A/CONF.171/13 English Page 94 (b) To foster active involvement of elected representatives of people, particularly parliamentarians, concerned groups, especially at the grass-roots level, and individuals, in formulating, implementing, monitoring and evaluating strategies, policies, plans and programmes in the field of population and development. Actions 13.5. Governments, with the active involvement of parliamentarians, locally elected bodies, communities, the private sector, non-governmental organizations and women’s groups, should work to increase awareness of population and development issues and formulate, implement and evaluate national strategies, policies, plans, programmes and projects that address population and development issues, including migration, as integral parts of their sectoral, intersectoral and overall development planning and implementation process. They should also promote and work to ensure adequate human resources and institutions to coordinate and carry out the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of population and development activities. 13.6. Governments and parliamentarians, in collaboration community and non-governmental organizations, should make accordance with national concerns and priorities and take to measure, assess, monitor and evaluate progress towards the present Programme of Action. In this connection, the of the private sector and the research community is to be B. with the international the necessary plans in the actions required meeting the goals of active participation encouraged. Programme management and human resource development Basis for action 13.7. Building the capacity and self-reliance of countries to undertake concerted national action to promote sustained economic growth, to further sustainable national development and to improve the quality of life for the people is a fundamental goal. This requires the retention, motivation and participation of appropriately trained personnel working within effective institutional arrangements, as well as relevant involvement by the private sector and non-governmental organizations. The lack of adequate management skills, particularly in the least developed countries, critically reduces the ability for strategic planning, weakens programme execution, lessens the quality of services and thus diminishes the usefulness of programmes to their beneficiaries. The recent trend towards decentralization of authority in national population and development programmes, particularly in government programmes, significantly increases the requirement for trained staff to meet new or expanded responsibilities at the lower administrative levels. It also modifies the "skill mix" required in central institutions, with policy analysis, evaluation and strategic planning having higher priority than previously. /...