5. Integrating Medium and Long-Term Financial Planning and Budgeting Processes

The financing plan for the EFA implementation, both overall costing and MoEYS contributions, provides an opportunity for integrating financial planning for MoEYS spending with EFA financing contributions, from other Government Ministries, donors/NGOs and private/parental contributions. The National EFA Commission will provide the forum for coordinating and capturing these various contributions to EFA plan financing, beyond that of the medium-term expenditure plan for ESSP implementation. Nevertheless, it is anticipated that EFA implementation will be primarily driven by continuation of priority programs identified within ESSP, alongside selective expansion of ECCD and NFE/literacy. These two programs will be financed through MoEYS/other Government Ministries and private/parental contributions.

Effective implementation of ESP policies and ESSP programs requires predictability of resources available. MoEYS will take steps at three levels to assure greater predictability. At a first macro level, for medium-term financial planning and budgeting, MoEYS will use the MTEF for forward medium-term education budget planning, including identified EFA program components (see Table 3.6 below). It is anticipated that the current education MTEF will be regularly projected forward to provide a basis for longer-term EFA budget planning.

Table 3.6: Medium-Term Expenditure Plan for Education, 2002/06
(Riels millions)	Budget	Budget	Budget	Plan2003	Plan2004	Plan2005	Plan2006
	2000	2001	2002	MTEF	MTEF	MTEF	Projection
Grand total recurrent	183,170	223,510	286,200	333,000	390,864	446,256	503,700
Chapter 10 personnel costs	126,160	136,100	150,040	175,642	212,464	246,356	275,516
Non PAP non personnel budget (Ch11+31+32)	47,010	59,030	61,105	64,158	65,000	66,000	67,000
PAP priority programs	10,000	28,380	75,055	93,200	113,400	133,900	161,184
Education Service Efficiency		0	11,200	13,200	14,500	15,500	17,000
Primary Education Quality & Efficiency	10,000	21,464	24,000	26,000	30,000	35,000	39,000
Secondary Ed. Quality & Efficiency		3,836	7,500	10,000	20,000	20,000	25,000
TVET Quality & Efficiency			1,820	4,000	5,000	6,000	8,000
Higher Education Quality & Efficiency		2,100	2,000	3,000	4,000	5,000	6,000
Continuous Teacher Development			9,000	9,000	10,000	11,000	12,000
Core Instructional Materials			14,000	15,000	18,400	21,000	26,684
Non-formal Education Expansion			2,000	4,000	6,000	6,000	7,000
In School Youth Aids Awareness			600	1,350	1,500	1,500	2,000
Youth Aids Awareness/Sports		980	400	1,150	1,500	2,000	2,500
Strengthened Monitoring/Audit			2,436	3,500	3,500	3,500	4,000
Equitable Access/ Scholarships			0	3,000	5,000	7,000	12,000
Capital investment programs		55,113	145,800	143,600	135,000	102,600	122,887
School Facility Development Program		41,325	116,800	119,600	114,000	87,600	107,887
Capacity Building Program		13,788	29,000	24,000	21,000	15.000	15,000
Grand Total Recurrent & Capital		278,623	432,000	476,600	525,864	548,856	626,587
Source: Revised ESSP 2002/06

The MTEP for medium-term ESSP implementation shows that the proposed salaries, operational and priority recurrent, capital and capacity building program budgets exceed the projected resource envelopes for the period 2001/5. The MTEP will need to be revised on an annual basis, taking account of resource commitments. The overall allocations for the education recurrent budget for 2002/05 are consistent with the joint agreements between Government and donors, targeted to reach 20 per cent of recurrent public expenditure by 2005. The 2006 projection is based on a 20.5 per cent share of estimated recurrent expenditure. The longer-term financing plan for EFA as outlined in Annex 5 adopts similar principles.

The EFA financing plan also projects forward current Government/MoEYS policy on salary reform. A key feature of the MTEP for ESSP implementation, which will be extended for the longer-term EFA plan, is the projected expenditure on performance and efficiency-based salaries reform. In order to achieve education service salary reform targets, taking account of potential constraints on broader salary rises for education staff.

MoEYS has introduced measures to increase responsibility at provincial levels for more detailed financial planning and resource allocation for individual recurrent and capital priority programs, including:

» Increased delegated authority to provincial education offices for formulating allocations to districts and schools for individual priority programs.

» Introduction of allocation formulae and criteria for PEOs for the planning of education facilities development funding, including piloting of financial management of these resources in six provinces from 2002.

» Continued capacity building for provincial authorities and districts/schools in program budget planning, management and reporting.

The EFA plan will build on these capacity building policies and programs over the longer-term.

6. Recurrent Program Management Processes

MoEYS is continuing to strengthen recurrent program management systems at various levels, especially preparation of clear guidelines on financial management responsibilities and reporting. These management arrangements, especially allocation of budget management centre responsibilities, will be reviewed on a regular basis. Any decisions for changes will take account of management performance over previous years and an assessment of capacity building exercises and their success.

The EFA plan will be implemented through continuation of use of Government recurrent budget management systems, including long-term strengthening of provincial, district and school level financial management/accounting systems. Budget provision for this comprehensive capacity building program is shown in the capital budget projections in Annex 4