National Development Planners' Forum meets in Nuku'alofa [1]
Wednesday, January 31, 2024 - 19:13. Updated on Wednesday, January 31, 2024 - 19:15.
By Katalina Siasau
The Tonga Government plans to use risk and gender informed approaches for progressive development.
The need for development planners to consider risks, was stressed at the annual National Planners Forum, that opened today, 31 January, 2024, hosted by the National Planning Division of the Prime Minister's Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Women's Division, at Fa'onelua Convention Center.
This year's forum theme is: "Progressing Tonga's Development through Risk and Gender Informed Planning Approaches."
Chief Secretary and Secretary to Cabinet Mr Paula Ma’u opened the forum, by recognising the importance of partners and stakeholders. “Risk-Informed planning must involve multiple stakeholders with multiple objectives and agendas, so as to streamline actions and decisions through coherence and development."
He said that development planning should consider local risk from the perspective of those most at risk, that will be a potential for positive impacts on lives and livelihoods.
The Acting Prime Minister Hon Samiu Vaipulu, in his keynote address, noted the constant disruptions of natural disasters, like the volcanic eruption, tsunami, drought, and other natural disasters that Tonga had experienced, which slowed the development and economic growth of Tonga.
"The theme of this year’s forum urges us not to just focus on the magnitude and how disastrous the natural hazards maybe, our responsibility is to remain vigilant through ensuring all developments are risk-informed,"
Mainstreaming Gender Equality
UN Women country representative to the Pacific, Ms Delphine Serumaga, acknowledged the Tongan government’s commitment to guarantee that gender equality informed and strengthen the planning processes led by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, that will guide development through 2024.
She acknowledged MIA's Women Affairs and Gender Equality Division, for being an example to the rest of the Pacific Region, with their National Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality Tonga (WEGET) Policy and Strategic Plan of Action 2019-2025.
UN Women through the Pacific Partnership to end violence against women and girls, have invested around $1.1 plus million US dollars, in Tonga, to address gender-based violence and gender equality.
“By examining the current landscape and assessing ongoing initiatives, we aim to shed light on the challenges, successes, and opportunities that lie ahead. Through this forum with key stakeholders and analysis of existing strategies, we will explore the efforts being made to ensure that gender is given due consideration in the planning and implementation of corporate strategies”, stated Director of National Planning, Ms Ma’u Leha.
Government Agendas
Hon. Vaipulu announced some current government priority agendas, and said the Anti-corruption office would be running by the end of July, this year.
The construction of a new hospital for Vava’u is being funded by the World Bank and Australia with partnership with the Government, who were now finalising requirements of the World Bank to process the design within the next couple of months, before moving onto to construction.
The government was also finalising the designs of the new nursing school building, before procurement for a contractor for the construction to begin.
New wharves for ‘Eua, Niuafo’ou and outlying islands in Vava’u and Ha’apai had also been planned.
"We also plan to build a medical school, a law school, and a Centre for Tonga Language and Culture," said the Acting Prime Minister.
The objectives of the 2024 Planners’ Forum included:
- Facilitate networking peer, learning and knowledge exchange to share good practices and innovative solutions on national planning, coordination, and priority needs in their efforts to localize the SDGs and apply the same principle to the 2050 Pacific Strategy.
- iDeepen understanding of the application of the national planning process through mainstreaming of sector strategies including National Women's Empowerment and Gender Equality Tonga (WEGET) Policy 2019-2025.
- Unpack and understand the gender drivers in corporate plans and policies.
- Identify practical follow-up actions for participants, building on country cases and good practices.
- Enhance knowledge and understanding of the intended outcomes of Risk-Informed Development and Disaster Risk Management.
- Foster peer-to-peer collaboration and strengthen capacity for partnership formation across sectors and government entities for institutionalising and operationalising RID, DRM, Response to Disaster Displacement, DRFS, Gender, Youth, Energy; Cluster system, and NCD.
- Commence the dialogue on preparatory work for the new Strategic Development Framework.
The Forum sessions will be held from 31 January to 2 February, with participation of about 150 people made up of corporate planners and finance officers from all government ministries including those from outer islands.