Africa-Press – Angola. Forty technicians from social sector ministries started yesterday (Monday), in Luanda, training on the Introduction of Program-Based Budgeting (PBB) and Good Practices, aimed at training staff in public finance and in the planning process in these Government institutions.
The course, taking place from the 17th to the 20th of April, is promoted by the Ministry of Finance (MINFIN) in partnership with the Unicef office in Angola, and its main objective is to train trainees in various related subjects, such as the fundamentals and concept of the OBP and the way forward for a strong implementation of the budgets in the national territory.
The technicians will be guided by Shar Kurtishi, a specialist in public finance for more than 20 years, who will better elucidate them about the current cycle of budget planning in the country, with group discussions on non-financial data of the Program-Based Budget (PBB) , responsibilities and necessary adjustments for their introduction with practical examples.
On the occasion, the director of the General State Budget (OGE) of the Ministry of Finance, Idalésio Caleia, explained that the training arises from the “memorandum of understanding” signed between MINFIN and Unicef, with a view to implementing a process of reform and modernization of the main public finance management instruments in Angola.
According to the official, the government joined this challenge taking into account that this United Nations body in collaboration with the International Labor Organization (ILO) has already implemented the PBB process in other regions and realities.
For Idalésio Caleia, among the objectives are also to guarantee a greater allocation of resources, better monitoring of budgets, the level of transparency, whether in the process of budget preparation or supervision, hence the training of staff to facilitate the introduction of the sectoral strategic plan especially in the social domains.
The Unicef representative in Angola, Louise Moreira Daniels, says that the course is part of the project called “energy between public finance and social protection”, a program that is being implemented in eight countries by its body in partnership with the ILO and financed by the European Union.
According to the diplomat, the project aims to build capacity within the ministries of Finance, Economy, Planning and other sectors, to know how to prepare a better budget depending on each programme.
“Today, when entering the General State Budget, people want to understand how much is allocated to each program in various sectors”, said Louise Daniels, justifying that this is the need to improve the presentation and structuring, so that there is good monitoring and understanding for that the issues of women, children, people with disabilities, food, health and other areas are known in a more effective way.
In the four days of the training, the technicians will have the opportunity to better understand questions about Program-Based Budgeting (PBB), programming and performance in terms of the structure of the ministries themselves, how to fund programs, among other aspects, which help to have a vision long term, what indicators can be used and what are the necessary changes for what exists today in the world of economic and social sciences.
The training is nationwide and has the participation of technicians from the central bodies of various government departments who are being trained in addition to the first PBB course held in August 2022, virtually, with more than 130 representatives from different ministries.
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