Medium Term Development Plan III 2018-2022.

The Medium Term Development Plan (MTDP) is a national policy with a multi-sectoral approach. The timeframe of the policy is 5 years between 2018 and 2022. The purpose of this Plan is to sustainably manage the economy and provide quality social services to all through a medium to long-term approach. The key objectives of this MTDP are: (i) increase the internal revenue on a sustainable basis to secure sufficient resources from domestic tax collections, non-tax revenues and export earnings; (ii) increase training, capacity and employment opportunities for all citizens; (iii) increase the ownership and benefits in the formal business sector; (iv) improve quality of service delivery in rural districts across the country; (v) create a safe and competitive environment to attract foreign and domestic investments; (vi) support provinces and districts to generate sustainable internal revenue; (vii) manage population growth at a sustainable level and promote family planning; and (viii) improve evidence-based planning process.
In order to ensure food security for a healthy population, the hygiene, nutrition and dietary education programs will be supported, especially for women and girls, and awareness will be raised amongst families, households and schools. The health status of all citizens will be improved through accessible and efficient quality health services. The access to safe drinking water, reliable and affordable sanitation and hygienic facilities will be ensured for all households and businesses across the country, including rural areas.
More employment and economic opportunities will be created for all, including women and youth and the capacity of productive workforce will be enhanced. To this end, Provincial Youth Centres and District Community Development Centres will be established throughout the country to increase the number of skilled and productive youth. Technical Vocational Education and Training will be enhanced to meet the need for technical skilled labour. Women empowerment will be strengthened and their participation will be promoted in the decision-making processes, in order to provide equal opportunities for all to benefit from development. Social protection strategies will be developed to provide support services for vulnerable and disadvantaged groups and to ensure their participation within the economy.
This MTDP sets forth targets to achieve inclusive sustainable economic growth, with a focus on increased revenue and wealth creation, quality infrastructure and utilities, sustainable social development, improved law and justice and national security, improved service delivery, improved governance, responsible sustainable development, and sustainable population. Wealth creation will be strengthened by increasing exports of major agricultural commodities, fish products, processed timber, manufacturing, and minerals. In addition, the imports of major food items like rice, dairy, fresh produce, and meat will be reduced. Small- and medium-scale enterprises will be promoted and strategies will be developed to attract direct investments. Land use management will be diverted to more productive patterns and landowners will be engaged in the formal economy. The key and critical transport infrastructure will be developed with sustainable and disaster resilient quality to provide more enabling environment for growth of economy and for the improvement of service delivery. Sustainable development will be achieved through green growth economy strategies. Therefore, land and marine areas will be protected to maintain and improve biodiversity, pollution control will be strengthened and forests will be protected from the negative impacts of commercial agriculture, logging, mining and urban town development. Protected areas will be maintained and monitored regularly. Waste management strategies will be implemented through polluter pays principle.
Climate change adaptation and mitigation will be integrated into all sectors. Emissions control and reduction will be strengthened through effective monitoring. Disaster risk reduction and management will be improved and effective response systems will be developed. The capacity of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms will be improved to predict geophysical threats in order to raise the scope for early warning.
MTDP adopts two levels of implementation for monitoring and evaluation: monitoring and evaluation of the policy and programmes/projects. The Policy monitoring and evaluation process will be coordinated and harmonised with all concerned sectors to ensure efficiency and effectiveness of the MTDP.