COMMUNITY BUDGETS DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS TO BE IMPLEMENTED WITH UNDP SUPPORT
ArmRadio.am
08.06.2006 15:22
Today, five cost-sharing agreements were signed with five
municipalities and Memorandum of Understanding with the US Agency for
International Development (USAID) for projects in the scope of UNDP
Armenia Performance Budgeting project. In addition, United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) presented the Performance Budgeting
Manual.
The ceremony, held in UN House in Yerevan, was attended by
municipality teams, experts of the project, USAID representatives,
as well as representatives of the US Treasury Department, Armenia
Social Investment Fund, Government and the media. Ms. Consuelo Vidal,
UN Resident Coordinator/UNDP Resident Representative made a welcoming
speech.
Since its inception in 2005, the Performance Budgeting Project
has generated much interest among local self-governance bodies
in Armenia. The goals of the project are to support further
decentralization in Armenia, strengthen the capacities of local
self-governance bodies, and facilitate accountable and measurable
public expenditure management. It assists in the implementation of
performance budgeting during community planning, monitoring, and
evaluation processes ensuring citizens’ participation in the whole
process. This is new to not only Armenia, but also to the region.
The “Performance Budgeting in Local Government” training manual also
presented today is a product of a comprehensive and in-depth work
in the framework of the Performance Budgeting initiative supported
by UNDP. The manual presents experiences gained during training
courses, advisory meetings, and joint seminars and actual budgeting
processes conducted in the five pilot towns of Armenia (Ijevan, Masis,
Abovyan, Vedi and Dilijan). It provides a detailed description of local
performance budgeting principles, framework, budgeting process phases,
and budget planning, execution, and oversight. It is designed to become
a step-by-step guide for other communities in Armenia and abroad.