About the Strategic Development Planning Pathway
- Introduction
- Development planning is based on the fundamental idea that all human interactions, i.e., social interactions among people, as well as the interactions between people and their natural and built environments, are circumscribed in time and space.
- Development planning helps to order these interactions within social, cultural, and economic systems, agro-ecological and social-ecological systems, infrastructure networks, and human settlements.
- By ordering these interactions, development planning helps to guide collective decision-making processes across different levels of government and civil society organizations in finding solutions to public problems.
- Grounded in five fundamental pillars, the Strategic Development Planning Pathway presents a foundational framework for integrated development planning. The pathway connects key considerations related to governance principles, public problems, their policy solutions, legislative protections, plans or strategies, associated program targets, and related project-based actions.
- Primarily, the pathway promotes and facilitates coordinated, objective, and logical development planning within and between all divisions and agencies of the Tobago House of Assembly.
- Important Historical Planning Considerations
- In early 2022, various interest groups in Tobago began to emphasize the need for a new development plan—a comprehensive, written document—to provide a clear pathway for developing Tobago’s society and economy.
- The overtures regarding the need for a new development plan were primarily based on the change in government in the Tobago House of Assembly in December 2021, after more than two decades.
- Many Tobagonians and interest groups in Tobago interpreted the change in government as a rejection of a national political and economic hegemony, a signal for a new governance mandate, and, by extension, the need for novel and innovative approaches to planning and development in line with the ideals, wishes, and aspirations of past, current and future generations of Tobagonians.
- However, although the calls for a new development plan for Tobago may have been sincere, they must be examined within the context of the history of development plans for Tobago.
- The empirical evidence shows that Tobago has been well-resourced over the last six decades with a suite of development plans. A list of these plans is provided below.
Table 1. Matrix of Development Plans for Tobago: 1965 to 2024
No | Plan Title | Type of Plan | Publication Date | Proposals/Goals & Objectives/ Scope |
1 | Regional Physical Development Plan for Tobago | Regional | 1965 |
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2 | Tobago Development Plan Scarborough Policy Plan |
Regional | 1966 |
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3 | Land Use Proposals for Old Government Farm Road, Scarborough | Local area | 1980 |
Part of the development context of the town of Scarborough. Main goals:
|
4 | Tobago Regional Plan | Regional | 1984 |
This plan focuses on physical development planning. It seeks to
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5 | Tobago Region Physical Development Plan | Regional | 1991 |
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6 | Southwest Tobago Development Plan (OAS) | Sub-regional | 1996 |
To contribute to the sustainable development of southwest Tobago in terms of:
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7 | Tobago Development Plan: The Integrated Plan for the Development of the People of Tobago in the 21st Century | Regional | 1999 |
The government must become highly efficient and undertake the following actions:
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8 | The Comprehensive Economic Development Plan for Tobago |
2010 Revised (2013-2017) |
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Note that the information in Table 1 represents (with minor edits) the text from the original plans.
- Important Historical Planning Considerations
- Although the list may not be exhaustive, the recommendations in the plans in Table 1 address many public problems pertinent to Tobago’s development today. Hence, the THA will continue to use many of the recommendations of previous development plans for Tobago.
- However, given Tobago’s current social and economic development status and given the suite of existing plans, it is difficult to justify the need for another conventional development plan.
- The fundamental planning and development issues facing the Tobago House of Assembly, THA, seem to be twofold:
- There is institutional fragmentation in the THA for planning and development in the areas for which it is responsible.
- Given the institutional fragmentation in the THA and its new governance mandate, there is a need for:
- A coherent framework for planning and development
- A grand vision and agenda priorities for the development of Tobago’s society and economy
- Mainstreaming planning and development processes and practices across the divisions of the THA.