The Uganda Country Evaluation of the Implementation of the Paris Declaration, Phase 1 20052007 Paper

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REPUBLIC OF UGANDA

• The Uganda Country Evaluation of the
  Implementation of the Paris Declaration, Phase 1
  (2005-2007) Paper
• presented
• At the Paris Declaration Evaluation Reference
  Group meeting on 12th February 2009 in Auckland,
  New Zealand.
• By
• Mr. Pius Bigirimana
• Permanent Secretary
• Office of the Prime Minister

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Outline of the Presentation

• Introduction
• Using a Reference Group The Procurement of
  Consultants
• Conduct of the Evaluation
• Use of the Evaluation Findings
• Uganda Views on Aid Effectiveness  

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1. Introduction

• In 2008, Uganda volunteered to be a case study in
  the evaluation of the Paris Declaration
• By the time of the PD, Uganda had already a
  considerable history of Aid Coordination efforts
• From 1997 to date, Uganda has pursued a National
  Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP), the
  National Planning Framework
• In 2001, PEAP Partnership principles for
  government-donor relations were developed
• In 2003, the Principles (AID Management Manual)
  were agreed upon and made operational (Govt
  leads, donors should work within Govt structures,
  e.t.c.)
• Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) has a
  Constitutional mandate under Article 108A to
  monitor and evaluate the implementation of
  policies across Government
• OPM Chairs the Poverty Reduction Support Credit
  process which has a Results Matrix based on the
  PEAP

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2. Using a Reference Group and the Procurement
process

• A small reference group was formed in April 2008
  to quality check the Evaluation.
• The Group Office of the Prime Minister (OPM),
  Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic
  Development (MoFPED), Development Partners, the
  civil society, the academia and the National
  Planning Authority (NPA).
• Institutions that form key stakeholders
• It worked reasonably well and certainly helped to
  get acceptability and ownership of the exercise
  by sectors and donors

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2.1 The Contracting Process

• Office of the Prime Minister procured JIMAT
  Development Consultants to undertake the
  Evaluation
• Government procurement system (PPDA) was used
• The consultancy team was composed of Kenyans and
  Ugandan consultants
• The Austrian Development Cooperation financed the
  Evaluation and contracted the Consultants
• Government supervised and quality assured the
  evaluation

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3. Conduct of the Evaluation

• The Focus of evidence gathering was on
• - Quality of the PD, clarity, relevance and
  coherence
• - Behaviour changes resulting from the PD (in
  Govt and Donors)
• - Lessons learnt from the PD implementation
• i) Strengths
• Broad consultations good collaboration of
  Stakeholders
• Use of Government procurement system demonstrated
  capacity
• National ME Technical Working Group supervised
  the consultancy 
• The exercise generated interest in the subject
  and went on smoothly
• The findings are of interest and use to current
  and future planning
• Enhanced capacity of Government staff on
  evaluation 
• ii) Weaknesses
• Inadequate time for in depth analysis
• Lack of knowledge of Paris Declaration amongst
  many Government institutions made it a
  challenging assessment 
• The challenge of conducting Evaluations of the PD
  and the PEAP1997-2007 at ago
• The parallel evaluation of the PEAP, which
  included a chapter on partnerships and involved a
  lot more consultations. It made some of the work
  duplicative

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4. Use of the Evaluation Findings 

• The Evaluation formed Ugandas presentation and
  discussions at the High Level Forum (HLF) on Aid
  Effectiveness which was held in Accra, Ghana in
  2008
• The Office of the Prime Minister has prepared a
  Government White Paper for policy formulation on
  the basis of the recommendations
• The findings and recommendations are being used
  in the preparation of a 5 year National
  Development Plan (NDP)
• The PEAP has been a 3 year rolling Plan.
• Development Partners and Government are working
  on a Joint Budget Support Framework (JBSF) -
  agreeing on indicators for a Joint Assessment
  Framework (JAF)

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5. Uganda Views on AID Effectiveness

• (Joint) Budget support funding modality is
  preferred
• Institutionalisation as opposed to project
  approach
• - Strong emphasis is placed on Sector Working
  Groups as frameworks for joint planning,
  coordination, monitoring and evaluation
• - Division of labour based on sector working
  groups
• - Off budget destabilises the coordination and
  monitoring of funding needs review to adjust the
  Medium Term Expenditure Framework
• Emphasis is placed on PEAP Partnership principles
• Need to limit/control ploughing back big
  percentage of AID through Technical Assistance
  and other forms
• Longer-term commitments that are predictable are
  preferred to limits unexpected shocks
• Entirely support the Paris Declaration which
  enhances the Partnership Principles
• Uganda welcomes the 2nd phase of the PD
  Evaluation, which will be more comprehensive

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End of Presentation

• KIAORA!