Development planning in Africa : key issues, challenges and prospect

Abstract

Recently, there has been increasing interest in, and a return to, more comprehensive development plans that go beyond the poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSP). Indeed, some African countries, such as Ethiopia, Nigeria and Uganda have adopted long-term development visions and planning frameworks with far more ambitious growth and social development objectives and more detailed strategies and policies than those typically included in PRSPs. This raises a number of important questions as to why African countries need longer-term and comprehensive planning frameworks and what are the key opportunities and challenges ahead?