Page 29 - Parliament Budget Office Annual Report 2022-2023

5th AN-PBO Conference in Harare, Zimbabwe- 2022
The purpose of the AN-PBO is to convene annual conferences serving as a platform for information-sharing among African countries and providing a forum for debate on key issues of economic development. Such conferences are attended by PBO Heads, senior officials and other countries debating whether or not to establish a Budget Office. To date, the AN-PBO has convened four annual conferences in different countries across the continent. The Zimbabwean PBO then agreed to host the 2022 5th Annual AN-PBO Conference.
The African development agenda set out in the African 2063 Strategy provided a fitting context to the establishment of the AN-PBO. This new network aims to develop human and institutional capacity, strengthening the capacity of PBOs to provide useful insights to national Members of Parliament (MPs) into how budgets impact upon economic and societal development. Meeting these objectives will enable national PBOs to provide the analysis and research able to drive the economic and human development goals sought by African Agenda 2063 while achieving other continental developmental targets, including sustainable development goals.
The anticipation was that the 2022 AN-PBO Annual Conference would build up from resolutions established in the 2019 Accra- Ghana Conference. Although a range of topical themes was covered at the 5th AN-PBO Annual Conference, the principal overarching theme of the network is the role of PBOs in their support for legislatures seeking to achieve Continental developmental outcome. Subsequently, there has been a particular focus on Africa Agenda 2063 and other developmental objectives, with the sub-themes for the 5th Annual Conference being entitled as follows:
u Parliament fiscal oversight during uncertainties and emergencies: Challenges and innovations
u Scrutinising and costing of policy measures of the Budget: Key areas to consider
u Increasing public participation in the budget process
u Maintaining cooperative relationships with the media and Executive without compromising independence: Lessons and best practices
u Bridging budgetary information asymmetry between the Executive and Legislature: The products and services of the PBO
u Assessing governments’ economic and fiscal forecasts
u Dynamic scoring: Estimating the budgetary impact of
changes in policy
u Building effective PBOs: Best Practice for parliaments in budgeting.
The 2019 AN-PBO Annual Conference held in Accra, Ghana took up a resolution to institutionalize the network further, so
enabling it to function as a recognised entity separate from its individual member PBOs. Following on from the 2019 Accra resolution, the 2022 AN-PBO Conference formalised the network by adopting a Charter governing the network, while also adopting a network Logo to realise the envisaged network functions.
Another of the 2019 AN-PBO resolutions was for a Governing Council to be elected during the 2022 AN-PBO. The 2022 Conference then adopted a Charter and Logo for final consideration by the respective PBOs and Parliaments. It was agreed that the member PBOs would report to the parliaments of their respective country concerning the Charter and Logo. The Governing Council will then determine the date when the Charter comes into force, although this is expected to be from 30 September 2022.
The 5th AN-PBO Conference resolutions for the AN-PBO Annual Conferences are as follows:
a) That the 6th and future AN-PBO Annual Conferences should invite and include more technical experts in the relevant programs, and that future conferences should continue to focus upon building technical capacity for both officials and MPs
b) That future AN-PBO conferences should focus on a narrow range of conference topics and themes to enable participants to share their national experiences exhaustively. This approach will ensure better capacity-building for AN-PBO members
c) That member PBOs participating in the Conferences should be required and encouraged to share practical experiences and challenges for the benefit of all PBOs old and new
d) That infographics and dashboards of metrics be developed to provide a comparative analysis of PBOs across the continent
e) That gender representation within the Network should be enhanced in view of the fact that the 5th Conference had only four women in attendance
f) That the network should prepare a media statement to be released at the end of the Annual Conference. The media statement should aim to share the network’s perspectives on Continental economic and human developmental issues and how to improve legislative oversight.
For the PBOs participating at the Conference, there is agreement that the following developmental themes and objectives will be included:
Need to focus on the established mandate: Member PBOs were asked to ensure that they have a clear mandate and will always work towards attaining this mandate. In that, the PBO cannot and should not comment upon or analyse any government process and activities. Having a clear mandate should further
PARLIAMENTARY BUDEGT OFFICE ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE 2022/2023 FINANCIAL YEAR
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