Public Expenditure Tracking Survey/Study (PETS)

Public expenditure tracking

Under the project, CECI conducted in-depth consultations with representatives from the National Planning Committee, the Ministry of Finance, the Financial General Comptroller Office and Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development. These consultations, in conjunction with the expenditure study on the 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 budgets, enabled CECI to identify the resources that central authorities had allocated to local government bodies in various districts, with the goal of shedding light on and tracking the flow of certain funds and grants. Throughout the study, Sajhedari Bikaas representatives and local NGO staff developed a close working relationship. A supervisor was appointed to each of the six project-supported districts to manage and support local data collection. This covered a total of 58 villages. CECI also studied documentation related to the regulations, directives and procedures on allocations.

Building capacities of local NGOs

The project held a series of training and capacity-building activities, through which more than 140 people were trained on data collection, entry and analysis, and on mentoring and coaching in the field. These activities enabled Nepalese NGOs working in the six districts to develop independently their own local public expenditure studies.

Over the course of the project, PETS also developed instruments for conducting public expenditure tracking studies, such as directives and data-collection tools and software, and made then them available to local organizations. One such document was a manual of good practices. Reports from the study were sent to government agencies as well as project-supported community and civil society organizations that work for good governance. Last but not least, the PETS project made proposals to increase accountability among local actors and increase the transparency of public expenditures and resource allocation at various levels of government