Programme 2: Budget Transparency and Accountability

Our work on use of country systems commenced at the time of the preparations for the 3rd High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in 2008, at which the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) was endorsed. CABRI’s position on ownership, transparency and use of country systems contributed to the shaping of the AAA and, more so, to the outcome document of the 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness held in Busan, South Korea in 2011. Integrating aid information into the planning, budgeting, reporting and other dimensions of the PFM cycle provides aid recipient countries with greater control over the use of resources, improved accountability and better alignment of priority programmes.

CABRI’s work over the reporting period and beyond focuses on implementing, at a country level, commitments contained in international agreements on aid effectiveness.

Towards the end of 2015, CABRI and the Senegalese ministry of economy, finance and planning launched a project to support the increased use of country systems by development partners. Following extensive research, dialogue with government officials and local development partners, and collaboration with the Effective Institutions Platform, we identified key challenges and reached agreement on the relevant areas for greater use of country systems in Senegal. The first phase of the project will develop and agree on ways that aid can be better integrated into the planning, budgeting and reporting systems of the Senegalese authorities. CABRI’s role has been mainly that of an ‘honest broker’, supporting efforts towards the greater use by development partners of domestic government systems, as outlined in the various international agreements.

How development partners can make progress towards greater use of country systems is also an objective of the Group of 50 largest donors in Senegal, which has considered CABRI’s work with a view to greater alignment and complementarity.

The objectives of this project align well with and support the implementation of the reform directives of the West African Economic and Monetary Union, especially with regard to the aim of strengthening financial integrity and fully integrating all financial flows.