Zanzibar has come a long way since the beginning of the 21 st century. The turn of the millennium marked a change in our approach to development planning, with the inception of Zanzibar Development Vision 2020, our first long-term development vision spanning the 20-year period from 2000 to 2020.
The former President of Zanzibar and Chairman of the Revolutionary Council, Dr. Shein said during the launch of the new vision,
He said the new vision puts human development at the forefront of national planning. Zanzibar has successfully achieved lower-middle income status ahead of time alongside improvements in life expectancy, gross school enrolment, and access to clean water among others.
Also, we are now setting our sights on the attainment of upper-middle-income status by 2050. This will require improvements in economic growth to be accompanied by a higher overall standard of living for all segments of Zanzibar’s society across the economic, human capital, infrastructural, and governance dimensions of human development.
Zanzibar is blessed with a strategic location in the Indian Ocean, a pleasant climate, a stable government, and a diverse culture backed by the peaceful co-existence of many ethnic groups and faiths.
Zanzibar has confidence that vision 2050 will give us an ideal opportunity to manage this gift wisely in order to take Zanzibar to greater heights in poverty reduction, economic diversification, technological progress, and more.
Ultimately, the vision belongs to all the people of Zanzibar, and it is the responsibility of all Zanzibaris to accomplish our aspirations set. When all of us work hard to achieve those aspirations, we can achieve the Zanzibar we want for ourselves, our children, and future generations, said D.r Shein.
Vision 2050 is the culmination of a series of stakeholder consultations and sectoral analyses to determine national priorities in policymaking, project planning, and decision-making for the next 30 years.
The consultations and resulting analyses were dynamic in nature, taking into account any unfinished agenda in vision 2020 as well as the impact of crises on our planning and operations such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, this has only strengthened our findings by reinforcing the necessity of transforming our economy and society to be resilient not only to crisis situations but also to future threats such as climate change.
Zanzibar is well-positioned to generate considerable gains from international trade, finance and investment, tourism, technology, and other emerging opportunities, given its strategic location. However, to optimally exploit this comparative advantage, it is imperative that vision 2050 be implemented thoroughly by developing linkages across all sectors, with emphasis on economic diversification, human capital, infrastructural development, and good governance.
Zanzibar development vision 2050 (henceforth vision 2050 or ZDV50) is a long-term national development plan formulated by the Revolutionary government of Zanzibar (SMZ) to guide Zanzibar’s overall development agenda from the year 2020 to 2050.ZDV50 has the overarching aspiration of lifting Zanzibar economically and socially to attain upper-middle income status (UMIS) by 2050.
This goal cannot be achieved without equitable, sustainable, and balanced improvements in the standard of living of all Zanzibaris. Therefore, the vision stresses that the national direction for development in the next 30 years must prioritize inclusive and pro-poor policies that target wide-reaching strategic considerations of the economic, social, political and environmental dimensions.
Vision 2050 serves as a successor plan to vision 2020, which covered the 20-year period from 2000 to 2020. The vision also builds on the base of Results for prosperity, which was a government initiative to bolster multisectoral development for the core economic sectors.
ZDV50 focuses on addressing the present shortcomings and broadening its scope to wider-ranging commitments, both of which are required to attain the underlined objectives. The vision is reinforced by the spirit of the Zanzibar Revolution of 1964 as well as Zanzibari’s rich culture, which emphasizes the peaceful coexistence of people of different ethnicities, faiths, and beliefs.
ZDV50 is based on two guiding principles: our aspirations and inspirational leadership. Our aspirations underscore the importance of taking active ownership of our future based on our own wishes and value: the vision is by Zanzibaris and for Zanzibaris. For the next 30 years, we must remain fully accountable for fulfilling these targets in order to translate vision 2050 from an inspirational leadership that requires us to carve our future with full recognition of past successes and setbacks both in Zanzibar and elsewhere. This is achieved through evidence-based development planning.
In the Zanzibari context, the preparation of vision 2050 has inextricable links to the existing planning framework. Internationally, the vision is inspired by best practices in East Africa, small island states, and other relevant development stories as well as our international commitments, Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and the sustainable development goals (SDGs), and the African Union Agenda 2063. These are in line with our untapped potential and strategic position.
@Zanzibar Development Agenda 2050
@ZDV50