Digital reforms have significant potential to transform the way public finances are managed to meet the needs of citizens. Across Africa, governments are exploring ways to improve their public financial management (PFM) systems through digital transformation. These reforms require significant time, political capital, and short and long term capital investments. It is therefore important to ensure that projects turn into tangible and measurable improvements to PFM functions and ultimately improve the governments’ ability to deliver essential public services.

In 2024, CABRI launched a new area of work – Enhancing Digital Public Financial Management in Africa. During the first 6 months, CABRI aims to build a better understanding of how digital reforms have helped improve PFM functionality in Africa, what challenges countries face in implementing digital systems in PFM, and what cross-country learning or collaboration could help enhance the use of digital systems for improved service delivery outcomes.

In the first webinar (video, blog) representatives from Benin, Rwanda and South Africa discussed their experiences implementing a Financial Management Information System. Since then, CABRI has been working with these three countries, and Kenya, to dive deeper into their digital tools and reform experiences.

On September 10^th, CABRI invites you to the second webinar in this two-part series. In this webinar, we will present preliminary findings from these country investigations, analyzing the impact that different digital tools have had on the functionality of the PFM systems, the enabling contexts and challenges faced. We encourage participants to reflect on these findings, to help CABRI develop tools and approaches that will support countries in harnessing digital reforms for more efficient and effective service delivery. Your active participation will help to continue to shape CABRI’s future work on digital PFM.