1 / 10

The National Action Group Process, Malawi

The National Action Group Process, Malawi. Jason Agar, NAG Secretariat & Chancellor Kaferapanjira, Malawi Confederated Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Context at Commencement (2001). Post Independence – Govt. managed/controlled economy

oria
Download Presentation

The National Action Group Process, Malawi

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The National Action Group Process, Malawi Jason Agar, NAG Secretariat & Chancellor Kaferapanjira, Malawi Confederated Chamber of Commerce and Industry

  2. Context at Commencement (2001) • Post Independence – Govt. managed/controlled economy • Early 1990’s enforced liberalisation, then more willing liberalisation post democratisation (1994 onwards) • Legacy of Govt involvement in private sector: • Mistrust by public sector of old and new private sector • Mindset that public sector knows best and resist external accountability (except to donors) - policy-making not open • Relatively weak business associations – limited co-operation • Business frustrated/mistrustful of public sector – disengaged

  3. Evolution of the NAG Process • Home grown public-private initiative by Minister of Finance and CEOs of major investors to meet (end 01) • Grew organically as participants saw wider range of issues to resolve • Group and agenda grew leading to joint pub-private Business Plan for Malawi (Growth Strategy) in 2003 • Led to establishment of sub-sectoral working groups and work with established fora (Trade Policy Group) • Agenda focused on implementing Growth Strategy • Mostly public-private dialogues but also private- Dev. Partner dialogue (IMF, World Bank, CABS Group etc)

  4. The NAG Forum • Main Forum participants: • Ministers & senior civil servants & key public agencies, • Business CEOs and business associations for main sectors • Heads of Development partners interested in PSD • Meets bi-monthly – agenda proposed by participants but linked to Growth Strategy and current issues • Co-convened by Minister of Trade (ex President of MCCCI) and a senior CEO (ex Minister of Finance) • Reports received from working groups and Secretariat

  5. The Working Groups • 3 Types: • Cross-cutting (trade, investment), • Sub-sectoral (focal sectors – tea, sugar, mining etc), and • Issue-related (power, forex controls, tax reform etc) • Groups engage in dialogue with relevant stakeholders and follow own action plans/strategies (in many cases) • Some existed pre-NAG but isolated and mixed effect • Groups not run/controlled by NAG – feed in cross-cutting and unresolved WG issues to the Forum • Some groups actively facilitated by the NAG Secretariat

  6. NAG Secretariat • Tri-partite Secretariat like Forum (Govt/Donor/Pr. Sec) • Govt - Min. of Trade & PSD and Min. of Econ. Planning • Donor - DFID PSD Adviser liases with donors • Pr. Sec - 2 Mw consultants act as ‘facilitators’ – work closely with MCCCI and other Business Assocs • Convenes Forum, supports/facilitates groups, progress chases & builds capacity of Business Assocs. • Facilitates Bus Assoc. to form a network • Communicates to wider stakeholders on issues/progress

  7. Key Points about the NAG Process • Series of (facilitated) dialogue processes around a main Forum, not a single dialogue – Forum gives ‘standing’ • Home-grown, organic and still evolving – flexible, responsive and opportunistic as environment dynamic • Not a legal entity but is formal - organisational commitment to participate and act – dialogue of the willing • Govt/businesses provide resources (travel, venues etc) • Dev’t partners contract Secretariat (DFID/USAID) to facilitate, but not fund ‘projects’. • Publicity shy, media not usually helpful to dialogue – simplify and polarise… better to talk directly

  8. Challenges –1 • Need for short-term results to satisfy private sector yet without alienating public sector by pressing too hard • Understand political economy of policy change and help private sector to understand and act on it • Weak private sector capacity to engage effectively, competing agendas and lack of enabling environ focus • Coping with regular changes in Govt./public sector personnel – policy discontinuity and lack of coherence • Integrating competing processes driven by other agendas in public sector and Development Partners

  9. Challenges - 2 • Weak capacity of Parliament to legislate and capacity of public sector to implement policy and regulations • Representation vs. effectiveness – not all interests can be directly represented or necessarily need to be! • Misunderstanding of NAG – perceived by some as a representative body competing with MCCCI etc. • (Deliberate) misrepresentations of what NAG is: • Public sector resist accountability of a coherent voice • Private sector practices being exposed & Assocs shaken up • Development partners working to own (HQ-driven) agenda

  10. The Future of the NAG Process • Good opportunity for change in Mw with current Govt. – macro-economy improving & political will exists • Will always be opponents, so find strategies to deal with – be opportunistic, flexible, selective and realistic • Keep looking for changes that can be delivered short term • Build the diversity and depth of dialogues • Build a culture of constructive engagement for mutual benefit – embed dialogue as a normal helpful thing • Invest more time in explaining what NAG is/is not

More Related