Imagine you have just been appointed as the Chief Economist of the National Development Planning Commission of a Low-income Sub-Saharan African (SSA) country.

Instruction:
Imagine you have just been appointed as the Chief Economist of the National Development Planning Commission of a Low-income Sub-Saharan African (SSA) country. You are free to choose the country. Your task is to draw up a ten-year plan aimed at transforming the country, which is endowed with many natural resources but is among the poorest countries in the world, into a middle-income country with desirable characteristics such as low unemployment, poverty and inequality. You have a ten-year term so you can plan with a ten-year horizon.
The country has many problems including a significant debt overhang and a depreciating currency; an ineffective educational system (free primary to senior secondary school) with poorly paid teachers resulting in students with poor skills in mathematics and science; weak or inadequate infrastructure such as bad roads and limited safe transportation options; a poor drainage system and serious sanitation problems including a lack of access to toilets; endemic corruption; widespread and often concentrated poverty and a mindset that seems to appreciate everything foreign and nothing local. The country imports almost everything and exports only raw materials.
The natural resource endowment of the country is potentially enormous, including some resources that have not been prospected and others identified but not commercially exploited. However, since gaining independence more than 50 years ago, a succession of incompetent, corrupt and visionless leaders have managed to collude with foreign elements to plunder the nation’s resources. The goal of the plan you will draw up is to turn this situation around so that the people can enjoy a substantial increase in incomes as well as what James O’Toole calls “the good society” with elements of efficiency, equality, community and liberty. In particular, you can focus on one of these pillars in the short run.
Your task is to formulate a strategy that can not only build effective institutions and educates the masses, but will also enable the country to harness its natural resources and leverage it to develop its human resources for sustainable development. This is key as Africa has a youthful population and can only harness the benefits of a potential demographic dividend in the coming years if the youth is well educated, diligent and industrious. You also want to change the culture and mindset of the people so that they will value “hard work, discipline, efficiency, organization, thrift, saving and investment” given that a hard working, frugal and well-educated populace is supportive of growth and development. Limit your strategy to a democratic political dispensation so that you must convince the people of the plan in your attempt to guide them instead of coercing them.
In your written plan, make sure your solution addresses at least 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and demonstrate your familiarity of at least five readings covered in the class seminars and presentations. Address the tensions between efficiency, liberty, community and equality that will naturally arise. Additionally, your paper should reference not less than 3 additional relevant published texts (journal articles or books) not reviewed in class.

Important: Your essay must be between 7-10 pages excluding references. Use font-size: 12, font-style: Times New Roman, Double-Spacing and APA style of referencing style. Be mindful of grammar and language mechanics (spelling, punctuation, titles, subtitles, paragraphing etc.). Please consult the rubric provided.

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