Análisis de la Oferta Exportable de Productos con Potencial Exportador de

P135-II is the only National Targeted Program that has strongly enforced decentralization to commune level with the introduction of commune investment ownership. In order to facilitate the decentralization process, capacity building at the local level is essential. Phase II has shown the importance of local-level institutional capacity-building with more than 7 percent of the Program’s total funding allocated for this activity, a 6 percent increase from Phase I. Throughout the Program, a number of decentralization policies have been presented to enhance autonomy and accountability of local government in targeted areas. Shifting investment ownership responsibilities from provincial and district levels to communes require the communes’ strong capacity in administrative and financial planning as well as project management. Local staff training is one of the key capacity strengthening activities at commune level. Local authorities have organized training on administration, financial and project management skills for 178,000 commune staffs and village staffs. Training is delivered in the form of short-term courses, which last approximately 5 – 6 days per course.

Figure 5. 1: Training act

Source: Analysis Team

Figure 5.1 provides inform Board (CSB) and Project respondents13 _{attended t} majority of respondents ex courses. Over the period 2 positively by commune training courses practica increases slightly by 3 per of training courses is furt the number of staff who percentage point rise in th of the trainers. Our empir improved in terms of con trainers.

Qualitative studies throu issues related to training t studies in certain P135 brought about multiple po knowledge of the progr building at commune lev

13

The respondents are either 0 20 40 60 80 100 Female officials in CSB and PMU (%) da

g activities for commune officials

Team calculations based on 2007 and 2012 household sur

ides information on training activities for Commun d Project Management Unite (PMU) staff. 95.4 p ttended training courses organized under P135 ondents express positive opinions about the quality e period 2007 – 2010, quality of training has been ap mmune staff. In 2007, 82.7 percent of the responde s practical and applicable to their work and th y by 3 percentage point in 2010. Significant change ses is further demonstrated in 24.7 percentage poi who think that the duration of training is suf t rise in the number of officials who are satisfied w Our empirical results suggest that the quality of trai ms of content, duration of training courses as wel

ies through in-depth interviews have enabled id training that are not reflected in the empirical resu in P135-II communes specify that while training ultiple positive impacts such as equipping commun the program management and development iss

mune level is insufficient. Firstly, the training syl

her member of CSB or PMU of P135-II projects

Average number of days per training course

Officials who think that trainings are relevant

(%)

Officials who think t trainings' duration sufficient (%) 2007 2010 ld surveys. Commune Supervisory ff. 95.4 percent of the er P135-II. In general, he quality of the training as been appraised more respondents found the rk and this proportion nt change in assessment entage point increase in is sufficient and 11 atisfied with the quality lity of training has been es as well as quality of

nabled identification of irical results. Qualitative e training courses have commune officials with pment issues, capacity aining syllabus remains

ink that tion are (%)

Officials satisfied with quality of the trainers

unadjusted year after year and does not meet specific requirements of each commune. Secondly, high turnover rate and rotation of commune staff leads to extra resources and time spent on training the new in-charge personnel. These facts partially explain the reason why a substantial proportion of commune staff did not give positive comments about the training programs.

Promoting female participation in every project activity and project committee is an important goal of P135-II. Our research shows that 16.2 percent of officials in CSB and PMU are female officials. This number sends a positive signal on female representativeness in public operation and services, although their participation is only at a modest level. While P135-II has included certain regulations to promote women’s participation, extra effort needs to be made to encourage their representativeness in both public and government bodies.

5.2.2 Project Management at commune level

Management and planning for P135-II projects at commune level

The transfer of project’s investment ownership from higher administrative level to local authorities requires formation of Project Management Unit (PMU) at commune level. PMU holds legal authority to carry out administrative activities and financial transactions of commune projects. Circular 676/2006 states that PMU has to be formed before any project implementation. Following the formation of PMU, a set of prerequisite management system for the Program is to be implemented before the commune undertakes any project. Table 5.1 provides information on the adequacy level of management system at commune level.

Table 5. 1: Project Management and Planning at commune level (%)

2007 2010 Differenc e

Communes with PMU 70.04 93.93 23.89

using participatory planning 93.02 93.94 0.92 with training plan for commune officials 80.95 73.71 - 7.24 having communication plan 84.52 90.35 5.83

using new report format 34.42 38.16 3.74

organizing participatory M&E activities 87.50 86.64 - 0.86

Source: Analysis Team calculations based on 2007 and 2012 household surveys.

Most of P135-II communes have implemented the prerequisite management system for the Program. Prerequisite management system for the Program has

also been better established in 2010 as compared to 2007 since an additional 23.9 percent of communes have formed PMU, making up the proportion of communes with PMU to a significant 93.9 percent. The regulation stipulating that every investment-owned commune must have a commune PMU leads to the requirement that every commune have a PMU by the end of the Program. However, 6.1 percent of communes still do not have separate PMUs to manage the Program’s activities.

For communes where PMUs are established, the application of participatory planning is extensive. The percentage of communes with participatory planning stands at 93 percent in both 2007 and 2010. While the numbers of communes having communication plan and organizing participatory M&E activities remain relatively high in both years, the application of new reporting format has not been well established at commune level. Despite an improvement in the use of new reporting format from 2007 to 2010, only less than 40 percent of the communes use this one in 2010.

Public Financial Management & Transparency

In the period 2011 – 2020, a reform strategy for Public Sector is underway, in which Public Financial Management System is the center of the reform. The reform, with the emphasis on decentralization, is taking steps towards enhancing transparency and accountability arrangements of the system. While development partners share concerns about the system through which resources are channeled to the poor, P135-II’s objective addresses this concern and matches the Government’s interest in promoting a more transparent and effective Public Financial Management System. This share of interest is shown in the Program’s Policy Matrix with ‘Fiduciary Transparency and Accountability’ being one of the key four policy areas.

Figure 5. 2: Fiduciary tr

Source: Analysis Team

A detailed evaluation of t within the scope of this st in financial reporting and expenditure information. in financial reporting at increase in number of p percent in 2007 to 74.9 been applied broadly from financial information is majority of its targeted h their budget allocation a receive the information. T and the rate of recipients well as weak reporting cap Low recipient rate of info disseminate information information. Figure 5 information on financial e difference might be expla means to access to mult general knowledge and u

0 20 40 60 80 100 Projects with financial information made public

ry transparency at commune level (%)

Team calculations based on 2007 and 2012 household

ation of the Program’s impact on fiduciary transp of this study. The study measures the impact on lo orting and the extent to which households are aw

rmation. Our empirical analysis shows substantial orting at community. Figure 4.2 shows a 24 per

ber of projects with financial information made to 74.9 percent in 2010). Even though financial oadly from commune perspective, the method of ation is not highly effective as information has argeted households. In 2010, 74.9 percent of proje location and expenditure but only 21.3 percent rmation. The large gap between project’ informatio

recipients indicates ineffective financial reporting orting capacity of the implementing agency.

ate of information results not only from the commu formation but also from households’ ability

ure 5.3 indicates that poor households have low financial expenditure as compared to non-poor ho t be explained by the fact that non-poor household s to multiple channels of information; and with dge and understanding, they are more connected

ade

Households receive financial

information

Households who think that financial

information is reliable Projects having treasury account 2007 2010 surveys.

ary transparency is not pact on local experience lds are aware of public ubstantial improvement a 24 percentage point tion made public (50.9 financial reporting has ethod of disclosing the ation has not reached of projects publicizes percent of households nformation made public reporting mechanism as

he commune capacity to ability to access to have lower access to poor households. This households have better nd with better level of onnected to community ng unt Commune investment owner projects with treasury account

activities. Similarly, the pe expenditure is 14 perc counterparts in 2010. Th relatively limited access considerably contribute to has been considerable imp the percentage of househ over the period 2007 – percent in 2010 think tha percentage point decrease more cautious in evalua receive.

Figure 5. 3: Household infrastructure projects

Source: Analysis Team

In the process of modern (PFM) system with decen regulation(s) on financial Circular 676 states that di transacted through the N and to allow for effective m open treasury account for account has increased by 1 modest level (39.1 percen

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Total Poo

rly, the percentage of Kinh households aware of pr 14 percentage points higher than their eth

2010. This phenomenon suggests that ethnic m ed access to information, in which language ntribute to the outcome. Nevertheless, it is undenia

erable improvement in information access as a dou of households receiving financial information has b

– 2010. Among those who receive financial in think that financial information is reliable. This in t decrease from 2007, which implies that household in evaluating the reliability of financial informat

hold receive information about financial e jects (%)

Team calculations based on 2007 and 2012 household sur

f modernizing and strengthening Project Financia ith decentralization to local level, P135-II has in financial management of the government’s and do tes that direct funding for P135 from government bu ugh the National Bank. In order to facilitate the fu effective management of public funding, commune ccount for each project. The percentage of projects h eased by 10 percent over the period 2007 – 2010 bu

.1 percent in 2010).

Poor households Non-poor

households

Kinh

2007 2012

are of project financial their ethnic minority ethnic minorities have anguage barrier might is undeniable that there s as a double increase in tion has been recorded inancial information, 81 le. This indicates a 16.8 ouseholds have become l information that they

cial expenditure of

ld surveys.

t Financial Management II has introduced new t’s and donors’ funding. rnment budget has to be ate the funding transfer ommune offices need to projects having treasury 2010 but remains at a

By the end of the Program, commune office has adopted a fairly comprehensive prerequisite management system to facilitate community-driven mechanism in its planning and management process. More intensive application of participatory approach has been adopted. The Program shows an increase in the number of commune PMUs, a rise in planning activities that integrate participatory approach such as in planning, reporting, M&E, communication plan. Commune office has actively promoted financial transparency and information dissemination to grassroots level. As such, public and financial transparency has been improved, which is demonstrated by an increase in projects publicizing expenditure information as well as the number of households receiving the information. Even though progress has made been, there is big room for improvement on information dissemination to household level and on public financial management system at commune level.