Published on : 1/05/21 3:08 AM
From October 28 to 30, 2020, was held in the city of Mbankomo, a workshop for sharing and upgrading of actors in the steering and monitoring of sectoral budget support (ABS) of the 3rd Contract of Debt Reduction and Development C2D. This workshop comes within the framework of the additional bilateral debt cancellation effort of France, through the Debt Reduction and Development Contracts (C2D), Cameroon and France signed, on June 30, 2016, a 3rd Contract worth €611 M (≈ 400 Bn FCFA) covering the period 2017-2025. The contract sets aside €185.5 M (≈ 121 Bn FCFA) for an envelope of sector budget support (SBS) to be provided in the form of three-year grants, and intended to support Cameroon’s growth and sustainable development policies.
As indicated in the C2D Contract, the priority of the SBAs is to finance social sector activities in the most fragile regions of Cameroon. They pursue both sectoral objectives, as set out in the national strategies, and objectives in terms of governance in public finance management and appropriation of the provisions of the renewed State financial regime. Finally, this support is also complementary to C2D project aid.
Through allocation agreement No. CCM 1577 01 U, signed on March 11, 2020, new sectoral budget support of €103.4 million (i.e., 67,825,953,800 CFA francs) has been set up for the 2020-2022 triennium. In line with the general guidelines for the SBS of the 3rd C2D, this operation aims to reduce inequalities in access to basic services by supporting a more effective and equitable budgetary policy. More specifically, this financing has the following objectives
The Ministry of Finance is in charge of steering and coordinating the entire operation. It is within this framework that the Committee in charge of monitoring budgetary support for the 3rd C2D for the period 2020-2022 was set up by Order N°00000673/MINFI of June 15, 2020. The composition of the said Committee was established on September 21, 2020. An Individual Consultant in charge of supporting the coordination and the technical and financial monitoring of the sectoral budget support of the 3rd C2D 2020-2022 has been recruited.
To enable all the actors involved in this process to identify the implementation procedures and to appropriate the philosophy, the spirit, the interest and the stakes in accordance with the canons of the SBS procedures manual, and to edify the managers of the administrations benefiting from the support on the actions to be carried out, the Minister of Finance authorized the holding of a workshop for sharing and upgrading the actors.
To achieve this goal, eight papers were delivered:
The first presentation was made by Ms. Sophie BOUMSONG, Head of the Budget Reform Division at the Ministry of Finance and Coordinator of the Technical Secretariat of the Committee in charge of monitoring budget support for the 3rd C2D. Her presentation focused on general information about the SBA of the 3rd C2D in terms of its history, objectives, challenges and principles.
The second presentation was given by Ms. Chantal ELOMBAT, Director of the Bureau de Mise à Niveau des Entreprises (BMN). This presentation focused on the general presentation of the BMN and the contribution of the ABS 3rd C2D to the achievement of the missions assigned to this entity.
Mr. NJOH Michelin and Mr. BILOUNGA Patrick, respectively Coordinator of the Management Unit of the Social Safety Net Program (PFS) and Head of Information Systems within the said program, developed the third theme of the workshop, which dealt with the general presentation of the PFS and the contribution of the 3rd C2D SBS to the achievement of its objectives.
Mr. DOKO EDJANE Mathieu Alain, Director of Financial Resources at the Ministry of Basic Education gave a presentation on the programs “Universalization of the primary cycle” and “Governance and institutional support of the Basic Education sub-sector” supported by the SBS: status report, expected sectoral results for the SBS 2020-2022, indicators and their level of achievement.
The health voucher mechanism set up at MINSANTE and supported by the SBA of the 3rd C2D was the subject of the fifth presentation of this workshop. This presentation was made by Dr. OKALLA ABODO Raphaël Thérèse, Coordinator of the joint MINSANTE/AFD/KFW program.
The sixth presentation was made by Mr. ETEME NDJOMO of the C2D Technical Support Secretariat (STADE C2D). It dealt with the terms and conditions for disbursing C2D funds: the conditions for using the C2D grant, the terms and conditions for disbursement, the specific commitments that Cameroon must implement throughout the duration of the program, and the conditions precedent that must be lifted at each disbursement.
The organization and functioning of the Monitoring Committee in charge of monitoring the budgetary support of the 3rd C2D for the period 2020-2022 was discussed in seventh place. The workshop was presented by Mr. BEKONO BEKONO Marc Désiré, Head of the Unit for Monitoring the Implementation of the Reform Partnership – DREF/DGB-MINFI.
The eighth presentation of the workshop was made by Mr. NTSAMA OYONO Christian, Technical Assistant in charge of coordination support and technical and financial monitoring of the 3rd C2D 2020-2022 sectoral budget support. This last presentation of the workshop focused on reporting tools and methods to achieve the objectives assigned to each program.
At the end of this workshop, whose initial objectives were largely achieved, all the actors in charge of steering and implementing the sectoral budget support of the 3rd C2D 2020-2022 made a firm commitment to contribute and ensure the success of this operation.
