Nos Aruba 2025 Action Plan
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Nos Aruba 2025 Action Plan 2010‐2013 National Integrated Strategic Plan “Shaping the Sustainable future of Aruba is not only the responsibility of government, but the responsibility of each individual living in Aruba”. “We Move from fragmentation to Integration” 1 February 2010 Table of Contents Foreword .................................................................................................................................... 4 Executive Summary ................................................................................................................... 8 PART I THE PROCESS ..................................................................................................... 19 1.1 Why Nos Aruba 2025? .................................................................................................. 19 1.2 The Appreciative Inquiry approach, SOAR and Scenario Planning ............................. 21 1.3 Sustainable Development in Aruba ............................................................................... 24 1.4 Aruban Model for Development ................................................................................... 27 1.5 Institutionalization of the Strategic Planning process ................................................... 30 PART II ASSESSING THE PRESENT SITUATION .................................................... 34 2.1 The Strengths of Aruba ............................................................................................. 34 2.2 Current Challenges ................................................................................................... 35 2.2.1 Economic structure .............................................................................................. 35 2.2.2 Labor market developments ................................................................................ 38 2.2.3 Spatial environment ............................................................................................. 42 2.2.4 Population composition and development .......................................................... 44 2.2.5 Quality of Life ....................................................................................................... 52 PART III STRATEGIES for SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ................................... 68 3.1 Social: A multifaceted empowerment of the Aruban Society ....................................... 71 3.1.1 Lifelong learning and personal development ..................................................... 72 3.1.2 Development of a sustainable A ruban culture through a holistic synthesis of all cultural aspects ..................................................................................................... 74 3.1.3 Building the community from the inside-out ..................................................... 77 3.1.4 Stimulate and promote a healthy living .............................................................. 79 3.2 Economic: Consolidating the development of the Aruban economy ............................ 84 3.2.1 Sustained socio-economic development by means of diversification ............... 87 3.2.2 Developing a nation of innovation = smart people + smart ideas .................... 90 3.2.3 Enabling the international financial sector ........................................................ 93 3.2.4 Sustainable tourism development ....................................................................... 94 3.3 Environment: Protecting the environment and promoting a conscious use of natural resources ............................................................................................................................ 100 3.3.1 Clean and risk free environment ....................................................................... 102 3.3.2 Energy management for a sustainable development ....................................... 105 3.3.3 Promoting sustainable food supplies ................................................................ 107 2 3.4 Political: Promoting Good Governance .................................................................. 110 3.4.1 Putting Good Governance principles in practice ............................................ 110 PART IV IMPLEMENTATION of ACTIONS ............................................................... 115 4.1 Strategic Resources ..................................................................................................... 115 4.2 Social Architecture ...................................................................................................... 115 4.3 Action plan 2010-2013 ................................................................................................ 116 List of Abbreviations ......................................................................................................... 143 3 Foreword Special thanks go to the many men and women who gave their time and passion to be part of this process. During the different events that took place in the course of the process of Nos Aruba 2025, citizens of different nationalities, backgrounds, age as well as the representatives of the broad stakeholders participated actively to give their input in the creation of a national vision for Aruba for the year 2025. The participation in the twelve commissions has been also multisectoral and multidisciplinary and the commissions have been formed by passionate citizens that have given their expertise in different topics. This report offers only a very small part of all the work done by the twelve commissions. It represents a synopsis of the commission reports and should be read as an executive summary of the whole. “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” -Peter Drucker, Management author The Aruban community is becoming increasingly aware of the need for a balance between education, public health care, economic development, the environment and its general well-being. Nos Aruba 2025 presents the opportunity for each individual in Aruba to voice their ideas about how Aruba should continue to be developed in a sustainable manner, resulting in a common vision for sustainable development in Aruba. The vision encompasses the changes we want to see within our communities over a selected time frame: Aruba from the present to 2025. The vision is then transformed into a manageable and feasible plan that the community implements. The strategies and objectives of the National Integrated Strategic Plan 2010-2025 are based on twelve development priorities which have been defined taking into account the definition of sustainable development and based on the vision of the Aruban community. Those twelve priorities form the conceptual framework that has been used throughout the whole process, which is the balance between social, economic, environmental and political sectors. Within these sectors there are two areas, education and governance, that are cross cutting and are basically preconditions for Sustainable Development and the successful achievement of the aspirations stated in this National Integrated Strategic Plan. Even though the sectors are described separately in this plan, they are intrinsically interconnected and balanced with each other through process of participation in which each commission had to take the Social, Economic, Environmental and Political aspects into consideration when preparing each development priority. The twelve development priorities are: . Lifelong learning and personal development . Development of a sustainable Aruban culture through a holistic synthesis of all cultural aspects . Building the community from the inside-out . Stimulate and promote a healthy living . Sustained socio-economic development by means of diversification . Developing a nation of innovation = smart people + smart ideas . Sustainable tourism development . Enabling the international financial sector . Protecting the fragile environment . Energy management for a sustainable development 4 . Promoting sustainable food supplies . Putting good governance principles in practice However, there are still some issues that need special attention and have a profound influence on the opportunities for sustainable development, but have not been addressed in depth by the commissions. The constitutional structure of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on the one hand and our relations with the Netherlands, the other five Caribbean islands in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the European Union on the other hand still have to be discussed on a national level. To make the right decision it is nevertheless imperative that the community is well informed and is given the opportunity for careful consideration of this strategic decision through a national referendum. A second issue that is of great importance is the demographics. The challenges in the labor market, the aging of the population and the healthcare issues have enormous consequences for the population growth and well being in Aruba. In this respect it is necessary to address issues such as migration, the natural population growth, the consequences that these may bring to the total population growth and the policy for a sustainable demographic development. Part of this policy should be to consider and stimulate the integration of immigrant labors as the New Aruban. In the last decades Aruba has seen an enormous influx of immigrant labor. These citizens are important and have contributed to the development of the island’s economy. Integration has been one of Aruba’s strengths for centuries. A third important issue is the limited natural