The national planning process for Aruba is coordinated by the Department of Economic Affairs, Commerce and Industry (DEACI) since 1986. Since 2018, the national planning is based on the government program “Hunto pa Aruba”, the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and policy plans of the different government departments and agencies. National planning is done through a participative process with stakeholders from the public sector, private sector, academia and civil society.

The national planning is developed by analyzing and evaluating specific themes relevant to the sustainable development of Aruba, the general government policy and the prioritization of investment resources, including the general budget to implement the SDGs.

The SDP Unit has prepared the National Strategic Plan 20120-2022 “Nos Plan, Nos Futuro”, in close collaboration with stakeholders. Please read about what is currently underway on the following tabs for the Sustainable Development Planning.

The SDP Unit is responsible for the development, implementation, and the monitoring and evaluation of the National Strategic Plan (NSP), in cooperation with the government, private sector, civil society and academia.

SDP develops programs, policies, and actions by government, citizens, businesses, and institutions which improve the long-term environmental, social, and economic viability of Aruba. In this regard the NSP incorporates the economic, environmental and social dimensions of the island. The NSP process consists of coherent policies and actions which are strategically planned and implemented. Furthermore, by formulating the actions and targets using the S.M.A.R.T. method, the planning process will be monitored and evaluated by the SDP Unit and the relevant agencies. In addition to overseeing and tracking the implementation of the National Strategic Plan, the Unit facilitates the collaboration with and between government departments, organizations and individuals working to advance the programs, policies, and actions of the national strategic plan of Aruba.

One of the responsibilities of the government is to facilitate and stimulate sustainable development. Therefore the government stimulates the formulation of goals and policies, and plan the necessary activities in consultation with the private sector, NGO’s and the civil society. The need to continuously access current and future challenges with efficient and effective solutions is critical for the government to maintain a sustainable development in Aruba.

Being a small island, Aruba poses some unique challenges that may hinder progress towards the sustainable development of the island. Some economic challenges include the limited economic growth, the difficulties of creating new jobs and the absorption of the increasing expenses due to the aging population. Social challenges such as the struggle of strengthening the social security (package) and accessibility to healthcare are all areas of concern. Furthermore, the economic development and the social cohesion of our society must also be kept in harmony with the environment. Creating an overall more efficient government system will play an important role in stimulating coherent policies and for the sustainable development of Aruba.

In order to address the identified challenges in our society and work towards the strategic objectives and programs we will have to focus our limited available resources on Aruba’s most pressing needs. The Department of Finance is currently working to create a blueprint for the Multi Annual Planning & Control Cycle for the budgeting process in Aruba.  DEACI and the Department of Finance participates within this process of linking the NSP with the Multi-annual Planning and Control Cycle. This will facilitate and secure the financing of the different actions for the implementation of the proposed programs.

Periodic reports on the implementation of the NSP are available to download: NSP Reports

National Strategic Plan

The National Strategic Plan (NSP), Nos Plan, Nos Futuro, prepared in January 2020, is a long-term plan with a vision for 2030 to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Aruba. In order to focus on the strategies needed for the achievement of the SDGs in 2030 a medium term plan has been developed for 2020-2022, with the involvement of Expert Working Groups (EXWGs) representing the public and the private sector, NGOs and academia.

The NSP 2020-2022 strategy document includes a summary of nine programs.

Each program has its own vision for 2030, strategic objectives, desired outcomes and actions for the period 2020 to 2022:

1. Quality of Life and Well-being
2. Youth Empowerment
3. Natural Resource Management
4. Entrepreneurship and Enabled Business Environment
5. Energy Efficiency and Energy Diversification
6. Sustainable Tourism
7. Strengthen Institutional Quality and Capacity
8. National Statistical System
9. Aruba as a Model for Sustainable Development

NSP-COVID-19

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Aruba in March 2020, the implementation of the actions of the NSP 2020-2022 needed to be adapted to focus on the most urgent actions for the next three years. A three-track (ABC) approach of the UNDP Policy for Post-Conflict Employment Creation, Income Generation and Reintegration of 2009 was used to prioritize the actions. The COVID-19 priority list was created to reflect the NSP actions that could be implemented related to the crisis. This resulted in the NSP-COVID-19 note

Alignment NSP – Master Recovery Plan

In July 2020, the Government of Aruba presented the Master plan Repositioning our Sails: Aruba’s Mission Driven Model for Economic Recovery and Resilience (Master Recovery Plan), which was produced to address the economic crisis that followed the COVID-19 pandemic. As the NSP focuses on long term planning for 2030, an exercise was done to align the Master Recovery Plan with the NSP to incorporate the actions of the Master Recovery Plan in the NSP. Most actions were already part of the NSP and the ones that were not could be incorporated in the NSP programs by adding strategic objectives or desired outcomes to the NSP programs. The lead to the Alignment NSP-Master Recovery Plan

SDG-Indicator Working Group (SDG-IWG)

The SDG-IWG is a joint effort between technical experts of different governmental departments and the semi-governmental sector with the main purpose of leading and coordinating the monitoring and evaluation of the SDGs and therefore responsible for data related to the SDG targets and indicators.

In this regard, the following reports were produced:

1. Aruba Sustainable Development Goals Baseline Measurement 2018

Technical experts worked together in different SDG-IWG Pillar working groups to produce baseline indicators. Although Aruba already produces significant data in many areas, there is still the challenge on how to address the data gaps (download report here).

2. Aruban Model for Indicator Generation Assessment (AMIGA)

A feasibility study was conducted to address the bottlenecks and needs for the production of the Global SDG indicators in Aruba. Using inspirations from primarily United Nations tools and methodologies, a hybrid model, AMIGA, was created. AMIGA provides a detailed mapping of indicator applicability and availability according to UN methodology and requirements. AMIGA also offers the feasibility to produce SDG indicators within a short period of time, the available data sources, experienced bottlenecks in availability of resources and corresponding needs, an overview of the necessary financial investments, and a calculation of the Statistical Capacity to produce SDG indicators (download report here).

3. SDG Comprehensive Indicator Framework Aruba (SDG CIFRA)

Aruba has started the process of developing a national SDG indicator framework, SDG CIFRA. SDG-IWG together with the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), the EXWGs, and the section Sustainable Development Planning (SDP) of DEACI, assessed the SDG targets addressed by the NSP programs and the SDG indicators necessary for monitoring. Available SDG indicators not addressed by the NSP are also incorporated in SDG CIFRA. This cooperation and in-depth content discussions will continue and will be structured within our work processes (download report here).

4. Aruba Sustainable Development Goals Indicators 2021.

The SDG-indicator Working Group produced the report Aruba Sustainable Development Goals Indicators 2021, which gives an overview of new baselines, available time series of existing indicators on Aruba, and the analyses of trends relating to the SDGs. The data presented has been collected from a variety of data sources; administrative data sources, yearly and occasionally held surveys and Population and Housing Censuses.

The trend analysis provides information for monitoring of progress and it helps to set concrete national targets. This report shows that considerable data exists to aid policy formulation and to set national targets. Moreover, this report gives insights into the development in the different areas related to the SDGs and is key to assist policy makers in Aruba in the monitoring of different areas related to Sustainable Development. (download report here) (download synopsis here)

Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E)

A start has been made to develop a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) system to monitor the implementation of the actions of the NSP 2020-2022 through a phased approach, starting with an  activity-based monitoring system. The progress of implementation of NSP actions will be monitored through an activity-based work plan, focusing at whether the planned actions were completed in a timely manner. For this purpose, there needs to be strong collaboration and partnership with the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) responsible for leading the implementation of the NSP actions. The SDP in collaboration with the EXWGs and the SDG-IWG, will start the subsequent phase of monitoring with the development of a Results-Based M&E system for the NSP 2023-2026. This system builds upon the implementation of activities focused on reaching results and impact through the setting of targets and indicators at different levels. A RBM-system is a powerful public management tool to support policy making, especially budget decision making, performance budgeting, and national planning, to help government ministries in their policy development and policy analysis work and in program development, to help government ministries and agencies manage activities at the sector, program, and project levels, and to enhance transparency and support accountability relationships.

NSP Progress Report 1

NSP Progress Report March 2021

NSP Progress Report June 2021

NSP Progress Report October 2021

NSP Progress Report March 2022

NSP Progress Report July 2022

Sustainable Development Goals

Expert Working Groups

SDP also gives advice on matters related to development cooperation and assistance between the Netherlands and Aruba, which mainly regards the financing of programs and projects. However there are currently no funds available coordinated by DEZHI for this purpose.

Aruba is associated with the European Union (EU) as part of the Dutch Kingdom. As a result, there is a relationship between the EU and Aruba as an Overseas Country and Overseas Territory (OCT), which is regulated in the OCT Decision or decision on the association of the Overseas Countries and Territories with the EU. The OCTs are organized in OCTA (OCT Association).
The OCT decision aims to facilitate economic, cultural and social development and the strengthening of the economic structures of the OCTs. This should be done in particular by the development of trade, economic relations and agricultural and industrial cooperation between the EU and the OCTs, and by contributing to safeguarding the interests of these OCTs, whose economy depends to a considerable extent on the export of raw materials and implement measures in the field of technical cooperation.
The European Development Fund (EDF) is intended for the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP) and OCT countries and is managed by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Development Cooperation (DG VIII) in Brussels. The EDF is fixed for a period of five years. Currently the OCT Decision is being revised and therefore an evaluation is taking place for the Post 2020 period.
The eleventh EDF rans from 2014 to 2020 and amounts to € 30.5 billion. SDP coordinates in this context the preparation of programs, projects and policy for Aruba regarding the cooperation with the European Commission (EC) and the EDF for National and Regional programs. Under the eleventh EDF € 13 million is earmarked for the National Program and is destined for the SISSTEM Faculty of the University of Aruba. The Regional programs under the 11th EDF are divided in the EDF Regional Program which amounts to € 40 million and the Thematic Program for € 17.8 million.
Another financing source is the Horizon 2020 Program, which is a European subsidy program for Research and Innovation in Europe. Horizon 2020 is the successor of the Seventh Framework Program (FP7) and runs from 2014 to 2020. The total size of the program amounts to more than €70 billion. The program offers opportunities for every organization or entrepreneur that is active in research, technological development and innovation in an international context.