Ownership Partners have operational national development strategies

Honduras

1. 
   Partners have operational national development strategies
   

1. 
   Coherent long-term vision with medium-term strategy derived from vision
   

1. 
   Progress has been made in fostering some agreement within the country around a long-term development vision. Two successive governments supported by different political parties—the Government of President Carlos Flores (1998-2001) and the Government of President Maduro (2002-2005)—built on the Estrategia para la Reducción de la Pobreza (ERP) 2001-15, Honduras’ PRS,¹ as the country’s long-term vision. The Government of President Zelaya, who succeeded the Government of President Maduro in February 2006 after winning a presidential election against the candidate of the incumbent Partido Nacional, has expressed commitment to continue building on the ERP as the country’s development vision. To embed the vision into national policy making, a poverty reduction law—the Ley para la Gestión de la Reducción de la Pobreza—adopted in 2004, identifies the ERP goals as the objectives for the country’s social policy through 2015.² In 2003, with support from the Organization of American States, the Government also conducted a long-term vision exercise—Honduras 2021—through a national dialogue, to further agreement around long-term development objectives. Honduras 2021 is fully aligned with the ERP.
   
2. 
   The ERP integrates a master plan for reconstruction and national transformation, the Plan Maestro para la Reconstrucción y la Transformación Nacional, prepared in 1999 after Hurricane Mitch, and informs constitutionally-mandated Government Plans—Planos de Gobierno—identifying medium-term objectives and priority actions. The Government is preparing a Government Plan for 2006-10, with a first draft expected mid-2006, to update the Government Plan prepared by the previous Government for 2002-06 and further ERP implementation. It is also preparing an ERP update as part of the Third ERP Progress Report, which will integrate the Government priorities into the ERP framework. The ERP update is expected to articulate the link between the ERP and the Government Plan.
   
3. 
   Focus on long-term objectives is facilitating development of strategic approaches at the sectoral level. For example, in 2005 the Government finalized a sectoral plan for primary and secondary education through 2015, integrating the primary education strategic plan for 2003-15 and furthering synergies across the education sector. In 2003, it completed an agriculture and rural development policy for 2004-21, building on the Vision 2021 national dialogue. The Government is strengthening implementation of these strategies and revising some of them to further focus on employment generation, rural development and service provision. Objectives identified at the sector level will inform the Government Plan for 2006-10.
   
4. 
   Municipal governments also prepare municipal development plans. In 2004, the Government provided assistance to municipal governments for the preparation of municipal plans in line with the ERP. All 298 municipalities completed these plans by 2005, and some of these plans are being implemented. The ERP update is expected to validate them and ensure that they are in line with the ERP.
   

2. 
   Country specific development targets with holistic, balanced, and well sequenced strategy
   

5. 
   The ERP identifies six programmatic areas: 1) equitable and sustainable growth; 2) reducing poverty in rural areas; 3) reducing poverty in urban zones; 4) investing in human capital; 5) strengthening protection for vulnerable groups; and 6) guaranteeing the strategy’s sustainability. It identifies gender, environmental sustainability, social security nets and decentralization as cross-cutting themes. Within these programmatic areas, the Government is expected to focus implementation on five priorities through its Government Plan: 1) macroeconomic stability; 2) economic growth with equity; 3) governance and reform of the state; 4) combating corruption and citizen participation; and 5) human development. This furthers prioritization, initiated by the previous Government through an ERP Implementation Plan, prepared in 2004 and focusing on: 1) restoring economic dynamism and employment generation, 2) development of human capital, and 3) justice and personal security.
   
6. 
   Goals identified for 2015 are consistent with the MDGs and tailored to Honduran circumstances and implementation challenges. For example, two goals related to coverage of electricity and telephone lines have been added, in line with implementation priorities. Honduras is making good progress in achieving goals for education, maternal mortality, water and sanitation. It is, however, unlikely that the goals for poverty, infant mortality, under-five mortality and child malnutrition could be met without scaling up action. The Government plans to adjust policy actions and tailor them to strengthen progress toward achieving these goals.
   

3. 
   Capacity and resources for implementation
   

7. 
   Progress is being made to channel greater resources toward ERP priorities. Since 2005, a MTEF, based on ERP sectoral priorities, informs the annual budget. Since 2004, there is a virtual fund incorporated in the budget, tracking poverty spending through tagging of specific expenditures. In 2004, poverty spending increased by 0.6 percent, reaching 8.4 percent of GDP. Investment in human capital, including health and education, absorbed more than 50 percent of total investment. The 2006 budget furthers this trend, with 60 percent of total expenditure allocated to ERP sectoral priorities. This builds on strong efforts to strengthen the programmatic dimension of government spending. The Government has expressed commitment to link spending to performance of government institutions. The ERP update is expected to provide a single financing framework and strengthen links between planning, monitoring and the budget, with allocations more closely linked to ERP goals and objectives.
   
8. 
   Continuing efforts are being made to strengthen government capacity. Five percent of the budget is transferred to municipalities, which are increasingly taking responsibility for implementing policies and programs for education, health and rural infrastructure. The Government is proposing to decentralize greater powers to municipalities, including land development rights. This would further on-going efforts to devolve more spending responsibilities to municipalities and increase fiscal transfers, in line with the ERP objective. Efforts are also being made to improve performance in the public sector. For example, in 2005 the Ministry of Health audited its human resource records, to identify staff assignments and functions and link salaries to the effective tasks carried out by staff. It also imposed restrictions on arbitrary transfers of personnel. However, significant bottlenecks still hamper government capacity for planning and implementation. For example, insufficient control mechanisms, ghost workers and absenteeism undermine effective use of additional financial and technical resources. [Is the Government taking action to address these issues?]
   

4. 
   Participation of national stakeholders in strategy formulation and implementation
   

9. 
   The Ministry of the Presidency, through a Unidad de Apoyo Técnico (UNAT), takes the lead on strategy development, including preparation of the Government Plan for 2006-10, and coordinates ERP implementation and update. Vice Ministries are taking the lead in the preparation of the Government Plan for 2006-10 and the ERP update, with UNAT and the Ministry of Finance coordinating closely to facilitate their finalization. There is a Social Cabinet, chaired by the Ministry of Finance, to ensure that government policy and the budget mirror ERP sectoral priorities. The Social Cabinet does participate in the preparation of the Government Plan for 2006-10 and the ERP update.
   
10. 
    Action is being taken toward establishing sustainable structures for stakeholder participation in policy formulation and implementation. In January 2006, the Government adopted a Citizen Participation Law—the Ley de Participación Ciudadana. The law establishes municipal and departmental development committees—Consejos de Desarrollo Municipales y Departamentales—and citizen consultative bodies—Mesas Comunitarias de la Participación Ciudadana—to participate in the preparation of local development plans and monitor their implementation. Implementation of the law is to be monitored by a National Citizen Participation Forum—the Foro Nacional de Participación Ciudadana—composed of the stakeholders participating in two existing consultative structures, a National Convergence Forum—Foro Nacional de Convergencia (FONAC)—established in 1994, and a National Anticorruption Council—Consejo Nacional Anticorrupción—established in 2003. [Who are these stakeholders? How are selected? How does the National Citizen Participation Forum differ from the National Convergence Forum and the National Anitcorruption Council?] Municipal and departmental development committees and citizen consultative bodies are not yet operational.
    
11. 
    There is also an ERP Consultative Council, established in 2003 to institutionalize the consultative structures for ERP formulation and oversight. In 2004, membership of the ERP Consultative Council was broadened and its functions formalized through the Ley para la Gestión de la Reducción de la Pobreza, thus fulfilling the constitutional requirement for participation of social and economic stakeholders in development planning. The ERP Consultative Council includes six central government representatives (Presidency, Finance, Education, Environment, Governance, Health and Agriculture), a local government representative and twelve stakeholder representatives. Representatives are nominated in sectoral assemblies and confirmed by the President. The Government is developing a methodology to clarify the relation between the ERP Consultative Council and the newly established citizen participation structures. Through consultations carried out during preparation of the ERP Progress Report, the ERP Council did contribute to a stronger focus of the ERP on decentralization and transparency.
    
12. 
    Civil society organizations have been involved in ERP implementation. Since 2004 the ERP Consultative Council includes representatives from the following groups: labor, peasants, women, youth, the elderly, the social sectors, the disabled, neighborhood and community organizations, ethnic organizations and NGOs. During consultations for the ERP Progress Reports, workshops were directed toward a different civil society group to ensure broad-based participation. The Government is consulting with civil society for the preparation of the Government Plan for 2006-10. The law generally provides for freedom of association, and the Government has generally respected this right.
    
13. 
    The private sector has been involved in ERP implementation. Since 2004 a large business association—the Consejo Hondureño de la Empresa Privada—and a representative of micro and small enterprises participate in the ERP Consultative Council. However, the private sector is only marginally involved in the preparation of the Government Plan for 2006-10.
    
14. 
    The National Congress is constitutionally mandated to approve government development plans. Moreover, the presentation of ERP Progress Reports to the National Congress has been made mandatory through the Ley para la Gestión de la Reducción de la Pobreza. The Government also prepares quarterly reports on the progress in ERP implementation, which are made available to the public but not discussed with the National Congress. [Is there evidence that parliamentarians refer to them when engaging in dialogue with the Executive on ERP implementation, including during the budget discussion?] The ERP was discussed in plenary sessions in the National Congress, and several congressmen from various political parties were involved in the consultations for ERP formulation. The National Congress approved the 2002-06 Government Plan as part of the Ley para la Gestión de la Reducción de la Pobreza, as well as the ERP Progress Reports. The National Congress approves the budget and did approve the 2006 budget proposal, which was aligned with ERP priorities, without any substantial change. The congressional budget committee oversees the alignment of the general budget with the Government Plan, as required by the Constitution. The National Congress is mandated by the Constitution to approve credits and projects financed with external resources. Representatives of all political parties represented in Congress meet regularly with external partners to discuss the legislative agenda and priorities for economic, social and political reform.
    

2. 
   Reliable country systems
   

15. 
    Action is being taken to strengthen country fiduciary systems. The Government is implementing a Program of Efficiency and Transparency in Public Procurement (PET), launched in 2004. In 2005, it revised the existing Procurement Law and rolled out e-procurement to all government institutions. It also established a procurement regulatory office—the Oficina Normativa de Contratación y Aquisiciones (ONCAE)—to oversee government procurement and provide technical support to government institutions. While the ONCAE is not yet fully operational, the Government is increasing funds and staff to strengthen ONCAE capacity and resources and allow it to be fully operational.
    
16. 
    There is an integrated financial public administration system (SIAFI), introduced in 2003. In 2005, the Government introduced considerable enhancements to improve accessibility through a web-based environment and establish computer interfaces with government procurement and debt management systems. It also adopted a SIAFI Law which mandates the use of SIAFI in all central government agencies and includes provisions for public sector accounting standards and internal controls. SIAFI is also being extended to municipalities, with plans to have it operational at the local level by 2007. SIAFI currently includes functioning modules for budget, accounting and treasury, and produces quarterly budget execution reports and cash flow statements. The Ministry of Finance is also making progress in reconciling revenue and expenditure accounts and, in coordination with the Central Bank, is implementing a work plan to establish a “Cuenta Unica”. The 2006 budget was prepared using the budget compilation modules. SIAFI also tracks ERP budget planning and reporting on budget execution by programmatic area, including HIPC debt relief.
    
17. 
    There is an Audit Court, Honduras’ supreme audit institution, which conducts financial audits of central and local government institutions. The Court is headed by three magistrates appointed to a seven-year mandate by the National Congress, with the agreement of two-thirds of its members. The Court conducts regular audits of government institutions and publishes the audits on its website, thus helping improve transparency of public accounts. More resources would be however needed to extend audits to a larger number of central and local government institutions. [Does the Audit Court conduct performance audits or is it planning to conduct performance audits?]
    
18. 
    Corruption adversely affects government performance. The World Bank’s 2004 Investment Climate Assessment estimated that informality causes government productivity losses of about 6 percent of GDP. The National Anticorruption Council has helped spearhead action toward combating corruption and stronger transparency and control mechanisms for public procurement and financial management have translated into some improvement in the perceived effect of corruption on government action. For example, Honduras’ Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index improved from 1.8 in 1999 to 2.6 in 2005. Latinobarómetro 2005 also signales the perception that corruption is declining. However, corruption remains a major challenge. In 2005, a number of high-profile corruption cases were dropped by the Office of the Attorney-General and district attorneys protesting the decision were dismissed. [Is the new Government taking renewed action to tackle corruption?]
    

3. 
   Aid flows are aligned on national priorities
   
   1. 
      Government leadership of coordination
      

19. 
    Efforts to streamline government structures for development assistance coordination are underway, while the transition to a new Government has created some initial confusion on who leads coordination. Under the Government of President Zelaya, responsibility for managing development assistance has moved from the Ministry of Finance to a revamped Secretaría Técnica y de Cooperación Internacional (SETCO), which the previous Government was progressively phasing out. SETCO is attached to the Presidency and headed by a Secretary of State. An office for project monitoring, established within the Presidency by the previous Government, continues to be operational and helps unlock implementation bottlenecks. SETCO and UNAT coordinate closely to ensure that development assistance is aligned with ERP priorities and objectives, building on SIAFI which is helping the Government track development assistance flows. There is a cooperation website with updated information on external partner activities, whose management is being transferred from the Ministry of Finance to SETCO.³
    
20. 
    The Government is consulting with external partners to reorganize six roundtables established in 2004 for each of the sectors where SWAps could be developed—education; health; water; agro-forestry; security and justice; infrastructures and productive sectors—around the priorities identified in the Government Plan for 2006-10 and the ERP update. [Are line ministries taking leadership in coordinating development assistance at the sectoral level?]
    
21. 
    Dialogue and exchange of information between external partners takes place through a coordinated framework known as the,G-16 comprising a Group of Ambassadors, a Technical Follow-up Group and Sectoral Boards, chaired by its members on a rotating basis. The Technical Follow-up Group maintains permanent relations with SETCO and UNAT. Government officials participate in the Sectoral Boards. A CG meeting was held in June 2004 in Tegucigalpa, and chaired by the Government. A new CG has not yet been planned.
    

1. 
   Partners’ assistance strategy alignment
   

22. 
    External partners have aligned their assistance with the ERP, which is helping ensure continuity of external partner support around key development priorities agreed within the country. The five major external partners are IDB, the USA, the World Bank, Spain and the EC, accounting for approximately 78 percent of gross ODA in 2003-04. ODA accounted for 9.1 percent of GNI in 2004.⁴ Between 2004 and 2005, the Government negotiated to restructure a number of existing operations to ensure greater coherence between them and ERP priorities. The MCA Compact, signed by the Government in 2005, supports agriculture development and infrastructure providing market access for agricultural products, in line with the Government’s agriculture sector strategy. The USAID Country Plan for 2003-08 identifies economic growth and poverty reduction as primary goals and focuses on good governance and the rule of law, support for trade and investment, as well as education and health, broadly in line with ERP objectives. The World Bank and IDB coordinate preparation of their assistance strategies to better align them with the ERP and the Government Plan. They are preparing assistance strategies for FY07-10 to update the ones they prepared for FY03-06. Spain’s Country Strategy Paper for 2005-08 recognizes the ERP as the guiding framework for Spain’s support; it focuses on strengthening the rule of law and improving administrative efficiency; education, health and food security, support for small and medium enterprises; and gender. To update its Country Strategy Paper 2002-06 aligned with the ERP, the EC is preparing a Country Strategy Paper for 2007-13, which is expected to further support for human rights, gender and the environment. [When will the Country Strategy Paper be finalized?] DFID has identified poverty reduction and support for national strategies as a key priority of its Latin America Regional Assistance Plan 2004-07, which was updated in a 2004 Project Memorandum to support the ERP. Other external partners—including Japan, Sweden and Canada—have reformulated their assistance strategies in line with the ERP and are planning to realign them with the Government Plan for 2006-10.
    
23. 
    Some action has been taken to establish public-private partnership to support ERP implementation. For example, following consultations with the private sector and other stakeholders, in 2005 the Government strengthened private sector participation in the control and management of the Honduran airports and amended the airport concession contract. It also established a public-private monitoring committee to follow up on implementation of the amended concession contract. The Government is also supporting public-private partnerships for service delivery in a number of sectors, including health, education and road maintenance.
    

1. 
   Partnership organization
   

24. 
    External partners are decentralizing their operations to better participate in day-to-day decision making. In 2005, the EC strengthened its office in Honduras to better participate in policy dialogue with the Government and other partners. The EC office in Honduras is part of the EC Delegation for Central America and Panama, whose head office is in Nicaragua and whose decision making power has been progressively strengthened since 2002. Spain has decentralized decision making to its Embassy in Honduras, which was responsible for the preparation of Spain’s Country Strategy Paper and now coordinates its implementation. CIDA has delegated full responsibility to its field office and operates under a decentralized initiative known as Pro-Mesas, SIDA has delegated some decision making to the field, and DFID opened an office in Honduras in 2003. Japan is decentralizing decision-making to its field office, which is responsible for the preparation of Japan’s assistance strategy for Honduras. The World Bank has strengthened its Country Office, which includes staff for poverty reduction, human development, education, environment, water and sanitation, and social accountability. Task management for few World Bank financed projects has been delegated to the field and the large majority of World Bank financed projects are managed by task managers based at headquarters. [Are a large percentage of projects financed by other partners managed from the field rather than from headquarters? Have external partners recruited or decentralized technical staff to participate in SWAp roundtables and sectoral boards?]
    

4. 
   Strengthen capacity by coordinated support
   

25. 
    A gradual move toward SWAps in some sectors is helping the Government and external partners coordinate capacity support around sectoral needs. IDB, the World Bank, USAID and the WHO are coordinating capacity support in the health sector around the Government’s health strategy.
    
26. 
    Government leadership is helping reduce fragmentation of capacity building support. Under the leadership of the Comisión Nacional de Bancos y Seguros (CNBS), the World Bank, IDB, CABEI and the USA are coordinating capacity building for the financial sector. In dialogue with the Ministry of Governance, the World Bank, IDB, USAID and JICA are coordinating capacity support for financial management and planning in municipal governments.
    
27. 
    ERP implementation is also helping strengthen coordination of capacity support. There is a multi-donor fund to finance technical assistance in areas directly linked to the ERP. The World Bank and IDB are supporting capacity building in public sector and public expenditure management, in line with the ERP. SIDA, IDB, SDC, DFID and UNDP are jointly providing capacity building for CSO participation in ERP monitoring and evaluation.
    

5. 
   Use of country systems
   

28. 
    Some external partners are providing budget support, thus relying on country fiduciary systems, while others are envisaging it. [What percentage of external assistance is provided as budget support?] The World Bank launched a first PRSC in 2004 and is preparing a second PRSC for FY07, which SIDA and KfW are planning to co-finance. The EC plans to provide budget support for decentralization and ERP implementation. The World Bank and the EC have not yet taken action to agree on a common policy matrix for budget support. The large majority of development assistance is channeled through projects whose implementation relies on external partners’ procurement and financial management systems and procedures. External partners do not yet rely on national information systems and routine data collection within government institutions for the sectors where SWAps are being prepared, such as education and health.
    

6. 
   Strengthen capacity by avoiding parallel implementation structures
   

29. 
    In 2004 external partners were financing 269 projects, mostly implemented by Project Implementation Units. [Is there any evidence that the number of PIUs has decreased between 2004 and 2005?] Some attempts have been made to limit the use of PIUs to administrative functions, while government institutions take responsibility for coordinating externally-financed projects. For example, an existing Technical Unit for National Transformation within the Ministry of Education is responsible for coordinating implementation of a World Bank-financed education project. A small Project Administration Unit has been established within the Ministry of Education’s Technical Unit, to deal with financial management and procurement. [Do other external partners maintain separate PIUs within the Ministry of Education? Is the move toward an education SWAp helping the Government and external partners phase out PIUs and integrate their knowledge and expertise into existing units within the Ministry of Education? Are there other examples of PIUs established to manage externally financed projects being integrated into country structures or multiple PIUs established to manage different externally financed projects being consolidated into one PIU?]
    

7. 
   Aid is more predictable
   

30. 
    Through SIAFI, the Government is incorporating the total amount and execution of grants from external partners in the budget. However, disbursements follow external partners’ respective budget cycles, which are not always aligned with the national budget cycle. Action to address this issue is at early stage, and no plan has been prepared nor is the Government requesting action on this issue.
    

8. 
   Aid is untied
   

31. 
    [Is the Government monitoring untied aid at the country level? What is the percentage of untied aid provided by the major bilateral partners at the country level? Are external partners taking action to increase untied aid?]
    

9. 
   Use of common arrangements or procedures
   

32. 
    Under the Education for All-Fast Track Initiative, CIDA, Germany, Japan, Spain, SIDA, USAID, and the World Bank are coordinating their support for primary education around the Government’s education strategy and moving toward a SWAp. Since the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in 2003, they have progressively moved toward common procedures for programming and monitoring and evaluation to support basic education. They also established a pool to channel financial resources. SIDA is the only partner who has committed funds to the pool. [Are other partners planning to rely on the pool to channel their assistance?] IDB, the World Bank, WHO and USAID are coordinating their support around the Government’s health strategy and exploring common procedures to deliver their assistance, thus moving toward a SWAp. JICA and CIDA rely on common procedures to support implementation of the Ministry of Health’s strategy to eradicate the Chagas disease. Dialogue around a programmatic approach for water and sanitation is at an early stage, and external partner support is still fragmented.
    
33. 
    Since 2006, the World Bank and CABEI coordinate parallel financing to support rural infrastructure, using common implementation procedures. To further strengthen joint support for rural infrastructure, in 2005 the EC retro-fitted an on-going program to co-finance micro hydropower plants together with the World Bank. Since 2006, CABEI and the EIB have been jointly financing a project for the construction of a transport corridor connecting Honduras’ Pacific and Atlantic coasts.
    

10. 
    Encouraging shared analysis
    

34. 
    CIDA, Germany, Japan, Spain, SIDA, USAID, and the World Bank conduct joint review missions for primary education. [Are a large majority of externally financed projects and programs managed from Honduras, thus obviating the need for missions?] The World Bank, SIDA, KfW, CIDA and DIFD conducted joint missions for the preparation of the World Bank’s first PRSC and a related PRSC-Technical Credit. KfW, SIDA and DFID participated in the initial World Bank missions to prepare the second PRSC. There is not yet a system to track joint missions.
    

35. 
    In 2006, as part of a joint IDB, DFID, NORAD and SIDA program, IDB conducted a study of public expenditure management and its contribution to strengthening social capital. In 2005-06, IDB and the World Bank updated a CFAA that they had jointly conducted in 2003. In 2005, IDB and the World Bank also completed a CPAR. DFID and SIDA collaborate on poverty and social impact analyses and ERP workshops. External partners have posted twenty documents on the Country Analytic Work website.⁵
    

11. 
    Results oriented frameworks
    
    1. 
       Quality of development information
       

36. 
    The quality and availability of poverty-related data is improving. The National Statistics Bureau (INE) coordinates the National Statistics System and conducts population census and household surveys. A census was completed in 2001. In 2005, with the support of the World Bank, INE conducted a Poverty Assessment. A first Living Standards Measurement Survey was conducted in 2004, which informed poverty targeting maps finalized in 2005. The Government is preparing a national statistical development strategy, with the support of a multi-donor Trust Fund for Statistical Capacity Building managed by the World Bank. IDB, SIDA, DFID and the World Bank have provided support to strengthen INE. However, statistical capacity development remains fragmented. Honduras posts information on current practices in the collection and dissemination of fiscal, financial and socio-economic data, as well as requirements for financial and technical assistance on the IMF’s Data Standards Bulletin Board.
    

1. 
   Stakeholder access to development information
   

37. 
    Action is being taken to strengthen citizen’s access to information. In 2006, the Government submitted to the National Congress a transparency law to guarantee access to government information, which has not yet been approved. Updated information on ERP implementation, the ERP document, the Progress Reports, details of consultations with country stakeholders, as well as the Ley para la Gestión de la Reducción de la Pobreza are posted on the website of the Sistema de Información para la Estrategia de Reducción de la Pobreza (SIERP)—the ERP Information System—as well as the website of the Ministry of the Presidency, where the Government will also post the Government Plan 2006-10. Information on the 2005 budget is posted on the website of the Ministry of Finance.⁶
    

1. 
   Coordinated country-level monitoring and evaluation
   

38. 
    While ERP implementation is helping strengthen monitoring and evaluation, a country-level M&E system informing policy making is not yet in place. The web-based SIERP, which was launched in 2004 and upgraded in 2006, tracks progress toward meeting the ERP objectives through a set of outcome and output indicators, organized around the ERP’s six thematic areas. Indicators build on ongoing surveys and existing monitoring systems, as well as administrative records at the municipal level. There is also a SIERP Master Plan to guide monitoring activities through 2015. Impact evaluations were conducted by UNAT through 2006 on tax reforms, fuel prices, salary policies, the free trade agreement, and government subsidies, which fed into SIERP. In 2006, with support from UNDP, the Government launched the establishment of three regional observatories to monitor progress toward meeting the MDGs. Data collected by the observatories are expected to feed into SIERP and SIAFI. The Government is also planning to integrate SIERP into SIAFI, to strengthen its impact on national decision making, including the budget. However, SIERP is not yet linked to information systems within line ministries, thus slowing down progress toward identifying credible base lines for ERP indicators.
    

39. 
    Building on coordinated dialogue between Government and external partners, some action is being taken to jointly monitor implementation of mutual commitments. In May 2005, the Government, external partners and CSOs jointly organized a workshop to assess progress toward meeting the commitments undertaken at the June 2004 CG meeting. The workshop focused on assessing progress in ERP implementation, as well as strengthening harmonization, alignment and results. [Do the new Government, external partners and civil society envisage institutionalizing this process through regular assessments of government and external partner performance?]
    

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CIDA Honduras

DFID Honduras

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