PRESIDENTIAL candidates for Guyana’s forthcoming elections have engaged the media on their “privatisation” pronouncements and a suggested “trajectory for continuity”.
It may perhaps be useful, in this context, to explore ideas on organisational options to achieve a more cohesive and inclusive approach in national development strategies at this period of immense new global challenges. Readers may recall the approach by the late President Dr. Cheddi Jagan who in 1993 turned, for instance, to the Carter Centre for assistance in the formulation of a National Development Strategy (NDS).
The first draft was ready in 1996. President Jagan, and the then Minister of Finance, Bharrat Jagdeo, now President, accepted the PNC’s objections against the 1996 version going to Parliament and agreed with the Carter Centre that a wide range of groups and individuals be consulted to formulate a second and final draft of the NDS.
Re-reading the 2000 document, the National Development Strategy (2001-2010): A Policy Framework, can be quite instructive in content and approach. The theme is “Eradicating Poverty and Unifying Guyana”- A Civil Society Document. One is genuinely moved by the participatory approach adopted and great amount of effort, expertise, skill and dedication of Guyanese from all walks of life that went into producing that historic document.
The pertinent and decisive factor then, as it is today, is the basic fact that a comprehensive policy framework of “national goals”, transcending partisan party orientations or ideology, remains a necessary, if not sufficient condition for moving the society forward. Commonality of national purpose and broad policy direction of small, vulnerable societies, such as Guyana, are fundamental to resist the ravages of neoliberal globalisation that we are now facing.
The “broadly representative national civil committee, known as the National Development Strategy Committee (NDSC)” began work in 1998 and produced the 2000 National Development Strategy of 350 pages and an outline on the process for “implementation”.
Broadly speaking, and as stated in the GoInvest website, the major objectives  have remained the principal focus of the PPP/C administration’s “development strategy” with variations of emphasis of the 2002 Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP); requirements for multilateral donor funding and more recently the 2006 National Competitiveness Strategy.   
RECORDING PROGRESS
It will be flying in the face of facts to deny the economic gains so far achieved. For example, the World Bank Progress Report on the PRSP-1 has noted that although “the rate of poverty remained almost stagnant between 1999 and 2006”, economic recovery observed since 2006, following the “great flood of 2005”, showed growth of 5.1 percent in 2006 and 5.4 percent in 2007. Further, that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) increased substantially from US$30 million to US$103mn between 2004 and 2006.
The National Competitiveness Strategy (NCS) from 2006–with a very sophisticated and elaborate matrix for 122 action areas and four tiers of institutional arrangements – attempted to have a central coordination function to the development thrust. This was guided by the now popular notion of “competitiveness”.  It is unclear how effective has been the NCS, having initially been launched with a vibrant Secretariat.
What is well recalled is the 2008 initiative of President Jagdeo on “Avoided Deforestation” intended to prove a major contribution in mitigation of global warming.
The initiative has brought prominence and prestige to Guyana as well as to the President personally.
Not the least of these is the Guyana Norwegian Agreement of US$500 million over five years. This will facilitate various development projects and allow  hydropower development, upgrading information technology infrastructure, hinterland community development and land titling projects as well as a possible International Centre for Biodiversity.
These elements go into Guyana’s widely praised Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) and are a main pillar of the forthcoming second PRSP-2 (2011-15). In preparation for this, national consultations were recently held with civil society and government representatives.
UNDERLYING QUESTION
This feature of widespread consultations has become commonplace in the articulation of development strategising but critics continue to argue that these are more “form than substance”.  Invariably, it is claimed, that consultations fail to seriously question what is already known to be the administration’s “preferences” or more precisely the “strong views” of the President.
The underlying question continues to be to what extent has the 2000 NDS plea for “improving inclusiveness, accountability and transparency” at all levels of governance been achieved? 
Undoubtedly, Guyana is one of few developing countries that have proven to be resilient in the face of the devastating impact of global food, fuel and financial crises and their aftermath since 2008. Indeed, the IMF/World Bank and donor community have all had favourable remarks for the 3 to 5 percentage average growth in the economy since 2006.
And visible improvements of physical infrastructure in roads, bridges, broadband telecommunications, hospitals and schools in remote areas are indeed proof of the 2000 NDS and subsequent PRSP bearing fruit as desired. But these outward signs of economic growth can be delusive and can understandably entice the Presidential candidate to be so readily disposed to a “development trajectory” wedded to continuity as was reported recently in the media. 
In my view any critical support of present economic achievements should not overshadow the option for a rigorous assessment of the impact on the society as a whole. This is a possible starting point on where “continuity and change” in the so-called “development trajectory” can interface.
Amid the growing social and economic achievements, there is also the perception that a few privileged “cliques” have emerged in the society – across ethnic, professional and residential lines—while pockets of impoverishment are appearing in villages and towns, along the coast and some interior regions.
This perception provides a soft underbelly for the disenchanted and disillusioned, the unemployed or underemployed, whose consciousness, once awakened, will question and protest for a chance to share the economic benefits that a “fractured development strategy” may produce.
There may be good reasons, therefore, for the successful Presidential candidate to consider an updating and refinement of the NDS and for subsequent implementation measures to be pursued by a non-partisan National Joint Economic and Social Council (NJESC).
A similar approach had proven quite useful to former President Luiz Inacio Lula DaSilva of Brazil, Guyana’s powerful neighbour that is increasingly cooperating with us in significant development initiatives.
(The writer, Pascal, is an occasional contributor to the Guyana Chronicle)