Select Committee on Public Accounts Thirtieth Report


Conclusions and recommendations

Contributing to international targets whilst addressing country needs

1.  In many developing countries the involvement of other donors and the development of joint donor-government approaches has been effective particularly in the health and education sectors. The Department should ensure that its contribution to the water sector complements the programmes of other international development agencies. In countries where the Department has a dedicated water programme, it should take the initiative in developing a joint action plan with key stakeholders to address the country's water and sanitation needs.

2.  There is scope to make better use of the Department's research into the impact of development assistance. The Department should explore innovative methods of disseminating research results and raising awareness of its applicability. The uptake of research should be monitored. The Department should also give greater emphasis to proposed dissemination techniques when assessing the merits of research proposals.

Managing the risks involved in the provision of aid

3.  The Department should conduct annual reviews of the measures that have been implemented to mitigate the risks of budget support and the progress made by the recipient government in strengthening its systems. The Department should be able to provide reasonable assurance that funds provided through budget support have been used for the purposes intended, and to act decisively when doubts over the use of funds arise.

4.  Budget support offers the potential for the harmonisation of donor practices. Given the Department's international standing, it should take the lead amongst bilateral donors to develop a common set of reporting requirements for budget support funds.

5.  The poverty reduction strategies of poor countries do not always reflect fully their water needs. The Department should determine whether there is a coherent, credible government plan for meeting water and sanitation targets, and should employ appropriate expertise in its country teams.

6.  A key risk factor in delivering better public services in poor countries is the lack of capacity in local government to manage and spend resources effectively. To date, the Department has focused predominantly on strengthening the financial management and reporting systems of central government. The Department should recognise the importance of local government capacity to deliver public services in considering the case for budget support.

7.  The Department needs to be able to form a clear view in each country on the progress being made towards poverty reduction targets. In many poor countries, government statistics do not provide reliable data on the true extent of poverty. The use of budget support places greater emphasis on the need to create timely and reliable data to measure progress towards targets.

Achieving a sustainable impact from projects

8.  The Department has identified the key components that increase the chances of achieving a sustainable impact and should take these factors into account in the design of projects.

9.  The Department's project evaluation should give greater attention to assessing wider impacts and sustainability. The Department should explore the potential for making greater use of tracking UK funds to assess whether they have had the intended impact. It should build evaluation requirements into projects at the outset and collect appropriate baseline information.


 
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