Explanatory note

2006 Questionnaire on the Alignment of Budget support

with national PRS Processes

1.Introduction

The attached three-part questionnaire is intended to follow up the surveys carried out in 2003, 2004, and 2005 to assess progress in the alignment and harmonisation of budget support in PRSP countries in Africa. The data collected from this exercise will be used to report progress since the last survey to the SPA and to the OECD/DAC.

Like last year, the questionnaire has been converted into Excel format, to allow for a more exact analysis. The advantages of this include the use of drop-down menus.

Unlike last year, the 2006 survey coversboth general budget support and sector budget support. For the purpose of this Survey, the definitions from the DAC Paris Declaration Monitoring Survey are used:

“Direct Budget Support is…a method of financing a partner country’s budget through a transfer of resources from a donor to the partner government’s national treasury. The funds thus transferred are managed in accordance with the recipient’s budgetary procedures. Funds transferred to the national treasury for financing programmes or projects managed according to different budgetary procedures from those of the partner country, with the intention of earmarking the resources for specific uses, are therefore excluded from this definition of budget support. …

Direct budget support includes General Budget Support and Sector Budget Support. In the case of General Budget Support, the dialogue between donors and partner governments focuses on overall policy and budget priorities. Sector Budget Support means that dialogue between donors and partner governments focuses on sector-specific concerns rather than overall policy and budget priorities.”

For the purposes of this survey, sector budget support may be broader than support to one ministry, and may include sector approaches such as Justice, Law and Order, or Decentralisation.

Most of the questionnaire concerns General Budget Support, but Part 2 Questions B3 and B5 and Part 3 Question B2 concern Sector Budget Support. Balance-of-payments support from the IMF will not be surveyed using this instrument, although the IMF has an interest in the issues covered by Part 1 and their PRGF operations are included in Part 3, B3.

In each PRSP country where budget support is provided, a lead donor (i.e. a local representative of one of the co-chairs or another appointed donor) has been asked to assume responsibility for ensuring information is collected from donors and government and the questionnaires are completed to standard. They are invited to liaise with the Budget Support Working Group’s co-chairs about any difficulties in completing this task.

The role of lead donors will be to:

  • forward the survey documents to Government and to local representatives of donors of general budget support and sector budget support (GBS/SBS);
  • convene a meeting of representatives from government and donors of GBS/SBS;
  • facilitate a consensus on the issues covered in Part 1 of the questionnaire (see below for details);
  • ensure that all donors of GBS/SBS complete and return Part 2 of the questionnaire;
  • ensure government gets an adequate opportunity to comment on alignment and harmonisation, using Part 3 of the questionnaire;
  • collect all completed questionnaires and submit them to reach, by 15 September, to Rowan Putman at ODI who are managing the survey exercise for the BSWG.

Key steps in surveying PRS alignment by budget support donors

  1. SPA will send the questionnaire, plus accompanying notes, to all SPA members and ODI will send the questionnaire and accompanying notes to lead donors in countries where the survey will be conducted.
  2. Each SPA member will take responsibility for forwarding the documents to their local in-country representatives in the X countries concerned.
  3. The lead donors will also forward Parts 1 and 2 of the questionnaire and these explanatory notes documents to all local GBS/SBS donor representatives and to Government, in order to make sure all relevant stakeholders are informed. For the purposes of discretion, Part 3 of the questionnaire should be forwarded to Government only as it contains responses from previous year's regarding donor activity.
  4. The questionnaire is in three parts. Parts 1 and 2 require the attention of donor representatives, and Parts 1 and 3 are of concern to government representatives. Part 1 is intended to collect factual information on the basis of discussion and agreement between Government and donor representatives.
  5. For the purposes of completing Part 1, the lead donor should convene a meeting with general and sector budget support donors and Government. The lead donor should ensure that both general budget support donors and sector budget support donors attend the meeting. Although the IMF does not provide GBS, they have an interest in issues covered by Part 1 and their PRGF operations are included in Part 3, Question B3. Assuming a common position can be found at the meeting (see below for what to do otherwise), the lead donor will complete Part 1 of the questionnaire on behalf of all representatives present at the meeting.
  6. If possible, Parts 2 and 3 of thequestionnaire should be completed at or immediately after the joint meeting. Lead donors should collect all completed questionnaires submitted voluntarily by donors and government for onward submission. If the government prefers, Part 3 can be sent directly to Rowan Putman at ODI.
  7. The lead donor should disseminate responses to Part 1 to local partners, including the common position agreed by partners at the meeting.
  8. The lead donor shouldforward all completed questionnaires to reach Rowan Putman by 15 September 2006 at the latest.
  9. SPA’s Budget Support Working Group will analyse all responses submitted and will produce a report by end December 2006, which will be presented, and discussed, at the next SPA Plenary.
  10. The SPA will disseminate reports to members of the ECA’s PRSP Learning Group, SPA members, and all lead donors. The report will also be made available to the OECD-DAC Secretariat .
  11. Copies of the final report will be made available to all participating donors and governments.

2.The Questionnaire

The questionnaires are being circulated in three parts:

  • Part 1 should be completed by Government and representatives of all general budget support and sector budget support donors in the country. It may be helpful for the IMF to attend this meeting.
  • For this purpose a meeting should be convened at a convenient time and place by the lead donor.
  • The meeting should discuss responses, and if possible, produce a SINGLE response to Part 1.
  • If, however, it is not possible to form a common response, all respondents should submit responses to the questionnaire individually.
  • Part 2 should be completed by all general budget support and sector budget support donors (one questionnaire per donor). The IMF is not required to complete Part 2. Please note that Part 2 should be completed in terms of the recipient government's financial year (either 2005, for those countries that use a calendar FY, or 2005/06, for those countries that do not) and in terms of the donor's currency.
  • Part 3 should be completed by Government representatives.
  • The aim of Part 3 is to obtain a view from Government officials on their perception of the progress donors have made in the last year in harmonising their assistance and aligning with national PRS-processes.
  • The purpose is not to embarrass donors but to identify further opportunities and constraints to alignment.
  • Responses from previous years are made available in a country-specific worksheet in Part 3.
  • The response can be submitted to the lead donor or directly to Rowan Putman at ODI.

The questionnaire has been designed to be self-explanatory. It may be completed either by hand or electronically, but preferably electronically. In either case, please select the appropriate answer from those provided, or fill in quantitative information.

In some places, in addition to selecting appropriate answers, respondents are asked to elaborate answers by providing further details or comments. Please feel free to add qualitative comment wherever necessary. There is also a space for general remarks at the end of each part of the questionnaire.

Questionnaires may be returned to Rowan Putman at ODI by the Lead Donors as e-mail attachments (or by fax or diplomatic pouch if necessary). When sending electronically, please identify the country in the header line of the covering message. This saves time in processing the returns.

Thank you.