MINSTRY OF DEVELOPMENT AND ECONOMIC PLANNING (MOPED)
The Ministry of Development and Economic Planning was established in 1968 with the broad statutory mandate to spearhead the preparation of the country’s national development plan and coordinate planning activities at the national, sub-national and local levels. Essentially, the Ministry was established to function as the hub for the formulation of government programs on the one hand, and device mechanisms for effective monitoring and evaluation of development programs on the other.
One of the major functions of MoDEP was to formulate the National development programmes of the country. The first 5 Year plan was formulated in 1974/75 which was not fully implemented. The second and last 5-year National Development Plan was formulated in 1978/79. After the second National Development Plan, the Ministry embarked on a three year rolling plan until the outbreak of the Civil war in 1999. The three year rolling planning continued until after the Civil war in 2002 when the Government’s post conflict recovery strategy was initially guided by the National Recovery Strategy (NRS 2001-2003) designed to commence the recovery process. These strategies were closely followed by an Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (IPRSP 2003-2005) that set the pace for the first full PRSP I (2005-2007) which focused on consolidating peace and restoring basic services. The Second PRSP, named the “Agenda for Change” (2008-2012) sought to transform the economy by significantly reducing poverty and improves the lives of the majority of the Sierra Leoneans by supporting investment in infrastructure; improve service delivery of social services and private sector development. The Third (PRSP III, 2013-2018) known as Agenda for Prosperity was envisaged to lay the foundation for the country’s transformation to a middle income country by 2035.
In the latter part of the 1990's to early 2000's, most countries in Africa advocated for the merger of the Ministries of Planning and Finance for coherent and efficient governance. The first two merger of the Ministries of the Development and Economic Planning to that of the Ministry of Finance was done by the former National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) Government when they took Governance in 1992 and the SLPP Government when they came into office in 1995.The former (APC) Government again merged the two Ministries throughout the ten plus (2007-2018) years of their administration. What was unique in the case of the former Government was that the two Ministries were physically merged while as in the first two mergers, MoDEP remained at Youyi Building while the Ministry of Finance remained in their location at the Treasury Building.
The rationale for the merger of the Ministries of Planning and that Finance at the time was to prevent overlap, duplicity, lack of coordination, and wastage in capital spending and current expenditure budgeting processes. This decision was not unique to Sierra Leone. It was part of the wave across most countries in Africa, which began in 1990's and early 2000s, to advance coherent and efficient governance. While these arguments are compelling the feasibility of the merger proved difficult throughout the ten years (two-terms) of the former administration—as was the case in many other countries. Planning and economic development functions were relegated to a second-tier role below fiscal and financial management.
Consequently, the present Government separated the two ministries and we now have Ministry of Finance (MoF) and the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development (MoPED). MoPED is housed in the NAO Office at Tower Hill. This decision was in fulfilment of a campaign promise to strengthen national planning and economic development management which had been weakened since the merger in 2007.
The “new Ministry of Planning and Economic Development MoPED” was tasked to organise a coherent approach to national planning, coordination, M &E, resource mobilization and promotion of economic development. A Change Management process has been instituted by the Minister to actualize a Management and Functional structural review of the new MoPED to make it responsive to the New Direction Government agenda. Accordingly, the Ministry formulated the Fourth Generation PRSP IV (2019-2023) that is currently being implemented, called Education for Development laid emphasize on Human Capital Development and diversifying the economy to bring it to middle income level.
The following functions are now being performed by the Ministry
Formulation and coordination of National and District Development Plans. Coordination of line Ministries and Districts on Planning and Economic Development matters. Facilitation of community/rural development programmes and projects. Collaboration with relevant International Organisations/Institutions on Development and Planning Matters Coordination and oversight for implementation of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals Coordination and programming of Public Development Expenditure and Preparation of Annual Development Estimates and Public Investment Programme (PIP). National monitoring and evaluation of development programmes and projects. Oversight for Statistics Sierra Leone. Coordination of national population issues Oversight for National Council for Civic Education and Development
Formulation and coordination of national Development Cooperation Framework with bilateral and multilateral development partners. Mobilisation/Coordination and oversight of NGOs, including registration. Facilitation of external resource mobilisation for national development. Facilitation and Coordination of relations with regional and sub-regional organisations - MRU, ECOWAS and AU (NEPAD).
The proposed mandate above is based on the provisions for ministries in the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone, the 2006 Management and Functional Review, the 2008 Gazette and current realities.
The Ministry is Headed by the Minister of Planning and Economic Development and his Deputy. The Development Secretary is the Administrative Head of the Ministry that has several directorates.
CONTACT DETAILS |
Minister:
Ms. Kenyeh Ballay
Deputy Minister:
Dr. Rev. Titus Williams
|
NAO Building
Tower Hill, Freetown
Email: info@moped.gov.sl
Website: www.moped.gov.sl |
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