The Africa Governance Report Development planning therefore provides “a systematic approach to identifying, articulating, prioritising, and satisfying the economic and social needs and aspirations of a country within a given (often limited) resource envelope”.51 By examining NDPs, and the budgets allocated for implementation, we can determine a connection between governance and national and human development. The domestication and alignment of the UN SDGs and AU Agenda 2063 requires that each Member State must decide how Agenda 2063/SDGs should be incorporated into national planning processes, policies and strategies and into setting national targets, taking into consideration national circumstances and peculiarities in a process of “mainstreaming”. 6.2.1 Existence of National Development Plans In general, most countries in Africa have both long-term National Visions and medium-term development plans, reflecting each country’s aspirations to improve the welfare of its citizens. Country data from UNDP Country Offices and research on various country websites reveal that 88 per cent have a national vision or long-term development strategy/plan while 86 per cent have NDPs. The countries that have not reported the existence of a National Vision or a national development plan are either in conflict or recovering from one. There is a positive correlation between growth and national development planning. This means that, at a minimum, countries with clearly articulated NDPs will exhibit some level of growth in real GDP. This may not be so apparent at the regional level, given the margin of error in aggregation. Nonetheless, when the fifty-five-year (1963-1918) average growth of real GDP is plotted against the existence of national development planning frameworks at the regional level, it emerges that in all regions except northern Africa, the regions with high prevalence of NDPs post higher real GDP growth patterns than those with low prevalence of NDPs. However, it should also be noted that the high prevalence of medium and high GDP growth does not necessarily imply high development outcomes. Figure 2: Percentage Of Countries With NDPs And Distribution Of Growth Levels By Region Source: United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report (2000, 2008, 2016 and 2018 Statistical Update). Tracing the pattern of growth of real GDP over time shows how countries have managed to cope given the many developmental challenges the continent has faced since independence. 51 ECA, 2015, p. 3. Page 68 of 96