Sarajevo: CEF Co-facilitated Discussion on the Role of Line Ministries in PFM
On June 14, we had an opportunity to hear from public officials from the Ministry of Finance and Treasury, the Federal Ministry of Finance, and other line ministries from Bosnia and Herzegovina how learning events at the CEF inspired their thinking and added value to their work.
We continue our tour of in-country meetings (the first one took place in May, 2018 in Skopje, Macedonia) in conclusion of the “Strengthening Financial Management Functions of Line Ministries” project, funded by the World Bank’s SAFE Trust Fund (established by the EU and SECO). Those meetings are aimed at learning and networking with finance officials, and promoting in-country knowledge and experience exchange among different government actors and sectors.
In Sarajevo, we presented the main project outcomes, more specifically the CEF Line Ministries Portal, which is up and running to serve as a key online learning space supporting knowledge and experience exchange in public financial management (PFM) among officials working at ministries of finance and line ministries in South East Europe.
We heard from everyone about their learning experience at the CEF and how they are applying the knowledge gained at those events and as part of the project. We captured participants’ appreciation for: getting a better (shared) understanding; gaining a bigger picture; listening to real case stories, practical experiences, and sharing of similar challenges; growing more mutual trust; stronger collaboration and support, as well as improved use of technical assistance.
Participants shared their ideas for future learning events that they would be interested to attend. We reflected, for example, on learning needs related to the costing and financing of the education and health sector, as well as to the introduction of program budgeting. The areas identified reconfirmed the needs assessment, on which we will base our Learning Program for 2019 and beyond. We concluded the meeting with a short introduction of our forthcoming learning initiatives, aimed in particular at line ministries’ finance departments, which will offer new opportunities to strengthen their capacities through different learning initiatives.
We reconfirmed the importance to see each learner as an expert in his/her own domain who can share and exchange knowledge, experience and good practice.