Minding the Gaps Comparing Uganda and Tanzania

1
Minding the Gaps Comparing Uganda and Tanzania

• Tim Williamson
• Centre for Aid and Public Expenditure
• Overseas Development Institute
• t.williamson_at_odi.org.uk

2
Comparing Tanzania and Uganda

• There are many similarities between the two
  countries
• 2nd Generation PRS, improving and evolving
  Poverty Monitoring Systems
• Years of budget reform (MTEF, IFMIS etc)
• Aid dependant, with strong accountability demands
  from donors
• Dominant executive, with relatively weak domestic
  accountability systems
• different trajectories of ownership of the
  PRS..
• Tanzania increasing with iterations of the PRS
• Uganda strong coalition of interest around PEAP
  early on, but political ownership less evident
  now.
• and very different approaches to linking
  policy/the PRS to the budget, and reporting

3
How do the lessons from Minding the Gaps apply in
Uganda and Tanzania?

1. Focus on strengthening and harmonization of
   existing processes and adopt a gradual approach
   to reform
2. Support from within High level ownership of
   policies, a challenge function within the
   executive and clear sector roles.
3. Foster incentives for integration
4. Keep it simple

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Lesson 4 Keep it Simple

• 1990s Two contrasting approaches to introducing
  the MTEF
• Tanzania chose to move to full programme
  budgeting and activity based costing in the MTEF
• Uganda adapted its existing budget presentation,
  by grouping institutions by sector and a simple
  use of performance indicators
• and differing outcomes in terms of
  budget-policy link
• In Tanzania very detailed agency MTEF documents,
  but difficult to see the overall policy budget
  link.
• In Uganda arguably it is easier to see policy
  links in budget documentation, despite a less
  sophisticated system.
• Quality of sector/MDA submissions vary in both
  cases there is need to focus on operational
  efficiency in both cases

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Lesson 3 Foster Incentives for Integration
Linking Reporting to Decision Making Processes

• Both have new ideas for PRS reporting. But what
  role does PRS reporting play in domestic decision
  making?
• Are the plans largely addressing donor
  accountability concerns?
• Can they inform domestic policy
  decisions/accountabilty?
• but the decision making process around the
  budget is a key entry point for reporting
• E.g. in Uganda there is use of performance
  analysis and information in budget documentation,
  but less so in Tanzania
• .and so are sector policy processes in Uganda
• In Uganda Annual Sector Performance Reports feed
  into well established Sector Review
  Processes.but not linked to budget.
• What about PRS clusters and pillars?
• In Tanzania the focus is on PRS clusters. Good
  for addressing cross cutting issues, but
  accountability and decision making?

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Lesson 2 Build Support from Within

• Start with making the budget policy oriented
• The Strategic Budget Allocation System (SBAS) in
  Tanzania
• a sophisticated domestically conceived system to
  link the budget to the PRS
• but would it all have been necessary
• if MDA MTEFs were already well linked to policy
• and the PRS was structured in a way that made it
  easy to interface with the budget (e.g. sectors
  not clusters)?

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Lesson 2 Build Support from Within

• Sectors, Cabinet and the Budget Process
• Strategic Phase in both Tanzania and Uganda
• but budget challenge still weak
• Cabinet and involvement in reviewing the
  MTEF/Budget Strategy and the Budget
• Cabinet given explicit choices in Uganda, but
  appears a fait accompli in Tanzania
• No cabinet committees to review the budget in
  either country, so extensive scrutiny is not
  likely
• In Uganda Parliamentary Budget and Accounts
  committees increasingly active..
• How can they be supported?

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Lesson 1 Strengthen and Harmonise Existing
Processes Gradual Approach

• A Gradual Approach?
• Tzs budget formulation reforms too sophisticated
  early on address fragmentation first?
• PRSMTEFPerformance budgetingStrategic Planning
  all at once..
• Uganda simpler approach to budget formulation
  reform
• But financial management dimension has lagged
  behind
• Strengthen and Harmonise existing processes
• In Tanzania new initiatives were added to an
  already fragmented system...
• In Uganda PRS initiatives were built on existing
  systems. This helped with coherence (but is this
  changing?).

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and finallyThe Primacy of Political Ownership

• Tanzania and Uganda demonstrate that the domestic
  policy agenda is dynamic.
• .to maintain ownership any framework for linking
  the PRS to the budget must be flexible and
  relevant to current policy.