50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE: FROM DEVELOPMENT PLANS AND ECONOMIC MODELS TO STRATEGIC PLANNING, PROCESS AND INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR DEVELOPMENT. CAN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES LIKE ZAMBIA LEARN FROM THE SUCCESS OF BUSINESS CORPORATIONS AND MNCs? Have you every wondered what makes corporate giants grow bigger even than countries in terms of output; in terms of financial, economic and political power? Zambia recently produced its revised 6th National Development Plan, a seventh one really. Maybe Zambia does not need any more development plans. Can economic planning learn something from the corporate world, from strategic corporate development planning? What about a first development strategy for Zambia? Successful corporations have used corporate strategies in guiding their thinking and longer-term investments. I think that development strategies for Zambia need to be thought of in the same light, rather than as the detailed programming models, blue prints or development plans of the past, which originally grew out of an attempt to make central planning work. Development plans purport to be a blue print or plan of where we want to be; the underlying assumption of development is adequate and timely information. But in a situation of lack of information like ours long range plans may be an illusion. Maybe an incremental strategic plan! A strategy document for development, will in many ways be less detailed than development planning documents but it will set out a strategy not just for the accumulation of capital and the deployment of resources, but for the transformation and renewal of society driven by an inspiring vision and powered by an engaging mission. What is Zambias greatest need? Like most of Africa, what Zambia needs are strong and efficient INSTITUTIONS to deliver the contents of its plans; is development planning with weak institutions not placing the cart before the horse? A corporate strategy focuses on both strategy content and institutional development. The kind of strategic plan we need for Zambia is one that can attend to the transformation of institutions, both public and private, the creation of new social capital and new capacities, in some cases to replace traditional institutions that will inevitably be weakened in the process of development. The difference I want to empasise here is that a strategy is a living document; it sets forth how it is to be created, revised, and adopted, the process of participation, the means by which ownership and consensus is to be obtained, how the details will be fleshed out, etc. Maybe this is what Zambia really needs for the next 50 years to come. God bless our beloved Mother Zambia!
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 16:53:54 +0000
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