Monitoring the activities of the project ‘Capacity building for program budgeting in Moldova’

The monitoring of the activities of the project ‘Capacity building for program budgeting in Moldova’ took place at the Ministry of Finance at the end of June (19 – 22 June). It was led by the program manager of PFD programme: Alena Srankova from UNDP, accompanied by Marianna Macaskova from the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak republic and two of other experts: Danka Kovalova and Martin Valentovic.

The project ‘Capacity building for program budgeting in Moldova’ is financed by the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic (MF SR) and implemented by UNDP Regional Centre for Europe and CIS since 2011. At the beginning of the M&E mission, its representatives had a meeting with the Deputy Minister of Finance, Maria Caraus, during which there were presented information on the stage of project implementation for the years 2014-2016. There were also discussions on the possible areas of cooperation under Public Finance for Development (PFD) Programme for the years 2017-2019. Ms Maria Caraus highly appreciated the support of partners from Slovakia, due to which it was possible the implementation of the budgeting program at the national level, as well as the local level. Caraus also mentioned the importance of that project and the necessity of its continuation.

Within the mission there were two workshops – attended by MF Moldova, CPA and LPA representatives whose experts presented the conclusions and recommendations of the Evaluation Report on program budgeting capabilities in Moldova. The report reflects the current situation and progress in terms of implementing the Program Based Budgeting (PBB) in public administration in Moldova, compared with 2011, when a similar exercise was conducted. Program budgeting capabilities were assessed according to predetermined parameters based on three dimensions (the legislative and regulatory environment, organizational and individual level). Areas requiring capacity in the coming years are: intersectorial cooperation and communication with stakeholders, commitment and accountability for performance achieved, monitoring and evaluation of the budget and the use of performance information in decisions making. More information about the contents of the evaluation report on program budgeting capabilities in Moldova since 2016 can be accessed at http://mf.gov.md/about/instrmfp/progr/metod/planrep.