Three-day Annual Planner Forum ends at Fa’onelua Convention Centre

The Forum, held in partnership with the UNDP’s Governance for Resilient Development in the Pacific Project (Gov4Res), UNDP’s Tonga Recovery Project, and UNICEF commenced on Tuesday, December 13, 2022.

The Froum was attended by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Tupouto’a Ulukalala, the Prime Minister Hon. Hu’akavameiliku and officials across Government, Civil Society Organizations and Non-Government Organizations.

Bringing together over 120 participants, the objectives of this year’s Planner’s Forum included to; facilitate peer learning and knowledge exchange, deepen familiarity with the use of the National Planning Process, promote interactive dialogue, and identify practical follow-up actions.

Central to this year’s agenda is enhancing understanding of “Risk-informed Development and Disaster Risk Management” integrated into national planning processes.

While delivering the keynote address, Prime Minister Hon. Hu’akavameiliku shared how the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcanic eruption and tsunami had left the nation in a state of devastation some 11 months ago, with many forced to reside in temporary shelters and some still in the process of permanent relocation.

He emphasised, “the theme of this forum reminds us that our focus should not be on the magnitude and how disastrous the natural hazards may be, rather our responsibility is to remain vigilant through ensuring that all our development is being risk-informed”.

Towards the end of his remarks, he called on participants to “start thinking outside the box and bring innovative ideas into decision-making spaces for leaders”.

Echoing similar calls to action, Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme’s Pacific Office, Mr. Levan Bouadze, emphasised that “we must acknowledge the fact that community ownership and leadership is a core ingredient of strengthening governance structures, so we must build on our existing platforms to strengthen national planning and development prioritisation processes”.

During the opening session, participants were encouraged to take part in an open dialogue and to use the forum as an opportunity to deepen and enhance their knowledge on how to strengthen the integration of resilience measures across all development planning and budgeting systems in Tonga.

In hope for a productive outcome from this forum, participants echoed that there should be more collaboration on risk integration across all development initiatives as well as more recognition of the underlying drivers of risks.

- PMO