Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) - Lessons from Uganda’s Integrated Fiduciary Assessment Process

Abstract

The 2004 Country Integrated Fiduciary Assessment (CIFA) in Uganda was the first exercise by key development partners, and the government to adopt an integrated, and holistic approach to the assessment of Public Financial Management (PFM), along the lines of the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) Program. The overall CIFA process in Uganda took place over a period of nine months, with each individual assessment being conducted over a period of two to three months, and the PER process being carried out during the entire financial year. The CIFA has benefited from strong coordination between the various government-donor diagnostic processes, and the lengthy consultations with key stakeholders throughout the process. The inclusion of a specific local government component has been of considerable value, especially in the decentralized service delivery environment prevailing in Uganda. The CIFA exercise highlighted both the commonalities and the differences between the different levels of government. In retrospect, a more in-depth analysis at the local government level would have provided a clearer understanding of the causes of the problems rather than merely the symptoms.