Participants in the project are public sector, private sector, universities, and NGOs represented in the project steering committee. The participants include Ministries of Industry, Irrigation, Agriculture, Transport, Local Administration and Environment.
An interactive participation is envisaged as a pivotal instrument to develop the strategy for sustainable development. Different mechanisms will be deployed to ensure a proper participation from all stakeholders. The first major task of the project is to identify all partners from public sectors, private sectors, universities and NGOs. The partners shall be involved in all steps of strategy preparation through four workshops and consultation sessions, which represent the benchmarking of the project. A wide range a policy dialogue and prioritizing sustainable development priority areas and fields shall be ensured during the workshops
The main objective of the project is to "prepare the National Strategy for Sustainable Development in Syria". The project is coordinated by the Fund for Integrated Rural Development Of Syria FIRDOS on behalf of the Ministry of Local Administration and Environment/General Commission for Environmental Affairs, which is the major beneficiary. The State Planning Commission also is a direct beneficiary of the project. The strategy shall operate as a framework for sustainable development at the national level.
Project Results
Results
The project has accomplished its direct objective. The National Strategy for Sustainable Development in Syria was elaborated in participatory approaches and via conducting an intensive policy dialogue.
The strategy provided orientations and objectives along with monitoring indicators for the priority areas which affect the wide population in Syria, namely combating poverty and unemployment, good governance, encouraging private sector contribution to the development process, sustainable management of water resources, education and human resources development, sustainable tourism, sustainable land use and regional planning, agriculture and sustainable rural development.
The methodology adopted for building the Syrian NSSD was based on a number of essential references for establishing the objectives, directions and actions. All the previous is concluded by the recommendations of the (AGENDA 21), the objectives of the millennium of development, the sustainable development plan and the national environmental action plan which was adopted by the 10th FYP as a guideline for meeting the NSSD requirements and complies with the Mediterranean sustainable development strategy.
New Developments and unexpected difficulties/problems:
The project encountered some difficulties during implementation which could be summarized as follows:
1. Although the MOU with UNEP/MAP was signed in February 2005; however, the project started its activities end of May 2005
2. NSSD project partners affirmed during the launching of the project that the 10th Five Year Investment Plan was the Plan for Sustainable Development in Syria giving the participatory planning process adopted for the preparation. It was inevitable for FIRDOS to link the stocktaking analysis with the outcome of the Plan which was due in September 2005. However, the draft plan was submitted only in January 2006. Consequently, NSSD project activities had to be shifted.
3. The concept of the sustainable development is still considered by the majority of stakeholders as a philosophy that cannot serve as a strategic planning framework.
4. The Ministry of Local Administration and Environment had a substantial role in selecting the experts working on producing reports. Although such involvement is a healthy sign of excellent cooperation between the beneficiary (GCEA) and coordinator (FIRDOS); nevertheless, the experts? performance was not always at the expected level. Therefore, a revision not only to check quality but also to readjust their work according to the needs of the project was necessary. This resulted in the delay in reports delivery.
5. As per the original work plan, FIRDOS was committed to coordinate and supervised the final elaboration and adoption of the NSSD. However, after consultation with the General Commission for Environmental Affairs, a decision was concluded to submit the pre-final NSSD to the government and have GCEA taking over the implementation of next steps.
Remarks/lesson learned:
The preparation methodology of the National Strategy for Sustainable Development represents an exemplary case. It underpins concepts of proactive participation, inclusion of wide spectrum of social strata, capitalizing on existing policies and strategies, effective involvement of media, transparency and augmenting financial resources from various donors.
Most importantly, by assuming a major coordinating role, it was proved that local NGO can entrench the role of civil society from grass root level to the national policy making level.
Sustainable development; however, can only be translated from a concept to reality by full incorporation within policies/ strategies/ actions and projects of line ministries and all stakeholders (private sectors, academia, research and civil society). This necessitates a shift in paradigm and building new consciousness by all actors. Syrian society (people and government) is still at infancy phase in this respect. Tremendous efforts, on long term and at all levels, are required to reach beyond NSSD and to create a change and improvement of the well being of the Syrian people.
