FORGING LINKS BETWEEN INDICATORS/TARGET AND PUBLIC POLICIES (Linking annual plans and Budget )

1. FORGING LINKS BETWEEN INDICATORS/TARGET AND PUBLIC POLICIES (Linking annual plans and Budget) Francisco Sa Benevides Vice Ministers for Agriculture , Flores andFisheries And Antonio Freitas Director of Budget Timor Leste Forum National Plans and PRSP East ASIA April 4-6 2006 Vientiane Lao PDR

2. Objective of Today To invoke sharing around certain topic : • Linking annual plans and Budgets. • Role of Sector strategies and sector investment program. • Difficulties and challenges (Lessons from the process).

3. Linking annual plans and Budgets • Timor Leste has an overarching National Development Plan. This was developed in 2001 in consultation with the population • The National Development Plan articulates what the needs of the nation are and are linked in with the Millennium Development Goals.

4. Linking annual plans and Budgets (1) • Each Ministry prepares annual action plans which are presented during the budget formulation period. • The annual action plans contain a brief but detailed description of the work plan for the Ministry down to the Directorate level.

5. Linking annual plans and Budgets (2) • Each plan has a Quarterly Reporting Matrix, this outlines what work tasks must be finished by that quarter. This report is presented to the Council of Ministers • The QRM also contains details on performance indicators, for example my directorate must produce certain documents (such as the budget paper or capital plans by a certain date). • The annual action plans also include activities which are being undertaken by donors. For example in my area, the activity of the AusAID funded capacity building project is included in our work tasks.

6. Sector Investment plans • There are 17 sector investment plans. • These use the National Development Plan as a base for continued development in the sector.

7. Sector Investment plans • They articulate what sort of activities are required for Timor-Leste to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. For example , the number of schools and teachers which are required to provide 9 years of basic primary education to all Timorese. • The SIPS then form part of the Combined Sources budget where funding for these activities can come directly from the budget of the government or from development partners

8. Role of Sector Working groups and sector investment program • We have now established Sector Working Groups (17), these groups establish the priorities for the sector and the activities which will be undertaken and most importantly how they will be resourced, the budget, donor funding, and the modality of funding (CFET, Special Account, outside the budget). • The links work better when there are bigger donors because there is more focus, for example Australia have a project with the police and water and sanitation, and Portugal in justice and education.

9. Difficulties and challenges (Lessons from the process). • Problems arise where there are many donors giving small amounts of assistance, this is often uncoordinated and efforts are duplicated • There is also a need to improve familiarity with the financial system of the Government. This means better understanding the budget and planning process, the procurement process and the Treasury process.

10. Difficulties and challenges - 2 (Lessons from the process) • There is also a need to improve familiarity with the financial system of the Government. This means better understanding the budget and planning process, the procurement process and the Treasury process. • Timor Leste wishes to overcome these difficulties by having a successful operational working groups across the 17 sectors to improve coordination

11. Successes The links work better when there are bigger donors because there is more focus, for example Australia have a project with the police and water and sanitation, and Portugal in justice and education.