Decentralisation support programme

The decentralisation support programme is a 15 million Euro programme, the aim of which is to:

- support the steering of decentralisation at the national level;

- build capacities to enable the provinces of Kinshasa and North Kivu to improve their efficiency, particularly in the provision of basic services and the management of public finances.

The specific objective of the service contract is to ensure the coordination, annual planning, implementation, monitoring and reporting of both strands of the decentralisation support programme and to perform the financial and contractual management of the actions implemented by the institutions and structures concerned.

The expected results and the main activities are:

For the national component:

- The Technical Support Unit for Decentralisation (CTAD, Cellule technique d’appui à la décentralisation in French) is operational. The CTAD is responsible for steering the training of officials from the line ministries.

- The Financial and Budgetary Study Unit (CEFB, Cellule d’études financières et budgétaires in French) is capable of analysing and better managing the financial decentralisation.

- Civil society is aware of the key aspects of decentralisation.

- The capacities of the Permanent Secretariat of the Conference of Governors (Secrétariat Permanent de la Conférence des Gouverneurs in French) are strengthened.

For the provincial component:

- The provincial authorities are capable of providing basic services.

- The budget programming is improved and the management of public finances is enhanced.

- Essential buildings in the province of Kinshasa and in the provincial administration of North Kivu are rehabilitated or built and a database of the property assets is established.

From an operational point of view, a "Programme Management Unit" has been set up in Kinshasa, with an administrator and an accountant. The public finance and public management experts are to work between Kinshasa and North Kivu. The programme is to be implemented via indirect decentralised management. The administrator and the accountant, with the support of the technical assistance team, are in charge of developing and carrying out the successive programme estimates, awarding contracts, granting subsidies, incurring expenditure and making payments.

The long-term technical assistance team, comprising an administrator, an accountant, a public finance specialist and a public management specialist, was expected to contribute toward:

- the Project Management Unit (PMU), in order to ensure the day-to-day management of the programme, to define the most appropriate operating methods to implement the actions selected by the Technical Committee and the Steering Committee, to manage the programme estimates, to set up a system to follow up and manage a database to monitor the programme indicators, to develop a guide on administrative, financial and accounting procedures and a computerised management system for the PMU, to prepare a communication-visibility plan, to draw up a training plan, and to prepare the short-term expert assignments;

- the capacity building of the operational and coordinated consultation and technical bodies (the Technical Support Unit for Decentralisation (CTAD), the Financial and Budgetary Study Unit (CEFB), the Permanent Secretariat of the Conference of Governors), of civil society and of the provincial administrations: support to develop and disseminate the legal framework for decentralisation; structuring of provincial finance management; setting up of a provincial budget planning and management system aligned with the objectives of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) by improving services and assisting in the organisation of provincial public administration.