Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Random thoughts on Improving PFM Technical Assistance

'The best solutions are those where international experience is judiciously mixed with local genius'-Suhas Joshi

Some more comments on Richard Allen's post about improving effectiveness of PFM TAs';

- I don't see any problems in moving towards what locals and advisers see as best practice; as long we consider that there are many recipes of 'best practice'

-TA reports should always start the dialogue, but how does one institutionalise discussion and follow up of TA reports on PFM? Which committees should be responsible, and at which level?

- Mr. Joshi also makes importance points in the comments-'countries therefore do not need large prescriptive reports but help is resolving the constraints they have'. I fully agree, 'it is more useful to have as a TA someone who understands the country and has spent some time there'

- One of the biggest problems I've seen are consultants who want to take you for a ride- this is a problem for assistance provided by some international donors who have weak internal expertise, exceptions include World Bank and IMF. Countries need to seriously think the donor they approach for reform PFM areas and whether they have a comparative advantage in them.

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