KINGDOM OF TONGA - SPREP

Strategic Development Plan 8 2006/07-2008/09
communities and reducing hardship; and they see a specific need for market
research to secure international market outlets for local products. Private sector
representatives generally agreed that policies conducive to foreign investment are
needed in order to generate growth in incomes and employment. Communities,
NGOs and church leaders all expressed concern over the social problems referred to
above, and specifically requested Government assistance in the provision of job
training programmes for youth and women and counseling programmes for youth.
In addition, two general messages were received through the consultation
process. First, people in the communities typically regard the Government as the
provider of solutions to individual and community problems. They need to be made
aware of Government’s proper roles and limited resources and to examine ways of
increasing their self-reliance. Second, and partly related to the first message, people
in the communities, civil society organizations and the private sector all want more
information, education and consultation on government issues, decisions and
policies. There is widespread dissatisfaction with the accountability, transparency
and predictability of government.
Improving the governance environment thus has emerged as a major
development challenge to be met during the SDP8 period. Good governance is of
value in its own right, but it also is important because it is a necessary condition for
a good economic and social policy environment.
Growth that creates jobs for the unemployed, for young entrants to the labour
force, and for people in the rural and regional areas is needed more than ever, since
fiscal realities in the aftermath of the 2005 civil service wage settlement require
contraction in public sector employment (see chapters 4 and 5). Moreover, the need
becomes all the greater if a partial or complete closure of the emigration safety valve
were to increase population pressure and threaten remittance flows. 14
Further, growth is crucial to generating the government revenue needed to
support public service delivery, particularly in the key education and health sectors.
Human development is an end in itself, but also is an essential input to the domestic
economic growth process and the foundation of successful emigration and future
remittance flows.
3.2 Development Vision and Goals
In response to the development challenges confronting the Kingdom, the
Government of Tonga has adopted a Vision, established goals that will realise the
14 Population projections based on the 1996 census, which assume a decline in the total fertility rate from 4.15 to
3.0, indicate that if net migration declined from 1,900 to 1,000 people annually, the resident population would
grow at just under 1% per annum to 113,427 in 2011; and if net migration were zero, the resident population
would rise at the rate of 2.1% per annum to 133,569 in 2011. In the latter case, remittance flows per head of
resident population would fall even if the existing migrant stock maintained real remittances per head of
migrant population.
Looking to the Future, Building on the Past 34