NEDA outlines focus of Aquino’s medium-term plan

THE National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said that the next United Nations assistance program for the Philippines would be aligned with the new government’s development priorities. In a statement, NEDA Director-General and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Cayetano Paderanga said the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) for 2012 to 2016 would mirror the Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) for 2010 to 2016.

The UNDAF outlines the UN’s strategic responses to the development priorities of a country for a specified period of time.

Paderanga said the MTPDP’s overall direction is anchored on an inclusive growth framework or growth that is shared by the poor, and aims to create decent and adequate employment opportunities for Filipinos to reduce poverty.

He said the MTPDP 2010 to 2016 would also integrate current and emerging concerns, such as achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), adopting a human rights based approach in development planning, and responding to climate change, which are also concerns advocated by the UN.

“Under the new MTPDP, priority shall be given on meeting the targets on poverty reduction, nutrition, dietary energy requirement, primary education, maternal mortality and access to reproductive health services,” Paderanga said.

He said the plan should also consider regional dimensions and dynamics so that the successor Regional Development Plans shall contain localized targets and strategies that will address specific concerns in those areas.

The NEDA chief noted the importance of the development partners’ support to the MTPDP, including the strengthening of results monitoring and evaluation systems.

“We are also instituting reforms in the Philippine Statistical System, for it to be more reliable and responsive, not just to development planners but also to the general public. The UN has expertise in this field,” Paderanga said.

The last UNDAF, crafted for the period 2005 to 2009, was extended up to 2011. –DARWIN G AMOJELAR, Manila Times