In Focus: SPB Newsfeed: We are Launching our New E-learning Course on Budget Formulation

We are launching our new e-learning course on budget formulation targeted at public officials in South East Europe working in finance and line ministries. The course specifically addresses the needs of public finance officials who have recently joined public institutions and are looking to better understand the specific steps necessary to formulate national budgets, including recent innovations in public financial management.

“This course starts from the premise that the budget is a key political instrument of every government. Through national budgets governments allocate a finite resource envelop with the aim of delivering on their political priorities,” says Urška Zrinski, Program Manager at the CEF, who is leading the design of this e-learning course from both the content and instructional design perspective. The course examines the preliminary analyses and forecasts needed to prepare a budget, the process of line ministries and other government entities submitting their budget requests, their review and approval by the executive, and ends with the presentation to and review of the budget by the legislature.

“The content that will be discussed during the course is substantial, and that is why we believe that designing an e-learning course to exchange knowledge with officials on the topic was the right learning modality choice. We have often been approached by the ministries in the region to look for ways to provide content to the officials without the need for them to travel, given the substantial budget cuts for training that many public sector entities in the region have suffered in recent years. But even more importantly, as a learning institute we are aware that learning is becoming individualized and also that learners are increasingly looking for digitalized solutions. We are also aware that they are motivated to learn and exchange knowledge with other like-minded practitioners, and that they appreciate proceeding at their own pace,” explains Zrinski.

Special attention was paid to the instructional design of the course. The course uses a variety of learning methods and tools to ensure a productive, lively and interactive learning and knowledge exchange based environment with the same participant-centered, experience-based approach that we offer participants at our face-to-face learning events. “Having vast experience in designing learning events in the region that take into consideration different learning theories and accommodate different learner preferences has helped enormously in the design of this course. We have also benefitted tremendously through working with our partners from the International Training Center of the International Labour Organization to adapt the content to the specifics of on-line learning design and facilitation. They have helped us understand how to design interactive e-lessons and ensure learners are actively engaged throughout the course. I think this focus on the instructional design and use of different learning formats such as videos and learning maps is what will make this e-learning course interesting and fun,” Zrinski adds.

The course content was prepared by the CEF staff and is partially based on the International Monetary Fund’s publication on “Public Financial Management and Its Emerging Architecture”. The course focuses to a large extent on innovations in public financial management in last two decades, and pays special attention to budget planning reform priorities identified in many advanced country reform programs including introduction of medium-term budget frameworks, program and performance informed budgeting, and strengthening fiscal transparency.

The course that will be delivered as part of the European Union funded Strategic Planning and Budgeting project, has been postponed; new dates will be shared in time via the CEF website. If you want to be among the first to be informed, please send an email to Luka Zupančič.