Building a National Vision Among Stakeholders and ‎International Partners

Before establishing a mission for an institution/program/college, there must be a national vision that defines the collective needs of the nation through a set of strategic objectives, which in turn branch out into sub-objectives. Each of these sub-objectives then gives rise to the missions of all the nation's institutions and their respective administrative or academic units. The mission of each institution/program/college charts the course and defines the objectives to be pursued. However, it must be aligned with other institutions across different sectors of the nation to achieve the national vision over its entire timeframe. This is essential if we want to direct all of society's energies and capabilities toward achieving the national vision.

What is meant by a national vision?

A national vision is a long-term strategic plan to achieve the principles and goals of sustainable development in all fields and to integrate them into the nation's various institutions. In simpler terms, it's what the nation hopes to achieve within a specific timeframe: ten or twenty years. For example, the vision might be based on the principles of "comprehensive sustainable development" and "balanced regional development."

What is comprehensive sustainable development and what are its dimensions?

Sustainable development is development that considers economic, social, and environmental dimensions. It utilizes available resources optimally to meet the needs of society without wasting resources or compromising the rights of future generations. Sustainable development takes place in three main areas: the economic, social, and environmental spheres.

What is balanced regional development and how can it be achieved?

Balanced regional development is a planning framework that defines the main directions for distributing material and human resources among different regions in a way that ensures regional development goals align with national development goals. In practice, it means achieving fairness in the distribution of economic, social, urban, service, and cultural activities among the different regions of the country to achieve social welfare for the inhabitants of all regions. Balanced regional development is achieved through the optimal use of natural resources in each region. Identifying suitable investments to reduce economic and social disparities between different regions and to strike a balance between development goals and environmental systems. In other words, integrating the spatial dimension into policies, strategies, and programs across all sectors and at all levels through a participatory approach involving all stakeholders, within a framework of integration and transparency in decision-making. This includes formulating, implementing, and evaluating development plans scientifically to help prioritize needs in different regions and adopting sustainability standards as a benchmark for meeting societal requirements, ensuring that the benefits of development reach all segments of society and all regions of the country. For example, in the water sector, economic sustainability aims to improve water use efficiency in development in general. Social sustainability aims to ensure access to water for the poor, whether in homes or small agricultural projects. Environmental sustainability aims to guarantee the protection of freshwater and groundwater resources and their ecosystems. In the food sector, economic sustainability aims to increase agricultural productivity to achieve food self-sufficiency and export potential. Social sustainability aims to improve productivity, ensuring household food security and a good economic return. Environmental sustainability aims to ensure the sustainable use of natural resources, including land, water, wildlife, and fish. In the health sector, economic sustainability aims to increase productivity through healthcare and preventative measures. Social sustainability aims to provide primary healthcare for the poor, protect human health, and reduce pollution to meet global standards for air, water, and noise levels. Environmental sustainability aims to protect biological resources, ecosystems, and life-support systems, in addition to ensuring the sustainable use of land, energy, and mineral resources.

How is a national vision developed?

A national vision is developed by gathering the opinions of all stakeholders, including government officials, development practitioners, representatives of civil society and the private sector, and in cooperation with development partners, utilizing all established methods of public opinion polling. It also draws on studies from strategic planning centers, local, regional, and global studies and research, and historical information on all development sectors. This is to keep pace with changes in the local, regional, and global context.

How can short-term and long-term development requirements be balanced?

A national vision is key to bridging the gap between short-term and long-term development requirements. It is noteworthy from the experiences of past nations that development measures that only respond to emergencies usually do not align with the priorities necessary for building a vision and developing the nation. Therefore, a shared vision must be translated into strategies that include clear priorities and are sufficiently compelling to act upon in the short-term agenda (quick-return projects).

What is the role of stakeholders in implementing the required reforms?

Implementing the required reforms requires the commitment of all stakeholders to work towards and achieve them; to bring about the changes or reforms necessary to promote development through short-term measures. These short-term measures are what build the national vision. Therefore, if there is no proper balance between short-term measures and the long-term vision, the vision will never become a reality.

What is the best way to implement priority reforms? It is essential to use firmness or persuasion to implement the vision, because priority reforms usually affect some segments of society while benefiting others. Consensus is natural, but disagreements must be accommodated, and arrangements made to compensate for any shortcomings.

 

The nation's primary objective is to establish priorities and methods for progressing toward a shared vision. A vision focused solely on blanket implementation can be paralyzed, as progress toward a shared vision is necessarily achieved in stages. It is these incremental, sequential developments that gradually build trust among stakeholders. It is crucial to define priorities that reflect the fact that reforms typically occur in a sequence that must be respected. A vision should not only outline what needs to be done but also how and when, clearly defining the expected outcomes. Can a shared vision be built outside of democratic institutions?

 

A shared vision is a multifaceted process that relies on the active participation and commitment of key stakeholders. It is a trust-building process designed to ensure that collaboration is the cornerstone of the nation's transformation. This trust arises when key stakeholders feel that there are shared values ​​and principles in their country that allow them all to benefit from participation. Building a shared vision is a multifaceted process. It is a cultural process in which every stakeholder can transcend their personal interests, without ignoring them, in order to serve the collective interest necessary for nation-building. It is a binding political process and the foundation of democratic institutions. A shared vision cannot be built outside of democratic institutions, nor outside of civil society organizations. Building a national vision is a social process that cannot succeed without the support and participation of civil society organizations. Although in some countries the vision may be embodied in a document, the crucial element is the process by which stakeholders commit to working towards building the shared vision. A document that does not include an effective commitment from everyone is a dead document. This type of vision fills the offices and libraries of countries with singular, narrow-minded perspectives. Are there specific institutional arrangements for formulating and implementing the vision?

 

The process of building a national vision does not have a single, unique form. However, it must adapt to the country's situation and the specific characteristics of the participating stakeholders. The process has different origins and takes different forms in different countries. The vision may be explicit or implicit. It may be the result of an initiative from the government or from another stakeholder, for example, the private sector. It may be binding on political stakeholders or representatives of civil society organizations. Experience suggests that the more formal and representative the vision-building process is, the more effective and sustainable it becomes. A formal vision is one that arises from an institutional process and has clear stakeholder support. A representative vision is one in which the country's leading social and political stakeholders participate. The greater the stakeholder participation and representation, the stronger their commitment and the more effective the shared vision becomes. It then becomes a binding standard for all national stakeholders.

 

What are the foundations of successful community dialogue?

 

The foundations of successful community dialogue are identifying the topics to be negotiated or consulted on, as well as the scope of the dialogue or negotiation. Priorities must be set to achieve consensus. Reaching consensus on where and how to proceed is the reason for these community dialogue processes. In fact, the existence of a shared social goal, such as job creation or full employment, has sometimes led to the establishment of institutions and arrangements for social dialogue. How can social consensus be effective?

 

Once specific priorities are identified, stakeholders who have an interest in these priorities participate in their implementation. Since the stakeholders involved are not always in positions of authority, it is essential to establish dialogue forums that take this fact into account. For example, stakeholders might be unions concerned with education or health reforms. For social consensus to be effective, it must consider the various areas of dialogue or negotiation that do not encompass the entire country. This may need to be carried out at the sectoral or regional level to ensure that participants in the dialogue are representative. If consensus is to be effective, the process of reaching it must involve the stakeholders who are responsible for its implementation. Therefore, multiple dialogue forums are necessary. What are the conditions for community participation for dialogue to be successful? It is essential to consider the diverse capacities of participants in community dialogue (representation, internal cohesion, and technical capacity). Equal conditions for participation are necessary to maintain stakeholder trust, but mechanisms must be in place to support weaker participants. It is also crucial to amplify the role of participants by disseminating their contributions and the outcomes of the community dialogue process. If some actors lack the technical capacity to participate in the dialogue, they should be assisted in acquiring this capacity. Similarly, if some actors lack national organization and representation, this representation should be strengthened. How can conflicts among stakeholders be managed?

 

Independent institutional structures can manage conflicts and compensate stakeholders who may suffer short-term losses from the reform process. Since the introduction of fundamental development reforms generates distributional conflicts, institutions are necessary to address them. Without a formal forum for resolving these conflicts of interest, differences will typically be expressed informally. Clearly, the unpredictability and ambiguity surrounding these informal processes become an obstacle to development, which lacks institutions for conflict resolution. In an informal environment, de facto authorities hold power. These are usually those who possess economic power. Conversely, the unilateral nature of decisions arising from informal processes leads to instability and undermines development. How can this be addressed?

The government and the private sector must maintain an ongoing dialogue on key policy issues and identify areas, such as education and health, where public policies and private sector needs can foster growth and competitiveness. Does the nature of the relationship between the government and parliament influence civic engagement?

Governments should invest in institutions (parliament and civil society organizations) to facilitate political and/or social dialogue and the relationship between them. Governments can create forums for meetings between parliaments and representatives of civil society organizations. The government necessarily has a stake in both institutions and is therefore best positioned to manage, or at least convene, such meetings. Institutions for civic dialogue should be publicly funded but independent of the government, with qualified staff to ensure informed and, consequently, accountable dialogue. The authority to which they are accountable and/or which appoints their head may be the executive or legislative branch. However, in addition to funding the dialogue institution, it is usually also essential to support the most vulnerable stakeholders so they can participate, especially in dialogues that require extensive knowledge of the topics under discussion. One effective form of empowerment is to transfer decision-making to the institutions hosting the dialogue and to disseminate the outcomes of social and political dialogue to the community. Transferring decision-making gives representative organizations a raison d'être. Disseminating consensus and dialogue outcomes strengthens voters' trust in their institutions and leaders. Political consensus is more robust and viable when it is accompanied by binding agreements with civil society organizations. Agreement on a national vision among these groups (social and political) increases, or even creates, the capacity for political sustainability. The importance of such consensus is further amplified when there are clear and formal links between social dialogue processes and democratic institutions of political decision-making. Social and political consensus reinforce each other in the vision-building process. This is good evidence of the formal link between community dialogue institutions and parliament, and of the government's commitment to engaging and consulting with these institutions. This strengthens the role of parliament and, consequently, the role of democracy in development. If parliament, as a standing body, becomes more committed to the vision, this is likely to be reflected in government actions funded within the national budget. Can a national vision be built under a government that listens only to itself?

Democracy and the capacity to build a national vision are strengthened through the participation and commitment of organized civil society. Social actors, representing specific and enduring interests relevant to a large majority, make political agreements solid and lasting. However, particularly in relatively less developed countries, organized civil society is rare, especially among groups with less economic power. In any spontaneous meetings of leaders of the country's main social organizations, those who already possess the greatest economic power tend to be overrepresented. Support the establishment of civil society organizations that are open, transparent, and accountable. It can create the right conditions for meaningful participation from all sectors of society and achieve a balance between competing interests.

What is the role of Parliament in defining the national vision?

Having a formal body within Parliament to define the future vision and monitor and evaluate progress greatly assists in designing and implementing the national vision. This formal body may take various forms, as determined by Parliament. This body is solely responsible for achieving consensus on the national vision within Parliament, monitoring national development plans prepared by the executive branch, approving national budgets that realize the vision's programs and projects over several years, and facilitating long-term agreements with international partners. High-quality budget plans and processes, including their formulation and evaluation, are the best source of consensus on the national vision, or at least on the key reforms that need to be undertaken. This is facilitated by multi-year programs that allow for effective monitoring of progress and the effectiveness of priority activities in the annual budget.

What are the essential conditions for building lasting and actionable consensus among stakeholders? Policy transparency and quality are essential for building lasting and implementable consensus. This means that the government is accountable and responsible for the political and programmatic commitments it has made, and for promoting their fulfillment. Parliamentary and civic oversight is strengthened by increased transparency in government activity. It is essential to establish mechanisms to make government actions more transparent and accountable. Clear and quantifiable objectives and assessments facilitate participation and oversight. When there is a development goal and a public and objective assessment of its achievement, development progress is accelerated. What is the role of international institutions in supporting the development and implementation of the vision?

International institutions can be key in supporting the development of the vision. Multilateral agencies can, and indeed should, be effective in providing the following support:

General guidance on the contents of the vision: the main areas to be considered and existing technical proposals.

Technical support on how to link the vision's main objectives to the discussion, approval, and evaluation of the national budget.

Support for identifying quantitative indicators to monitor progress toward achieving the various objectives.

Contribution to building aggregated indicators to facilitate a systematic view of development that is not solely based on traditional growth indicators.

International institutions can provide technical and economic support for building social capital, drawing on extensive international experience in this area. Part of this

Vision is a prerequisite for development. The effectiveness of a development strategy in any country increases in proportion to the participation and commitment of all social and political stakeholders. Experience has shown that a shared vision for the future among leading social and political stakeholders is a national asset. A national vision is particularly important in the age of globalization, when a country's competitive advantages are not taken for granted, and when the required transformations are structural and therefore long-term. It is both natural and realistic to say that "the future is not built by looking in the rearview mirror, but by looking in the front-view mirror." The path to progress begins with a national vision, into which stakeholders dedicate their efforts to achieving agreed-upon development goals. In summary, learn how to build a national vision, reach consensus on it among stakeholders and international partners, and conduct an inclusive societal dialogue that leaves no segment of society out.