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Theme: Environmental assessment

Project Name: Sustainability appraisal framework for southern Africa

Dates / Duration: 2007-2009 (proposed project)

Geographic Region(s): Southern Africa


Introduction:

Awareness and commitment to the idea of sustainable development is increasing around the world. Yet there remain real challenges concerning how it can be achieved and how progress might be measured. A number of developed countries have made some progress on both counts, but developing countries, particularly those in Southern Africa, are still struggling to find the right answers. Nevertheless, many countries in the region have expressed genuine interest in the sustainability appraisal agenda. From this regional perspective, several observations can be made:

• there is an apparent mismatch between political expectations, stated political objectives and commitments on the one hand, and the ability of the natural resource base to sustain possibly unrealistic development objectives on the other
  
  
• national or regional strategic planning documents often contain (unrecorded) conflicting sectoral objectives
  
  
• assumptions about internal capacity to implement policies, plans and programmes are often unrealistic
  
  
• the impacts, and possible opportunity costs, of policies, plans and programmes is usually inadequately assessed
  
  
• there is a widely held assumption that better strategic, integrated planning will improve the chances of countries to realise their development targets and achieve sustainable development.

Objectives:

Through this project, it is aimed to show that sustainability appraisal is not as complicated or esoteric as people might think, and that there are manageable tools that could be used to great effect. The main aim of the project is to assist Southern African countries to perform realistic sustainability appraisals of their national development plans, national long-term visions, and sectoral and regional plans, using a framework that is:

• realistic and flexible so that it can improve existing processes
  
  
• built on regional experience and practice
  
  
• adapted to Southern African decision-making, policy and planning systems
  
  
• sensitive to skills requirements and capacity constraints.

Project Design :

The project will be undertaken in four phases. Phases 2 and 3 will be undertaken in parallel.

Phase 1 : Initial scooping and planning workshop

Phase 2 (12 months): a broad-brush analysis of regional trends regarding:

• the state of the natural environment
  
  
• the use of renewable and non-renewable natural resources
  
  
• economic development and growth in various key sectors
  
  
• regional and national development objectives (including progress with National Strategies for Sustainable Development)
  
  
• human resources and institutional capacity
  
  
• the use of sustainable development planning tools and their effectiveness
  
  
• political “entry points” and strategic partners that might be useful in implementing sustainability appraisal approaches.

This analysis will be undertaken through a combination of literature research, workshops with key stakeholders and knowledgeable persons and expert opinion. The draft report of this analysis will be circulated for review within the region, followed by revision.

• The key output will be a well illustrated and easy to read report on “ Sustainable Development in Southern Africa”

Phase 3 (8 months): the development of a draft framework for sustainability appraisal by a small team of regional experts, supported by international resource persons, through an initial 2-3 week set of rolling sessions (mapping experience and practices, brainstorming, technical workshops, analysis, etc). The draft framework will then be presented to a regional workshop for decision-makers and practitioners for review, and then revised.

• The key output of this phase will be a draft framework for sustainability appraisal.

Phase 4 (6-12 months): practical testing of the sustainability appraisal framework in pilot applications in several countries. The aim will be to engage with interested country partners (government departments/agencies, NGOs, private sector organisations) to apply the sustainability appraisal framework to actual strategic planning processes so as to demonstrate its value and utility and to improve the processes concerned.

• The main outputs from this phase will be a revised sustainability appraisal framework drawing from experience in the test countries.

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