AOB Workshop

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AOB Workshop

• Purposes and Approach of the Workshop

Clement NCUTI National Budget Unit MINECOFIN
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Presentation Outline

• Background to the workshop
• Why is the issue of putting aid on budget
  important in Rwanda?
• Why is the workshop important?
• Objectives of the workshop
• Research leading to the workshop
• Way forward

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Background to the Workshop

• 2007
• Study commissioned by CABRI (Collaborative Africa
  Budget Reform Initiative) and SPA (Strategic
  Partnership for Africa) in 10 African countries
• Outputs Country reports summarized into a
  synthesis report, Good practice note
• 2008
• Contacts between CABRI and MINECOFIN to use the
  study to move forward in Rwanda
• Scoping exercise in June 2008
• Terms of reference for further research and
  objectives of workshop

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Why is the issue of putting aid on budget
important for Rwanda?

• Transparency towards Parliament and citizens
• Improve the allocation of internal resources
• Ensure better alignment of budget and external
  aid with EDPRS priorities
• Ensure sustainability of activities financed by
  external aid
• Improve the coherence between the (ex ante)
  budget and (ex post) information in the financial
  statements

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Why is this workshop important?

• Bring together all relevant stakeholders at
  national level
• Donors
• MINECOFIN all relevant units
• Line ministries
• Share experiences with other countries on best
  practices

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Objectives of the workshop

• Understand the status quo in Rwanda with regards
  to what aid is on/off budget, on/off accounts and
  why
• Agree on criteria for aid to be included in the
  finance law, on budget but not in the finance law
  or when it can be excluded from both
• Agree on improved processes for budget
  preparation, budget execution, reporting with
  regards to external aid

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Research leading to workshop

• Phase 1 Identified the gaps between ODA reported
  by donors, ODA on the consolidated financial
  statements and ODA in the finance law
• Phase 2 Focus on 8 projects/programmes in order
  to track when budget, disbursement and spending
  information on these projects and programmes were
  made available to whom, in what format, by whom
• Phase 3 Analysis of the reasons for aid not
  being on budget or on account when it should be,
  shortcomings of the underlying procedures for
  information management on both donor and
  government side.

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Way forward

• Conclusions from the workshop will be drawn up
  and will feed into two processes currently under
  way
• Aid Management Manual
• Documentation of budget processes
• Conclusions will be discussed in MINECOFIN
  management meeting and relevant decisions taken