Welcome to CABRI’s 2nd ‘Notes on PFM in Africa’ for 2023, and warm greetings.
In the quarter one newsletter, I shared with you that CABRI had embarked on a new strategic planning journey. I noted some of the important initial changes that are being implemented as integral to the new strategic direction endorsed by CABRI’s Management Committee. I am pleased to report that the strategic planning work within the Secretariat has begun in earnest in this quarter. The Secretariat has indeed carried out intensive work on our work to give the best expression to CABRI’s new strategic imperatives, taking a deep dive into redesigning and strengthening the nature of our deliverables and our operational practices.
While on one hand we look forward to a new way of working that will set the foundation for a new organisational design strategy currently in progress, on the other hand, just as important, we look forward to our journey in repositioning our Public Financial Management (PFM) reform initiatives across Africa. True to the Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) approach which is at the core of our flagship programme – the Building Public Finance Capabilities (BPFC) programme – we are undertaking and applying our own PDIA processes. We are reviewing how best we undertake our work with senior budget officials in Africa and tap into the rich network of the real-world PFM practitioners on the continent. We are ever mindful of relevance into the future; with the world in crisis, much is at stake when reforming country systems, processes, and capabilities.
In this edition, we provide you with insights into the avenues that we will explore in CABRI’s future planning while leveraging the past successes of our BPFC programme. Also included, are articles on the progress that the 2023 cohort as well as the five countries participating in the BPFC for Improving Social Services for Children (BPFCC) programme have achieved as part of their PDIA adventure thus far.
It has indeed been a busy quarter. We have been involved in a broad array of PFM areas and it is always an honour for us to be invited to share our knowledge and experience on regional and international platforms. We provide highlights from the 8th Meeting of the Ad hoc Committee of Experts on Credit Ratings held in Kenya, at which we made a presentation also outlining some country experiences and challenges in managing their Fiscus relative credit ratings agencies’ requirements. CABRI also gave an anchor presentation at an event focusing on public participation in country budget processes, emphasing that all stakeholders continue to be willing to engage, irrespective of which phases of country budgeting they are in, genuine collaboration and cooperation must be committed to and purposefully maintained. CABRI’s participation in the 6th annual conference of Africa Network of Parliamentary Budget Offices focused on how value can be added to the Legislature’s review of a country’s budgets in its processes of deliberation and consideration of proposing amendments to budgets.
In a world in PFM crisis, and as we are seeing within the CABRI Secretariat - change is indeed constant and will remain so in the foreseeable future. With a proactive mindset and a commitment to learning and improvement, CABRI, the only international organisation formally established worldwide to focus solely on finding solutions for country-specific public finance challenges, is ready to meet the challenges of tomorrow with confidence and determination.
The journey ahead promises to be exciting, and we invite you to be a part of it.
Read our Q2 Notes on PFM in Africa