Society for Development Studies (SDS)

Society for Development Studies (SDS)

Municipal Finance, Expenditure Management & Performance Outcomes-Ninth Advanced Annual Programme September 6 to October 3, 2015

Society for Development Studies (SDS) organizes two annual programmes, for which full fellowships are available to eligible officials of governments in Asian region.

Context of Programmes

Inducting efficiency in management of development programmes has become a major challenge, especially in context of rising cost, falling availability of development funds and growing expectations of the people who look for outcomes of the programmes and services provided. People look forward to assets created through substantial public investments to impact their lives. Lack of this outcome has resulted in the scenario of a tale of two cities, a city within a city, a common characteristic of the urban world. Recognising this ground level reality, the United Nations’ has proposed to shift its thrust from output deliverables in its MDG programme to outcomes deliverables in the proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) programme that will replace the MDGs in 2015.

In this perspective, reassessment of approaches to local planning, financing and programme management has become critical. Bringing in outcomeswill need major reforms in governance practices.

As at present, there remains considerable uncertainty on the basic concept of an ‘outcome’ of government programme. Is the outcome of the education programme a high enrolment or high pass out rate or is it having access to a higher education stream, employment market or self-employment activity. Another challenge is to transfer output and outcome results into local planning, financing, budgeting and programme management system. An equally important development towards efficiency in governance is the adoption of e-governance approaches, a critical tool to improve efficiency, induct transparency and accountability, critical to attaining outcomes.

Society for Development Studies (SDS) has developed an outcome model for development planning, budgeting and programme management. This model is among the first of its kind and has received recognition of international organizations like World Bank and IMF. The SDS approach will be an important component of the programme.It is in this perspective of contributing to improved level of efficiency and effectiveness of government intervention on the life of the city and its people, that SDS programmes have been designed

Expected Outcomes

 Informed group of officials, capable of designing and managing programmes on principles of decentralized local resources, participatory process and full utilization of service delivery assets for attaining outcomes of the development agenda.

 Professional capacity for efficient mobilization and management of resources to address local level demand challenges

Capacity to develop cost-effective information system in a deficient set-up for policy interventions

 Create familiarity of e-governance techniques and practices

Programme Modules

The 4 weeks Programme has four modules

Module1 Week 1: Municipal Finance and Expenditure Management

Concepts and practices of assessing requirements of municipal finances, methods to access funds, and expenditure management practices. The constraints to mobilize municipal resources and causative factors of inefficiencies in expenditure management will be brought out to identify areas for reforms in municipal finances and expenditure management

Module 2 Week 2:Principles & Practices of Outcome-oriented Planning, Budgeting & Programme Management

The concepts and reform areas, identified in module 1 will be examined. The concepts include outputs, outcomes, performance measurement, roadblocks, outcome planning, budgeting and programme management. The operational issues of preparing outcome-oriented approaches will be presented and illustrated with the Mumbai outcome-oriented city model developed by SDS. This model seeks to build partnerships within departments first to enable better coordination and convergence of activities within the government.

The participants will be encouraged to apply the approach to their respective cities/countries.

Module 3 Week 3: Outcome oriented O&M and Asset Rejuvenation of Service Delivery Assets in an Outcome-Oriented Monitoring & Evaluation System

Two critical issues to develop an outcome approach and improve expenditure management form the core of this module. Operation and Maintenance (O&M) and Asset Rejuvenation are largely overlooked in municipal governments, resulting in poor capacity utilization of service delivery assets. This raises operational cost and inducts high level of inefficiency. Outcome-oriented M&E system is the critical building pillar of the outcome approach.

Module 4 Week 4:Transferring Learning to Practice

Through the programme, time is allocated to continuously relate training components and lessons learnt to the participating country/city issues and challenges. Participants are constituted into Working Groups and work on their priority issues and concerns. The Working Groups take up some Flagship programmes in respective countries/cities to transfer the knowledge and skills with specific objectives of bringing out the change process in activities required to be undertaken to attain outcomes and these are reflected in their Reports.

The techniques to transfer learning to practice are taught to facilitate the transfer of Indian knowledge and skills to the country of the participants.

Training Methodology

The Programme is designed with specific focus on developing practical skills for planning and implementation of programmes to attain definite outcomes on the people rather than only creation of assets and/or extension of delivery system for specific development inputs. Programme methodology includes a mix of classroom lectures, interactive sessions, simulation exercises, group learning, and case studies of selected programmes to be identified by participants.

Application Procedure

The Programme is managed by Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. The application form has to be obtained from the Indian Embassy/High Commission in respective countries (or from the website of Government of India ) and submitted to the Indian mission through proper channels of applicant’s country. As seats are limited, a copy of application form may be sent to the Institute also, but only Government of India would communicate decision on selection.

For participants not covered by Government of India’s Scheme, application has to be made directly to the Institute and Fees paid to the Institute in advance. The form will be sent to interested participants.

Training Fellowship

Training fellowships are awarded by Government of India under Technical Co-operation Scheme (TCS) of Colombo Plan to participants from eligible countries. The participants have to be officials in the government (national, State and Local) between the ages of 25 and 45 years. Training Fellowship will cover tuition fees, airfare, hotel accommodation, daily living allowance, book allowance and medical allowance, as per rules.

The eligible countries for the training fellowship are: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Fiji, Indonesia, Iran, Korea, Philippines, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

The Fees payable by participants who do not receive the Training Award are US $ 7,000 for the 4 weeks programme. This will not cover the return airfare. Possible sources of funds are CITYNET, UNDP, UN-HABITAT, Commonwealth Secretariat, Country projects of UN, World Bank, ADB, UNESCAP, and national and local governments.

On working days, lunch will be available at reasonable cost within the campus. Breakfast will be provided by the Hotel but dinner and lunch on all days are to be met from living allowances.

About SDS

SDS is an internationally recognized autonomous research and training institution, established in 1984.Its primary objectives are to undertake research and advisory work; evaluate public policies and programmes; participate in the process of policy making at all levels of governance; impart training to officials in the government, NGOs and the private sector; undertake action-research projects; develop data base and management information system; and provide technical assistance. SDS also receives students and professionals from India and abroad for collaborative research on a regular basis.

During the last 30 years of professional work, SDS has emerged as a research and policy center of excellence in all its work areas. It is globally recognized as a leading institution in the area of Knowledge Infrastructure-led Planning and Decision-making.

SDS received United Nations Best Performance Award in 1996 for Monitoring and Evaluation Indicators for Housing and Urban Sector from among 110 countries in the UN Habitat II Conference held in Istanbul. SDS was awarded Best Practice Award on Urban Governance Innovative Facility (UGIF) by TUGI of UNDP in November, 2003.

SDS main work areas are human settlements policies and strategies, urbanization and regional planning, rural, water and sanitation development, data and information management system, knowledge infrastructure, urban finance and innovative financing strategies, resource mobilization, fiscal and financial sector reforms, mainstreaming informal sector, poverty reduction, micro-enterprise, participatory planning, action based community development programmes and women empowerment. Outcome-oriented monitoring and evaluation and processes towards good governance are special thrusts of SDS work. SDS is presently developing the operational aspects of outcome-oriented city planning, project feasibility approaches, and budgetary process.

SDS conducts national and international HRD programmes on behalf of Government of India, State Governments, Development Authorities and Local Governments, as also other national governments and UN Agencies. It organizes high-level policy seminars for government officials and others in India and several countries in Asia-pacific, Arab and African regions.

Contact Persons:

Dr. Kaushalesh Lal, Professor & Director of the Programmes
Dr. (Ms.) Shampa Paul Programme Coordinator
Bachan Prasad, Senior Executive Administration (Training)

Society for Development Studies

India Habitat Centre, Core 6A, 2nd Floor, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110 003, India

Tel:(91-11) 24699368, 24656164 Fax: (91-11)- 24699368, 24699369

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