By MWIYA MUKUMBUTA –
TIME has come to build a country that embraces and enhances participation of the youth and the poor in the development process, Southern Province Permanent Secretary Sibanze Simuchoba has said.
Mr Simuchoba said youths would be an important factor in national development if they were empowered economically.
He was speaking in Livingstone during the official opening of a two-day joint symposium hosted by the ministry of Finance under the theme ‘Sustainable development and the seventh National Development Plan’.
The symposium comes after a joint indaba held at the national level in August 2015 in Lusaka.
During the indaba, it was resolved that similar conferences should be held at provincial level to promote inclusiveness and to give a voice to the vulnerable in the national development process.
“If youths are not empowered and they are left on society’s margins, all of us will be impoverished.
“To prevent this phenomenon, their energy should also be guided, directed and converted into transforming Zambia into a country that truly benefits all,” he said.
Mr Simuchoba said young people should be at the forefront of national change and innovation.
He called on non-Governmental organisations and the private sector to work with the youth in ensuring that Zambia’s vision to become a middle-income country by the year 2030 is achieved.
He said stakeholder participation was critical in building consensus on planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating development programmes which focus on the goal of being a prosperous middle-income nation.
Mr Simuchoba said the symposium provided an opportunity to bring people together to discuss development and exchange views on how best to strengthen stakeholder involvement in delivering development.
It also serves to develop a common understanding on the national development agenda towards Vision 2030.
He appealed to all stakeholders in the preparation of the Seventh National Development Plan to ensure that comparative advantages of regions such as the Nacala Transport Corridor, Copperbelt and the northern tourism circuit took prominence in the plan.
Mr Simuchoba urged participants in the symposium to remain committed to the development agenda of their respective provinces and Zambia at a whole.
The meeting was attended by all national planners from Southern, Eastern, Central and Western provinces, in addition to civil society organisations.