Nouakchott (Online) — The ECA Office for North Africa, the Ministry of Economy and Industry, the Ministry of the Interior and Decentralization and the Wilaya of Hodh Charghi of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania on Friday 26 June an online workshop to initiate the design of the Accelerated Regional Growth Strategy and Shared Prosperity (SCRAPP) for the Hodh Chargui region.
Hodh Chargui is a region of Mauritania near the border with Mali, well known for its economic and demographic potentials.
A regional variation of the National Strategy for Accelerated Growth and Shared Prosperity (SCAPP, 2016-2030), the Hodh Chargui SCRAPP will be designed as part of a pilot project developed with UN support. The project aims to provide the region with a decentralized planning model that will facilitate the implementation of national development goals, SDGs and Agenda 2063 objectives at the regional level.
"Our region is one of the largest, most populous in Mauritania, but also the farthest from Nouakchott. It is exposed to the security challenges and receives the largest number of Malian refugees in the country, about 50,000 to 70,000 people. This situation leads to additional pressures on local resources, especially on the pastoral level, however, this region also has many other potentials that we intend to develop, and we are looking forward to having an integrated vision of the region's development, " said Mr. Cheikh Ould Abdallahi Ould Ewah, Wali of Hodh Chargui
"Hodh Charghi was selected to become a pilot region for the SCRAPP implementation, to facilitate the implementation of a model that can be extended to other regions of Mauritania, hence the need to give this project a participatory and inclusive dimension", said Mr. Abass Sylla, Director General of Development Policies and Strategies at the Mauritanian Ministry of Economy and Industry, who stressed the need to effectively involve in this project all stakeholders that can facilitate the SCRAPP implementation, including the Regional Council, administrative services, mayors, technical partners, young people and women; while taking into account COVID19 constraints.
"This project is important for the implementation of sustainable development in Mauritania," said Khaled Hussein, acting director of the ECA office in North Africa who expressed the wish for initial results to be available for study next September. "We hope to help Hodh Charghi attract investment in various sectors, and create jobs for its youths," he added. Hussein added that this project comes in the wake of several collaboration programs carried out by ECA in partnership with the Mauritanian authorities in areas such as the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and the development of a macroeconomic model for the evaluation of development policies.
This project is being launched as Mauritania's new law on regions grants them extended powers to plan their own economic, social, cultural and scientific development, with a view to making planning closer to local needs and facilitating the involvement of local populations and authorities in the design, implementation and monitoring of development policies in their regions.
Participants in the meeting considered several recommendations, including the need for a detailed action plan, a monitoring and evaluation framework based on indicators that can feed into the annual SCAPP implementation report, the use of an inclusive approach with an actual impact on populations' living conditions as well as taking into account risks which are specific to the region, to achieve resilient development.
Participants also agreed that the lessons learned from this project, should be shared with the two other pilot regions of Tagant and Brakna.
This meeting was held with the participation of various representatives of the Mauritanian and regional authorities of Hodh Charghi as well as the FAO, UNFPA
