TRANSLATING THE PARIS AND ACCRA COMMITMENTS INTO PRACTICE: NEW TECHNICAL NOTE ON PROGRAMME SUPPORT PREPARATION

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Technical Advisory Services are pleased to share this ”Technical Note on Programme Support Preparation” with you. This note accompanies the 2009 version of the Guidelines for Programme Management (GPM). The most fundamental change in programme management, reflected in the revised GPM, is the principle of sector budget support (SBS) as the default modality of Danish sector (and thematic) programme support to the public sector. This is the consequence of the decision taken in the programme committee in June 2008 and the donor commitment in the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) to make maximum use of country systems.

With a starting-point in the GPM, the note provides the Representations and other concerned parties with additional guidance for the preparation and formulation of support programmes based on the principle that SBS is the default modality. The principle of using SBS as default covers the so called traditional sectors as well as the inter-sectoral and broader thematic areas (such as governance, agriculture, environment). The note therefore applies to all these cases.

Some of the implications of the principle are that,

• the ten budget support principles now form part of the programme support preparation process
• the risk identification and assessment becomes more systematic than before
• those responsible for programme support preparation need a more thorough knowledge of the partner country systems than has been necessary up to now.

The note is meant to be a living document that can be improved continuously. For this to happen, you are kindly requested to feed back your experiences, comments, and suggestions to TAS.

Please forward any comments or suggestions you might have to UFT@UM.dk

Link to note