Good financial governance is one of the main foundations of sustainable development. It guarantees macroeconomic stability and the proper organisation of public services, which respond to the essential needs of the population (education, health) and the current major issues (gender, climate change).
There is strong demand from countries to benefit from technical assistance and capacity building programmes in these areas. Furthermore, several evaluations have concluded that the mobilisation of ad hoc international technical expertise increases the effectiveness and sustainability of capacity building, without creating a substitution effect.
Consequently, a field presence of high-level technical experts, on an ad hoc basis with a regional outreach, is now essential to addressing these issues.
Financed by Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and implemented by Expertise France, the FORCE project plans to create a pool of permanent technical experts in the field of public finance, able to deploy ad hoc expertise in Sub Saharan Africa.
The mechanism comprises a pool of six senior technical experts based in Abidjan. They can be mobilised at the request of countries and depending on the needs these countries have identified, in order to provide appropriate and tailored support. Indeed, the experts may be involved in all the stages of the cycle for the implementation of a public policy, on the main themes of public finance. For example, they may provide assistance in:
• Budget programming and management
• Mobilising domestic resources in terms of fiscal management and customs management
• Managing public accounting and strengthening oversight bodies
• Improving public procurement.
The FORCE platform aims to be responsive, flexible and tailored to the demand of administrations. More specifically, it will benefit the Ministries of Finance, sectoral ministries, as well as decentralised services and regional and local authorities.
In practical terms, the project will lead to:
• The formulation of reform plans based on an analysis of the baseline and a credible trajectory of change
• Capacity building for management, tools and partnerships for the implementation of the reforms.
Consequently, this facility will provide assistance better suited to the needs of countries for technical expertise in financial governance, in order to bring about real improvements in the daily lives of people. Better financial governance has a direct positive impact on the development of the countries concerned.
