The second day of meetings with the Non-State Actors Advisory Panel is about to begin. Yesterday, was a full day dedicated to presentations and discussion around thematic areas such as corporate social responsibility, investment, ICT4D and of course, energy.
Today, the group will be working together to provide input into project ideas for an action plan that will supplement the The Alternative Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy for Grenada. This strategy is important, because the current development paradigm (at the international financial institutions, at least) places a great deal of emphasis on Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs). These are supposed to be 'home-grown' strategies developed by countries that outline the Nations own strategic development plans. The Non-State Actors Advsiory Panel is financially supported by the 10th European Development Fund (10th EDF) and it is a mandated requirement for the 10th EDF Budget Support (The European Union is now providing Official Development Assistance through budget support - but that's a whole other posting to explain!). The emphasis on local ownership is in part, a corrective measure from the era of Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) of the 1980's and early 1990's that 'un-developed' a lot of countries due to the high level of outside influence on country development strategies. SAPs were focused on creating a favourable global investment climate that included devaluing local currencies to attract foreign investment, and cutting social spending. It was an appauling experiment in development that came with a high price tag for people and the environment.
So now, we have PRSP's serving as our global development rennaisance. Is it working? In Grenada's case, the country's official PRSP has not been published, so it's hard to tell. But if the Alternative PRSP developed by the Non-State Actors Panel gets any traction, it could be quite successful here. The Strategy applies critical development theory to practical local circumstances, and that is a good foundation for developing a practical action plan. It also has created a participatory forum for non-state actors to actively participate in development planning.
In yesterday's meeting, the most exciting contribution came from Dennis Noel, who owns a company called "Noelville" which makes a hugely successful pain relief product called "nutmed" produced with nutmeg oil. His proposal to the group was for us to focus on developing Grenada's herbal products and emphasize pharmaceudical research and development that would enable us to develop pharma products in Grenada for export to the world market. That's the kind of practical, forward thinking approach that can transform the nation if we all get behind it!
I explained the Grenada Hotel and Tourism's 'Earth Day Declaration' to the group; so that they might be informed of what private sector stakeholders are planning to do with respect to renewable energy. It wasn't clear whether the facilitator understood that our intention was to garner their endorsement, rather than asking them to take up our agenda. Needless to say that can be cleared up today.
I am quite proud of the fact that Grenada's private sector as a whole is ready to embrace sustainability and I think it is really important to blow that trumpet as often as possible, because if ALL of civil society can get behind a vision and own it, Grenada's development future is certain to be more prosperous and sustainable.
