)

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### Process, ownership and participation
- NSDP finalized in January 2006 and approved by the National Assembly in May 2006; replaces SEDP-II 2001–2005 and NPRS 2003–2005, and incorporates CMDGs first formulated in 2003 and updated in 2005.
- Major achievement: defines a single, overarching national development strategy rather than multiple competing strategies.
- Preparation characteristics:
  - Less participatory than previous strategies but less donor-driven, producing more pronounced ownership by the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC).
  - Ownership uneven across ministries and weak at sub-national levels; strongest ownership in the Secretariat and the Ministry of Planning (MOP).
  - Technical Working Groups (TWGs) were marginalised until late stages; TWG-PPR established late to engage donors, NGOs and (to a limited extent) the private sector.
  - National Assembly had very limited opportunities to influence preparation.
- Staff recommendations to strengthen institutional arrangements for implementation and monitoring:
  - Allocate additional RGC resources to coordination and monitoring functions.
  - Greater inclusion of civil society in periodic progress reviews.
  - Improved cross-Government communications and better integration of planning and public financial management (PFM) functions.
  - Central role for the TWGs and better links to the process for setting and monitoring annual progress targets in Consultative Group (CG) meetings.
  - Institutionalize the Secretariat as the stable core for ongoing strategy implementation, monitoring and revision through to and beyond 2010.
- Additional operational needs:
  - Differentiate institutional arrangements between sectors with varying capacities and reform pace.
  - For well-developed sectors (e.g., Education, Health): sharpen poverty focus and strengthen links between planning and PFM (programme budgeting, MTEFs).
  - For less-advanced sectors: develop poverty focus in emerging sector strategies and the intermediate indicators and M&E systems needed to track progress.
  - A communications strategy is urgently needed to disseminate NSDP commitments within Government and to citizens and NGOs.
  - Improve civil society participation in implementation by communicating NSDP key points in accessible formats and involving NGOs as feedback channels.

### Poverty diagnostics and focus
- Diagnostics and data sources:
  - Brief but strategic and balanced; based on 2004 Cambodian Socio-Economic Survey (CSES) and trends since 1993/4.
  - NSDP notes poverty fell significantly from 45–50 percent to 35 percent in the last ten years.
  - Secretariat received poverty estimates in mid-2005 and a first draft of the Bank’s Poverty Assessment in October.
- Analytical gaps and next steps:
  - Secretariat should refine priority actions using in-depth review of 2004 household survey findings for the mid-2006 revision.
  - 2005 Demographic and Health Survey findings (due for release soon in source) will be used to update human development progress indicators and improve pro-poor service delivery via sub-sector prioritisation and inter-/intra-sectoral public expenditure allocation.
- Main short-run channel for influence:
  - Policy prioritization—NSDP expected to help prioritize legal, policy, institutional and regulatory changes that largely do not entail significant budget commitments.
  - Reinforce Public Financial Reform Program (PFMRP) progress toward credible budgeting and multi-year financial planning through the 3-year rolling Public Investment Program (PIP) and Ministry Budgetary Strategy Framework.
  - Importance that the 2007 budget clearly identifies NSDP-related expenditure and tracks this in implementation and reporting.

### Macroeconomic framework and risks
- Recent performance noted in NSDP:
  - Growth averaged 10 percent recently and approached 13½ percent in 2005.
  - Inflation has remained under control despite pressures from high world oil prices.
  - Current account deficit (including official transfers) was around 4¼ percent of GDP in 2005, the highest in four years.
  - International reserves dropped to less than 2½ months of import cover.
  - Exchange rate has stayed broadly stable.
- NSDP macroeconomic projections and assumptions:
  - Framework envisages economic growth at around 6 percent per annum.
  - Return to lower inflation of 3 to 4 percent.
  - International reserves growing to cover 3 months of imports by 2010.
- Risks highlighted:
  - Medium-term outlook for garment industry (accounts for over half the industrial sector) remains uncertain.
  - Tourism vulnerable to a global slowdown and regional outbreak of avian flu; average tourist arrivals grew by over 40 percent in 2004 and 2005.
  - Agriculture (about one third of GDP) remains highly vulnerable to weather conditions despite reform efforts.

### Sector strategies, service delivery and public financial management
- Structure and priorities:
  - NSDP organizes strategies according to the Rectangular Strategy pillars: (i) core governance; (ii) maintaining environment for implementation (domestic stability, international integration, development partnerships, favourable macroeconomic/financial circumstances); (iii) enhancing agriculture; (iv) improving physical infrastructure; (v) promoting private sector-led growth and job creation; (vi) building capacity and human capital.
  - Priority actions include a mix of new commitments and consolidation/ordering of existing programs.
- Sectoral unevenness:
  - Well-developed sector strategies: Education and Health.
    - Education Strategic Plan (ESP) synchronized with NSDP, running 2006–2010; aims for universal nine-year basic education.
    - Education achievements: net primary enrolment rose from 55 percent in 1997 to 76 percent in 2004.
    - Health Sector Strategic Plan (HSP) 2003–2007 to be reviewed in 2006 and extended to 2010 to align with NSDP.
  - Sectors needing further strategy development: Agriculture—production of an agricultural sector strategy in 2006 is essential.
- Service delivery constraints:
  - Continued importance of PFM and public administration reforms for timely delivery of funds and managing public sector employees to encourage performance.
  - Budget execution has improved but remains poor: late and unpredictable disbursements are common and reporting is inadequate to assess alignment of spending with policy priorities.
  - NSDP recognizes importance of PFM and public administration reforms but not as explicitly and forcefully as recommended.

### Governance monitoring and indicators
- Initial gap and corrective step:
  - NSDP covered governance reforms broadly but initially lacked results indicators or 2010 targets.
  - A set of governance indicators was adopted at the 2006 CG meeting and will be taken as governance indicators for the first year of the NSDP.
  - These indicators were developed in relevant TWGs and drew on NSDP to define Joint Monitoring Indicators for 2006.
  - Adoption aims to increase incentives for implementation and monitoring and to avoid previous CG indicators failing to result in substantive reforms or improved performance.

### Governance, anti-corruption, and institutional integrity
- Findings:
  - Corruption is described as "widespread and serious."
  - NSDP recognises the importance of tackling corruption and lists the passage of an anti-corruption law that "conforms to international best practice" as a priority action (a long-standing commitment reiterated in both the NSDP and the joint monitoring indicators agreed at the March 2006 CG meeting).
  - Passage of such a law would be "an important signal of serious intent" but must be accompanied by "consistent and impartial application of anti-corruption measures," including sanctions for those found guilty under the current legal framework.
- Recommendations:
  - Develop a coherent and effective anti-corruption strategy anchored in impartial enforcement and sanctions.
  - Complement legal reforms with consistent application under current law.

### Oil, gas revenues, and macroeconomic risks
- Findings:
  - Significant offshore oil and gas reserves are now known to exist in Cambodian territorial waters.
  - Contracts have been awarded for four of the six offshore blocks; one block "contains 700 million barrels of oil and 3–5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas."
  - Revenues from this block are "likely to exceed current levels of both domestic and ODA revenue sources."
  - The NSDP states the Government will learn from international experience but "provides little information on the principles that will be applied."
- Risks and considerations:
  - Need to ensure revenues are "deployed transparently, accountably and effectively for poverty reduction."
  - Must take into account the risk of macroeconomic imbalances (for instance, Dutch disease effects).
  - Early commitment to sound macroeconomic management and a transparent and accountable revenue management and expenditure process is "vital."

### Financial intermediation and rural credit
- Findings:
  - Banking system is growing rapidly but remains "rudimentary" and largely serves urban centers.
  - NSDP identifies short-term measures to deepen and improve the quality of financial intermediation (e.g. continued improvement in supervision and regulation).
  - Long-term goals in the NSDP (e.g. establishment of a mature capital market) are important but could detract from urgent reforms needed to expand rural credit if prioritized prematurely.
- Recommendations:
  - Prioritize short-term measures to deepen financial intermediation and expand rural credit before pursuing longer-term capital market goals.

### Fiscal management, PFM, and the Public Investment Programme (PIP)
- Findings:
  - Sustained improvements in fiscal management are "crucial to the financing of the NSDP."
  - Financing is anticipated in part from improved revenue performance and "broadly stable current expenditures (as a percentage of GDP)."
  - NSDP investments are "clearly underfunded" even with broad-brush costings in the document.
  - Rapid progress in PFM reform is "critical" to facilitate efficiency gains and to identify and prioritize NSDP expenditures in annual budgets, the MTEF and PIP.
- PIP shortcomings:
  - The PIP has "not been an effective tool for prioritization" in recent years.
  - Weak dialogue between MOP and MEF, cursory project appraisals for compliance, inadequate prioritization, and lack of reflection of resource availability have limited PIP's impact.
- Recommendations:
  - Reallocate lower-priority expenditures to NSDP policies.
  - Strengthen PFM reform to improve prioritization and integration of NSDP into the annual budget, MTEF and PIP.
  - Improve dialogue and appraisal processes between MOP and MEF to make PIP an effective prioritization tool.

### Revenue projections, external financing, and debt sustainability
- Revenue and financing assumptions:
  - NSDP envisages annual external loan and grant financing of $500 million per annum, supplemented by debt relief and resources from non-traditional partners, including through semi-concessional loans.
  - NSDP acknowledges risk that concessional external financing may not reach targeted levels: "(over 50 percent more than the total amount realized in 2005)."
  - Financing from debt relief, beyond that received under the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI), "is not likely to be significant."
- Policy guidance:
  - Given limited capacity to service public debt, "less-concessional lending should not be used indiscriminately" and should be restricted to specific high-return projects and considered carefully for debt sustainability implications.
  - A more detailed analysis of the private sector contribution to NSDP investments "would also be useful."

### Donor alignment and aid effectiveness
- Findings:
  - Donors need to work with the Government to align aid to NSDP priorities.
  - Effective alignment will require further elaboration of Government priorities and a move by donors to multi-year aid commitments; both processes "are likely to take time."
- Implication:
  - Credibility of the NSDP will be damaged if donors fail to respect NSDP in designing country programs; conversely, better harmonization requires RGC to improve definition of NSDP priorities and follow them in policies and resource allocations.

### Results orientation, monitoring & evaluation (M&E)
- Findings:
  - NSDP links monitoring and evaluation to annual revisions of the strategy and commits the Government to stakeholder consultations in 2006 to produce detailed sectoral and sub-national plans and "a full M&E framework."
  - NSDP foresees a Preliminary Report to shape the PIP 2007–09, the MTEF for 2007–11 and the budget for 2007; subsequent annual evaluation exercises will be conducted between January and March and summarised in a progress report in June.
  - Current draft M&E framework "relies excessively on administrative data sources" and makes minimal reference to the National Institute of Statistics or the 2005 Statistical Master Plan.
  - Draft M&E framework has a "missing middle," lacking output and intermediate indicators to link inputs to poverty outcomes.
- Integration challenge:
  - Need to reconcile and synchronize (i) Joint Monitoring Indicators (JMIs) used for discrete near-term milestones and (ii) NSDP indicator frame focused on relatively stable input and output indicators for medium-term (five-year) outcomes.
  - Integrating CG/JMI and NSDP/APR processes would help define NSDP targets for good governance and relate these to development outcomes.

### Institutional arrangements, ownership, and participation (detailed)
- Findings:
  - Ownership of NSDP is "considerably narrower but somewhat deeper" than the NPRS; strongest within the NSDP Secretariat and weaker further down Government and into civil society.
  - NSDP Secretariat needs adequate staff and funding and "greater participation of MEF and CDC."
  - TWG-PPR needs a clearly-defined mandate for providing information to civil society, building partnerships for NSDP implementation, and channelling feedback on implementation and outcomes.
  - Recently-formalized TWG-PPR "core group" needs to meet regularly.
- Recommendations:
  - Broaden RGC and civil society ownership through a well-developed communication strategy and participation in monitoring.
  - Use TWGs to strengthen links between NSDP, sector strategies, and the PFM reform process, notably for the upcoming Agriculture and Water Resources Strategy.
  - Create stable, inclusive arrangements for coordinating across Government with a central role for TWGs.

### Conclusions and executive decision points
- Comparative strengths and weaknesses:
  - NSDP: less participatory in preparation but less donor-driven; stronger political commitment at the highest level; poverty diagnostics are "less detailed but more current"; emphasis shifted toward rural development; results framework "less ambitious" with fewer targets and better prospects for monitoring.
- Risks and actions required:
  - Follow-up actions are "urgently required" to enable NSDP to integrate and add value to disparate reform processes, including prioritization linked to sector planning and budgeting and refining prioritization as PFM reforms proceed.
- Items posed to Executive Directors (verbatim):
  - Whether the effectiveness of the NSDP as a poverty reduction strategy could be strengthened by:
    - (i) elaborating on the directions laid out in the document through more detailed prioritization of policies and expenditures, encouraging donors in turn to align their assistance to the NSDP;
    - (ii) making full use of the TWGs to strengthen the links between the NSDP, sector strategies, and the PFM reform process, especially for the upcoming agriculture strategy; and
    - (iii) taking measures to broaden awareness and ownership of the plan within the Government and in the country at large.

*Source: IMF staff report excerpt on Cambodia’s NSDP 2006–2010 (cr06267).*

### 1. Cambodia’s National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP) 2006–2010 was

### Cambodia’s National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP) 2006–2010 was

### Process, ownership and participation
- NSDP finalized in January 2006 and approved by the National Assembly in May 2006; replaces SEDP-II 2001–2005 and NPRS 2003–2005, and incorporates CMDGs first formulated in 2003 and updated in 2005.
- Major achievement: defines a single, overarching national development strategy rather than multiple competing strategies.
- Preparation characteristics:
  - Less participatory than previous strategies but less donor-driven, producing more pronounced ownership by the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC).
  - Ownership uneven across ministries and weak at sub-national levels; strongest ownership in the Secretariat and the Ministry of Planning (MOP).
  - Technical Working Groups (TWGs) were marginalised until late stages; TWG-PPR established late to engage donors, NGOs and (to a limited extent) the private sector.
  - National Assembly had very limited opportunities to influence preparation.
- Staff recommendations to strengthen institutional arrangements for implementation and monitoring:
  - Allocate additional RGC resources to coordination and monitoring functions.
  - Greater inclusion of civil society in periodic progress reviews.
  - Improved cross-Government communications and better integration of planning and public financial management (PFM) functions.
  - Central role for the TWGs and better links to the process for setting and monitoring annual progress targets in Consultative Group (CG) meetings.
  - Institutionalize the Secretariat as the stable core for ongoing strategy implementation, monitoring and revision through to and beyond 2010.
- Additional operational needs:
  - Institutional arrangements should differentiate between sectors with varying capacities and reform pace.
  - For well-developed sectors (e.g., Education, Health): sharpen poverty focus and strengthen links between planning and PFM (programme budgeting, MTEFs).
  - For less-advanced sectors: develop poverty focus in emerging sector strategies and the intermediate indicators and M&E systems needed to track progress.
  - A communications strategy is urgently needed to disseminate NSDP commitments within Government and to citizens and NGOs.
  - Civil society participation, weakest in formulation, must be improved in implementation by communicating NSDP key points in accessible formats and involving NGOs as feedback channels.

### Poverty diagnostics and focus
- Poverty diagnostics:
  - Brief but strategic and balanced; based on 2004 Cambodian Socio-Economic Survey (CSES) and trends since 1993/4.
  - NSDP notes poverty fell significantly from 45–50 percent to 35 percent in the last ten years.
  - Secretariat received poverty estimates in mid-2005 and a first draft of the Bank’s Poverty Assessment in October.
- Analytical gaps and next steps:
  - Secretariat should refine priority actions using in-depth review of 2004 household survey findings for the mid-2006 revision.
  - 2005 Demographic and Health Survey findings (due for release soon in source) will be used to update human development progress indicators and improve pro-poor service delivery via sub-sector prioritisation and inter-/intra-sectoral public expenditure allocation.
- Main short-run channel for influence:
  - Policy prioritization—NSDP expected to help prioritize legal, policy, institutional and regulatory changes that largely do not entail significant budget commitments.
  - Reinforce Public Financial Reform Program (PFMRP) progress toward credible budgeting and multi-year financial planning through the 3-year rolling Public Investment Program (PIP) and Ministry Budgetary Strategy Framework.
  - Importance that the 2007 budget clearly identifies NSDP-related expenditure and tracks this in implementation and reporting.

### Macroeconomic framework and risks
- Recent performance noted in NSDP:
  - Growth averaged 10 percent recently and approached 13½ percent in 2005.
  - Inflation has remained under control despite pressures from high world oil prices.
  - Current account deficit (including official transfers) was around 4¼ percent of GDP in 2005, the highest in four years.
  - International reserves dropped to less than 2½ months of import cover.
  - Exchange rate has stayed broadly stable.
- NSDP macroeconomic projections and assumptions:
  - Framework envisages economic growth at around 6 percent per annum.
  - Return to lower inflation of 3 to 4 percent.
  - International reserves growing to cover 3 months of imports by 2010.
- Risks highlighted:
  - Medium-term outlook for garment industry (accounts for over half the industrial sector) remains uncertain.
  - Tourism vulnerable to a global slowdown and regional outbreak of avian flu; average tourist arrivals grew by over 40 percent in 2004 and 2005.
  - Agriculture (about one third of GDP) remains highly vulnerable to weather conditions despite reform efforts.

### Sector strategies, service delivery and public financial management
- Structure and priorities:
  - NSDP organizes strategies according to the Rectangular Strategy pillars: (i) core governance; (ii) maintaining environment for implementation (domestic stability, international integration, development partnerships, favourable macroeconomic/financial circumstances); (iii) enhancing agriculture; (iv) improving physical infrastructure; (v) promoting private sector-led growth and job creation; (vi) building capacity and human capital.
  - Priority actions include a mix of new commitments and consolidation/ordering of existing programs.
- Sectoral unevenness:
  - Well-developed sector strategies: Education and Health.
    - Education Strategic Plan (ESP) synchronized with NSDP, running 2006–2010; aims for universal nine-year basic education.
    - Education achievements: net primary enrolment rose from 55 percent in 1997 to 76 percent in 2004.
    - Health Sector Strategic Plan (HSP) 2003–2007 to be reviewed in 2006 and extended to 2010 to align with NSDP.
  - Sectors needing further strategy development: Agriculture—production of an agricultural sector strategy in 2006 is essential.
- Service delivery constraints:
  - Continued importance of PFM and public administration reforms for timely delivery of funds and managing public sector employees to encourage performance.
  - Budget execution has improved but remains poor: late and unpredictable disbursements are common and reporting is inadequate to assess alignment of spending with policy priorities.
  - NSDP recognizes importance of PFM and public administration reforms but not as explicitly and forcefully as recommended.

### Governance monitoring and indicators
- NSDP covers governance reforms broadly but initially lacked results indicators or 2010 targets.
- Adoption at the 2006 CG meeting:
  - A set of governance indicators was adopted at the 2006 CG meeting and will be taken as governance indicators for the first year of the NSDP.
  - These indicators were developed in relevant TWGs and drew on NSDP to define Joint Monitoring Indicators for 2006.
  - Adoption aims to increase incentives for implementation and monitoring and to avoid previous CG indicators failing to result in substantive reforms or improved performance.

*Source: IMF staff report excerpt on Cambodia’s NSDP 2006–2010.*

### 21. There is a particular concern that the Government develop a coherent and

### _cr06267 - 21. There is a particular concern that the Government develop a coherent and effective strategy to tackle corruption, which is widespread and serious.

### Governance, anti-corruption, and institutional integrity
- Findings:
  - Corruption is described as "widespread and serious."
  - The NSDP recognises the importance of tackling corruption and lists the passage of an anti-corruption law that "conforms to international best practice" as a priority action (a long-standing commitment reiterated in both the NSDP and the joint monitoring indicators agreed at the March 2006 CG meeting).
  - Passage of such a law would be "an important signal of serious intent" but must be accompanied by "consistent and impartial application of anti-corruption measures," including sanctions for those found guilty under the current legal framework.
- Recommendations:
  - Develop a coherent and effective anti-corruption strategy anchored in impartial enforcement and sanctions.
  - Complement legal reforms with consistent application under current law.

### Oil, gas revenues, and macroeconomic risks
- Findings:
  - Significant offshore oil and gas reserves are now known to exist in Cambodian territorial waters.
  - Contracts have been awarded for four of the six offshore blocks; one block "contains 700 million barrels of oil and 3–5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas."
  - Revenues from this block are "likely to exceed current levels of both domestic and ODA revenue sources."
  - The NSDP states the Government will learn from international experience but "provides little information on the principles that will be applied."
- Risks and considerations:
  - Need to ensure revenues are "deployed transparently, accountably and effectively for poverty reduction."
  - Must take into account the risk of macroeconomic imbalances (for instance, Dutch disease effects).
  - Early commitment to sound macroeconomic management and a transparent and accountable revenue management and expenditure process is "vital."

### Financial intermediation and rural credit
- Findings:
  - Banking system is growing rapidly but remains "rudimentary" and largely serves urban centers.
  - NSDP identifies short-term measures to deepen and improve the quality of financial intermediation (e.g. continued improvement in supervision and regulation).
  - Long-term goals in the NSDP (e.g. establishment of a mature capital market) are important but could detract from urgent reforms needed to expand rural credit if prioritized prematurely.
- Recommendations:
  - Prioritize short-term measures to deepen financial intermediation and expand rural credit before pursuing longer-term capital market goals.

### Fiscal management, public financial management (PFM), and the Public Investment Programme (PIP)
- Findings:
  - Sustained improvements in fiscal management are "crucial to the financing of the NSDP."
  - Financing is anticipated in part from improved revenue performance and "broadly stable current expenditures (as a percentage of GDP)."
  - NSDP investments are "clearly underfunded" even with broad-brush costings in the document.
  - Rapid progress in PFM reform is "critical" to facilitate efficiency gains and to identify and prioritize NSDP expenditures in annual budgets, the MTEF and PIP.
- PIP shortcomings:
  - The PIP has "not been an effective tool for prioritization" in recent years.
  - Weak dialogue between MOP and MEF, cursory project appraisals for compliance, inadequate prioritization, and lack of reflection of resource availability have limited PIP's impact.
- Recommendations:
  - Reallocate lower-priority expenditures to NSDP policies.
  - Strengthen PFM reform to improve prioritization and integration of NSDP into the annual budget, MTEF and PIP.
  - Improve dialogue and appraisal processes between MOP and MEF to make PIP an effective prioritization tool.

### Revenue projections, external financing, and debt sustainability
- Revenue and financing assumptions:
  - NSDP envisages annual external loan and grant financing of $500 million per annum, supplemented by debt relief and resources from non-traditional partners, including through semi-concessional loans.
  - The NSDP acknowledges risk that concessional external financing may not reach targeted levels: "(over 50 percent more than the total amount realized in 2005)."
  - Financing from debt relief, beyond that received under the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI), "is not likely to be significant."
- Policy guidance:
  - Given limited capacity to service public debt, "less-concessional lending should not be used indiscriminately" and should be restricted to specific high-return projects and considered carefully for debt sustainability implications.
  - A more detailed analysis of the private sector contribution to NSDP investments "would also be useful."

### Donor alignment and aid effectiveness
- Findings:
  - Donors need to work with the Government to align aid to NSDP priorities.
  - Effective alignment will require further elaboration of Government priorities and a move by donors to multi-year aid commitments; both processes "are likely to take time."
- Implication:
  - Credibility of the NSDP will be damaged if donors fail to respect NSDP in designing country programs; conversely, better harmonization requires RGC to improve definition of NSDP priorities and follow them in policies and resource allocations.

### Results orientation, monitoring & evaluation (M&E)
- Findings:
  - NSDP links monitoring and evaluation to annual revisions of the strategy and commits the Government to stakeholder consultations in 2006 to produce detailed sectoral and sub-national plans and "a full M&E framework."
  - The NSDP foresees a Preliminary Report to shape the PIP 2007–09, the MTEF for 2007–11 and the budget for 2007; subsequent annual evaluation exercises will be conducted between January and March and summarised in a progress report in June.
  - Current draft M&E framework "relies excessively on administrative data sources" and makes minimal reference to the National Institute of Statistics or the 2005 Statistical Master Plan.
  - The draft M&E framework has a "missing middle," lacking output and intermediate indicators to link inputs to poverty outcomes.
- Integration challenge:
  - Need to reconcile and synchronize (i) Joint Monitoring Indicators (JMIs) used for discrete near-term milestones and (ii) NSDP indicator frame focused on relatively stable input and output indicators for medium-term (five-year) outcomes.
  - Integrating CG/JMI and NSDP/APR processes would help define NSDP targets for good governance and relate these to development outcomes.

### Institutional arrangements, ownership, and participation
- Findings:
  - Ownership of NSDP is "considerably narrower but somewhat deeper" than the NPRS; strongest within the NSDP Secretariat and weaker further down Government and into civil society.
  - NSDP Secretariat needs adequate staff and funding and "greater participation of MEF and CDC."
  - TWG-PPR needs a clearly-defined mandate for providing information to civil society, building partnerships for NSDP implementation, and channelling feedback on implementation and outcomes.
  - Recently-formalized TWG-PPR "core group" needs to meet regularly.
- Recommendations:
  - Broaden RGC and civil society ownership through a well-developed communication strategy and participation in monitoring.
  - Use TWGs to strengthen links between NSDP, sector strategies, and the PFM reform process, notably for the upcoming Agriculture and Water Resources Strategy.
  - Create stable, inclusive arrangements for coordinating across Government with a central role for TWGs.

### Conclusions and executive decision points
- Summary of comparative strengths and weaknesses:
  - NSDP: less participatory in preparation but less donor-driven; stronger political commitment at the highest level; poverty diagnostics are "less detailed but more current"; emphasis shifted toward rural development; results framework "less ambitious" with fewer targets and better prospects for monitoring.
- Risks and actions required:
  - Follow-up actions are "urgently required" to enable NSDP to integrate and add value to disparate reform processes, including prioritization linked to sector planning and budgeting and refining prioritization as PFM reforms proceed.
- Final items posed to Executive Directors (preserved verbatim list):
  - Whether the effectiveness of the NSDP as a poverty reduction strategy could be strengthened by:
    - (i) elaborating on the directions laid out in the document through more detailed prioritization of policies and expenditures, encouraging donors in turn to align their assistance to the NSDP;
    - (ii) making full use of the TWGs to strengthen the links between the NSDP, sector strategies, and the PFM reform process, especially for the upcoming agriculture strategy; and
    - (iii) taking measures to broaden awareness and ownership of the plan within the Government and in the country at large.

*Source: _cr06267 - 21. There is a particular concern that the Government develop a coherent and effective strategy to tackle corruption, which is widespread and serious.*

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/pubs/ft/scr/2006/_cr06267.pdf_