Thematic Area: Democratic Governance
Project Document
MBAW Factsheet
Progress Report Quarter 3 2011
Progress Report Quarter 2 2011
Annual Progress Report – 2010
Progress Report Quarter 3 2010
Progress Report Quarter 2 2010
Progress Report Quarter 1 2010
Annual Progress Report – 2009
Annual Report 2008
Progress Report Quarter 1 2008
Progress Report Quarter 2 2008
Progress Report Quarter 2 2008 Annex 1 AWP
Progress Report Quarter 3 2008
Progress Report Quarter 3 2008 Annex 1 AWP
Progress Report Quarter 1 2007
Progress Report Quarter 2 2007
Progress Report Quarter 3 2007
Annual Report 2006
[Last Updated 25 November 2011]
Making Budget and Aid Work Project (MBAW)
MBAW supports the Ministry of Finance and relevant line ministries to strengthen budget planning and manage-ment, and policy and strategy development; this includes aid coordination, budget and sustainable capacity de-velopment for improved budget execution management for service delivery.
Contributes to ANDS Pillar 2:
Governance, Rule of Law, and Human Rights
Proposed Budget
$30 m USD
Resources*
7 mil USD
Implementing Partners
Ministry of Finance
Donors
Canada, Germany, UK
Project Overview
The Ministry of Finance requires continued capacity development to achieve the outputs identified at the 2010 London and Kabul International Conferences on Afghanistan. In response, UNDP has merged its traditional capacity development support to MOF into a single UNDP project.
MBAW is focused on enhancing the link between the ANDS, National Priority Programmes and the national budget process, together with a concentrated effort to improve the MoF and line ministries' and budget execution processes. MBAW strives to build confidence among Afghanistan's international development part-ners to channel increased levels of external resources through the national budget.
The project conducts its work under the guidance of three compo-nents:
1. Budget Planning and Management. MBAW focuses on strengthening National Budget processes for the GoIRA to execute sound macroeconomic management practices and to promote efficient allocation of both domestic revenue sources and large-scale international development assistance. This is achieved through developing Medium Term Budget Framework, program and provincial budgeting reforms, technical assistance to the Budget Department and Aid Management.
2. Development Strategies and Policies. To implement the ANDS, UNDP has established a Department of Policy to oversee implementation plans and to facilitate working relationships. MBAW supports the Department of Policy, in con-junction with the Aid Management Unit, to track external assis-tance through the production of ANDS reports and reviews, focus-ing on ANDS implementation achievements.
3. Development Delivery Management and Sustainable Policy Framework Management capacity at the National Level. MBAW seeks to strengthen delivery management and enhance budget execution at MoF and line ministries. Overall, the goal is to develop sustainable institutional capacity and in this regard to help better delivery of infrastructure and services to the Afghan population.
Context
The national budget is considered the primary mechanism through which a number of key devel-opment principles are promulgated. The Ministry of Finance (MoF) is responsible for the management and execution of the national budget, and for coor-dination and implementation of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS).
However, in Afghanistan, where donor funds are channeled through numerous outlets, the MoF fac-es considerable challenges to plan, manage, and execute the budget. The result is a lack prioritization for projects, very little predictability of external as-sistance, and lack of coordination between parties.
A high priority for the MoF is to significantly increase domestic revenues through improved reve-nue administration, strengthened enforcement, and a general broadening of the tax base, all of which are essential to reduce Afghanistan's reliance on international assistance and aid dependency.
Situated within the MoF's Budget Department, MBAW provides essential support to the Budget Department to strengthen budget planning, imple-mentation and monitoring processes, and to pro-mote budget as a tool for coordination of interna-tional development assistance.
As such, MBAW supports the MoF to carry out re-forms announced at the 2010 Kabul Conference, including the adoption of polices to strengthen the ANDS and a three-year Public Financial Manage-ment Roadmap.
Key Results
The Ministry of Finance has established a credible and transparent budget system that enables donors to coordinate their own investment in alignment with development needs and priorities .
- Assisted the Ministry of Finance to launch the Public Finance Man-agement (PFM) Roadmap in July 2010, which improves budget exe-cution, strengthens the budget and increases accountability and transparency. The Open Budget Index measures Afghanistan's PFM rating, which has jumped from 8% (2008) to 22% (2010).
- Developed and implemented Program Budgeting across all line min-istries. The budget integration process serves as an essential instru-ment to link the budget with national priorities.
- Supported fiscal sustainability through the signing of a debt relief program worth $16 billion USD and a Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policy.
- Developed an Operational Guide that will increase GoIRA ownership of the development agenda as per Paris Declaration Aid Effective-ness Principles. The document was produced in response to donor partner requests, and provides concrete measures used to enhance the effectiveness of projects.
- In order to achieve sustainable institutional capacity development, organizational restructuring has occurred within the Budget Depart-ment, and extensive capacity development programs have been ini-tiated and implemented based on needs assessments.
- Provincial budgeting policy developed to set a mechanism for better integration of the provincial priorities into national budget and facili-tate communication between central line ministries and their provin-cial departments
- Capacity of provincial departments enhanced for greater participa-tion in provincial budget formulation and execution
- National Priorities and clusters aligned with ANDS priorities strengthening linkage between the ANDS/NPP coordinating struc-tures and the national budget process
- Introduced Gender Responsive Budgeting to address issues and achieve outcomes that match the objectives of the ANDS. Seven min-istries have been trained on a pilot basis to prepare a budget that incorporates the GoIRA's gender equality policy.
A New Budget Process in Line with National Priorities
Program budgeting is a new instrument that links budget spending with national budget priorities. More importantly, it is an essential link between the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS) and budget operations of the government.
MBAW has helped the Government of Afghanistan to develop and implement program budgeting across all of its line ministries. Officially endorsed by Cabinet in July 2010, program budgeting has been rolled out to all 51 budget units; as such, program budgeting is now the official tool used to prepare and present the budget in Afghanistan.
In order to facilitate this shift in budget preparation, a great deal of time and re-sources were dedicated to providing train-ing and support to budgetary units. Tech-nical and departmental staff were trained in all aspects of the program budgeting process, as per the Program Budgeting Handbook. The result? An improved budg-et preparation process in which line min-istries can appropriately estimate and realistically assign dollar figures to their projects for the upcoming financial year.
Fully in line with MBAW's mandate, pro-gram budgeting is an essential tool to real-ize ANDS results. The ability to align the budget with ANDS strategies requires fur-ther refinement to address overlaps observed between ministries during this initial process. Ministry-specific results frameworks should be drafted to better align their individual budgets with the ANDS. Not only will this result in an improved budget execution process, but a budget that responds to Afghanistan's development needs and priorities.
MBAW Contacts
Masood Kamal
Project Manager
ahmad.masood.kamal@undp.org
+93 (0) 703 114 444
www.undp.org.af
www.budgetmof.gov.af
Top
|
