PEFA Helps CEF Better Reflect on Capacity Development Needs and Detect Good Practice
The CEF learning program responds to capacity development needs of finance officials in South East Europe. We capture these needs by being in constant dialogue with our governance bodies and IMF PFM and Revenue Administration advisors that use CEF as regional hub for their technical assistance missions. In addition, we inform ourselves through our desk research. Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) assessments in this regard present an important source of quality information and provide us with analysis of PFM performance in participating countries.
With great interest we therefore followed developments linked to the recent upgrade of the PEFA Framework that was released after extensive consultation and testing. The PEFA conference and training that took place in Budapest, Hungary, from April 26-29 helped us better understand how PEFA 2016 can provide an integrative assessment of a PFM system, and how it is used by different users. PEFA assessments can help us better reflect on the impact of our program, and detect good practice in the region that can feed into our efforts to promote knowledge and experience exchange.
The conference concentrated on past, present, and future PEFA, with a particular focus on PEFA 2016 and relationship to other PFM diagnostic tools. The training enabled a more detailed look into each of the 31 performance indicators focusing on essential features of an effective PFM system; provided scoring exercises and applications to test backward comparability with past assessments; explained the process of performing a PEFA assessment and whom to involve; and gave an overview of how a PEFA report should be structured.
PEFA is an effective tool and its reports are an excellent source of information. It is however important to understand that PEFA assessments should not be used as an end in themselves but rather as an important input in any reform process that should be also informed by a good understanding of the specific local context. Temptations should be resisted to implement reforms that only change how PFM systems look. Instead, reforms should focus on systems’ functionality. We enjoyed many inspiring conversations about PFM functionality with PEFA partners and users in the stimulating networking space provided in Budapest.
At the CEF, we think that learning and peer-to-peer knowledge exchange importantly contribute to capacity of individuals and institutions to develop and implement meaningful reforms. They should be informed by international good practice but also respond to the particular local situation. Join us at “Enabling PFM Reform through PEFA Analysis” workshop delivered in cooperation with the PEFA Secretariat experts scheduled for December at the CEF in Ljubljana.