Public Expenditure Tracking Tools and Cases Distance Learning Clinic April 14 th 2004 Janmejay Singh The World Bank

Why is expenditure tracking important?  WDR 2004: Services often don’t work for people, especially those that are poor  Increasing resources is not enough – need to make public expenditure more effective  Money allocated “on paper” in the budget needs to actually reach frontline providers  There may be significant corruption and leakage in the system  There may be inefficiency and delays  Spending may not reflect stated objectives

A Spectrum of Tools and Methods Direct Observation by Communities Focus Groups and Transect Walks Key Informant Interviews Social Audits Public Hearings Surveys – PETS, QSDS Official Scrutiny of Records Independent Audits Public Expenditure Reviews Less Structured, Informal, Micro Level, CSO run More Structured, Formal, Macro Level, Govt. Run

A Range of Case Examples… Less Formal/Qualitative Approaches: Uganda Debt Network Government Watch (G-Watch) Project, Philippines MKSS Social Audits More Formal Quantitative Approaches: Community Scorecard Process – The Gambia Malawi Education Budget Monitoring Survey Sierra Leone PETS

The Common Research Questions 1.Is There Leakage & How Bad Is It? 2. Can we fix the leakage?

Our Focus will be on 2 Cases/Methods: 1.Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys with focus on Uganda 1996 PETS 2.Tracking of the District Assembly Common Fund in Ghana

Note that Expenditure Tracking is only one Part of Participatory Public Expenditure Management Institutionalization and change will only happen when linked to other stages

Dissemination and Use of Information is Key Bureaucratic Action Political Action Citizen Action INFORMATION Academia and Research NGOs Media

Thank you! Questions?