Global Development Network

Overview

Strengthening Institutions to Improve Public Expenditure Accountability (SIIPEA) is a five-year project led by the Global Development Network (GDN) and the Results for Development Institute (R4D). The project supports 14 developing country research institutions including EPRC to produce reliable public expenditure analyses, reform proposals and shape policy debates.

The fundamental goal of the project is to improve development outcomes by increasing the effectiveness with which governments allocate and use their resources in the three sectors of health, education and water.

The program empowers research institutions to improve the quality of public expenditures in the health, education and water sectors by strengthening their institutional capacity for public expenditure analysis, policy alternatives development and constructive engagement with policymakers.

The project does this by supporting organisations as they carry out connected research, analysis and dissemination activities around program budgeting, cost-effectiveness, and benefit incidence analyses, as well as policy simulations and major budget reform proposals.

Objectives

The objectives of Strengthening Institutions to Improve Public Expenditure Accountability programme are:

• Building and strengthening institutional capacity for public expenditure analysis;
• Exploring the effectiveness of public service delivery in health, education and water;
• Emphasizing rigorous analysis, producing reliable public expenditure reform proposals and, thus, aiming to shape policy debates;
• Developing policy alternatives and tailored research communication and outreach in a peer-learning environment; and
• Producing internationally comparable information on public expenditure.

Funding

The project is fully supported by the Department for International Development (DFID), UK through its Governance and Transparency Fund (GTF). Thirty-eight organizations have received funding through the GTF, of which GDN’s grant is one of the largest at £5-million.

Since the commencement of the project in December 2008 to date, the EPRC has conducted analyses of public expenditures at the national level.

The Centre has engaged in concerted dissemination and outreach efforts involving policymakers, media and other relevant stakeholders at country and global levels.

EPRC has conducted research and analysis in program budgeting, benefit incidence, and cost-effectiveness analysis and policy simulations in health, education and water.

Researchers have participated in technical training through global and regional workshops, technical advisors and sector experts. Peer-learning and cross-country comparisons support research and analysis, and strengthen global interconnectedness.