Evaluation of General Budget Support: Synthesis Report - Belgium

Executive Summary
On managing aid
Recommendation 13 Aid strategies
(a) International partners and governments, generally and at country (and sector)
level, should develop strategies to optimise complementarities between aid
instruments.
(b) These should consider, inter alia, the transaction cost implications of existing and
proposed configurations, and the available and desirable levels of harmonisation
among donors.
(c) Aid strategies should include explicit proposals for the use of budget support itself.
See also Recommendation 12 (b) and (c) on design of budget support instruments.
Recommendation 14 Management and monitoring of partnerships
(a) Donors who engage in PGBS should do so on the basis that it is a long-term
endeavour in which both sides need to build up and sustain trust and track records
of reliability.
(b) Donors engaged in PGBS should increase the in-country discretion afforded to
their local offices, strengthen their understanding of local political and
administrative detail, and seek greater continuity in staffing.
(c) Support to strengthening government systems requires attention to both the supply
and demand aspects of capacity; while strengthening the capacity of finance
ministries and other central agencies is essential, there needs to be a balance
between central and sectoral capacity development.
(d) The concepts of mutual accountability and joint accountability are important.
Independent monitoring of aid performance (as pioneered in Tanzania) could play
an important role, and should incorporate monitoring of the Paris Declaration
benchmarks.
(S21)