Posted by Laura Leyser (Austrian Development Agency)
In line with the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action, most donor agencies are implementing more and more of their aid programmes through country systems. This entails new challenges – also for donor staff.
Many donor agencies, multilateral as well as bilateral, are confronted with an increased need for PFM expertise in their own ranks. While one option is to hire additional PFM experts, this is usually not sufficient and might result often in a zero sum game (experts going from one agency to the next). In light of the newer aid modalities such as budget support, at least some basic PFM know-how is needed at various levels and areas of expertise, including programme and country officers, evaluators, auditors, lawyers, etc. Extensive capacity development through training is consequently the main solution.
The Joint Donors’ Competence Network, commonly known as Train4Dev (T4D), is a valuable platform promoting harmonization in donor staff training and alignment with partner country needs and priorities. T4D hosts several thematic sub-groups including one for PFM, in which several multilateral and bilateral donor agencies are active in sharing their training events and material among each other. Recently, cautious advances have even been made in developing PFM training material jointly, as well as planning and implementing PFM trainings in a coordinated manner in partner countries.
Subject to availability, these trainings are usually not only open to staff from other donor agencies (including those not actively involved in T4D), but also from partner country institutions, civil society organizations, academia, and the private sector. The feedback of such joint or open PFM trainings suggests that this openness contributes to the attractiveness of the network. The development of a common understanding and the possibility to learn from each other by exchanging experiences and diverse viewpoints create an invaluable basis for further cooperation. In some cases, staff from partner country institutions are actively contributing to the development of capacities within donor agencies.
T4D also hosts a website (www.train4dev.net) where all open and joint courses, as well as relevant documents and links, are posted. There is a specific section for the PFM sub-group. One interesting feature includes the open and free access to two e-learning courses: one introductory PFM course and one on procurement and aid effectiveness. The introductory PFM course was developed by the Ministry of Foreign affairs of Denmark and involves 15 to 20 hours of self-paced learning. It incorporates seven modules covering: 1) The budget: general framework and policy relevance; 2) The budget: phases and parts; 3) Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF); 4) Public Expenditure Review (PER); 5) Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA); 6)National Audit; and 7) Anglophone and Francophone PFM Systems. A number of useful documents are also posted on the website, such as the “PFM in development Cooperation” handbook and several guidelines and notes on PFM issues. More is planned in the near future.
