1. This area like other outputs has produced significant results but also faced challenges. The commitment of Secretaries Finance, Planning and Development as champions of reform has been critical to successes under this output: it was ambitious given the scale of the challenge and a relatively small programme. Fourth year targets were:
- 3 pre-budget workshops held with civil society; Government budget documents respond to stakeholder views
- ADP 2011-12 reflects at least 30% of PCNA deliverables/activities
2. OPM confirms that the government has aligned 50% of ADP expenditure to CDS and included 30% of Post Crisis Need Assessment (PCNA) deliverables. This was also confirmed by the Finance Minister in his budget speech. The 50% is slightly below the target of 60% but still significant. The PCNA came after the CDS. A challenge that the government needs to tackle is how to distinguish PCNA deliverables that are distinct from and add genuine peace building impact to normal ADP business when both are in the same sector. And how to ensure this additionality while avoiding unnecessary and costly parallel delivery systems. . A PCNA cell has been established in P&D department to ensure PCNA priorities are addressed and aligned within ADPs. A governance support unit recently established by the World Bank in support of the PCNA should support this.
3. As a result of the three pre-budget workshops (which brought together parliamentarians, civil society, the private sector, academia and donors) pro-poor schemes were incorporated in the budget that were not previously under consideration. These include Bacha Khan Rozghar, a 1 billion rupee micro finance scheme implemented through the Bank of Khyber, Benazir health insurance scheme and 7 other schemes that were fast tracked after communities named them as priorities. As a direct result they now have an earmarked budget of Rupees 4.5 billion. Furthermore, due to this process the Finance Department more easily won political approval for the budget. A good turnout of elected representatives at the consultations has resulted in no off-budget requests from members of the provincial assembly (MPAs) so far in this financial year. This is unprecedented: such out-of-season requests can significantly distort the budget, make planning futile, and create inequities. The Finance Department intends to conduct consultations on a larger scale for the next budget preparation. These results exceeded expectations and indicate some commitment by the government to be more transparent and show responsiveness to citizens.
4. Introduction of the Development Projects Management System (DPMS) has been enthusiastically backed by the Chief Minister. The DPMS requires all developments under the ADP to upload their projects on the DPMS. This will give total access to the public on types of projects, amounts of money allocated and progress made. The Chief Minister holds monthly meetings to support the rollout of DPMS and is holding to account officials who have not met their targets for uploading projects on to the DPMS. So far 276 out of 292 projects have been uploaded onto the system. Furthermore, the transparency introduced to the public has been one driver behind the throw forward in the budget being reduced 22% four months in to the financial year.
Recommendations: DFID Border Areas team ask the WB MDTF Secretariat to provide the KP Government PCNA cell the necessary training and tools to use when designing and delivering a project as part of a peace building approach in order to ensure they provide genuine peace-building impact that is additional to normal ADP projects but does not unnecessarily duplicate delivery mechanisms.
Impact Weighting (%): 15%
Revised since last Annual Review? No Risk: Medium
Revised since last Annual Review? No
Output 4: Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) information used to improve service delivery.
Output 4 score and performance description: A Outputs met expectation
Progress against expected results: 1. Fourth year targets were:
M&E reports prepared for 3 existing OBB departments (education, health and social welfare) and used to inform policy and budgeting.
Percentage of ADP projects monitored increased from 16% to 30%
At least one special evaluation study completed (with civil society involvement)
These represent some of the fruits of previous years’ policy and capacity building work. The government adopted an M&E framework and established an M&E unit under a DG allocating Rs. 300m. In doing this, the government has moved away from traditional activity based monitoring to impact level M&E. A Citizens Voice study has been incorporated into the M&E framework. Three committees have been formed to oversee policy and action; a) Advisory committee headed by Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), b) Operational Committee headed by Secretary Finance and c) Divisional Committee headed by the Commissioner. Two developmental Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) registered with Social Welfare department will be part of each committee to help ensure compliance. These committee’s will report on the level of compliance towards observations made in the monitoring reports. Feedback from these committees will allow the provincial finance controller to decide if there is sufficient compliance and mitigating actions taken by the departments concerned before releasing further funds to the districts. 2. The original target on ADP project monitoring concerned doing the monitoring but this has shifted to acting on the monitoring recommendations – beyond expectations. Monitoring of ADP projects was up to 20% by end December and is on track to meet a government target of 50% (higher than the log frame) by end June. Furthermore, since the launch of the M&E strategy evidence from Planning and Development Department suggests that there is an average of 40% compliance towards M&E recommendations across the departments. The government will be using the outcomes of the M&E reporting in preparations for the next budget to ensure better targeting of funds to what works. 3. The first annual and quarterly M&E reports covering Health, Education and Social Welfare have been published. Two evaluation studies are underway – one more than target. The first is the impact and process behind stipends paid to girls to increase enrolment and attendance at primary and elementary school. The second – which will be complete by end March - is studying the Health departments fight against hepatitis C. To ensure greater transparency and compliance the M&E reports/studies will also be submitted to the Provincial Government’s Public Accounts Committee. This way the PAC would be able to tally M&E reports with audit observations and better judge value for money. Overall targets have been met or moderately exceeded and are having the intended impact of driving service improvements.
Recommendations:
OPM and DFID stay closely engaged in this activity to assess impact on quality of service delivery and whether and how it informs better budget making for 2012/13, and so that DFID learns lessons for the new SNG programme.
DFID Education team has worked closely with the OPM evaluation advisor and to inform the design of this study and should continue to stay involved. The findings of this study are critical to informing the design and delivery of the government and DFID education programme.
