Kicking off PFM in Asia, the PEFA Secretariat and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) co-organized the PEFA Flagship Training in Asia November 2023. In attendance was more than 100 participants from the region. The Flagship Training was accompanied by a webinar on PFM in Gender and Climate. Here are some highlights from the events.
Webinar on Gender Equality and Climate Resilience: Role of Public Financial Management
Preceding the Flagship PEFA Training in Asia, the webinar on Gender Equality and Climate Resilience: Role of Public Financial Management, was organized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) with the participation of the PEFA Secretariat. Fatima Yasmin, Vice President, Asian Development Bank provided the opening remarks.
The event began with a panel discussion on Gender Responsive Budgeting. The PEFA team was represented by both Srinivas Gurazada, Head of the PEFA Secretariat, who underlined that: "Gender PFM is about good PFM, it is about men and women, everyone matters", and Mona El-Chami, Senior Governance Specialist, who presented the application of PEFA Gender in Asia and the Pacific, as well as globally.
The PEFA team also took part in the panel discussion on climate change. "We have to get public financial management climate responsive, and PEFA Climate is a tool to use in order to assess it", said Srinivas Gurazada. Antonio Blasco, Senior Governance specialist, declared that it is important for the public sector to track and report on climate change policies and highlighted that “You cannot have Climate actions if you do not plan accordingly and incorporate in the budget cycle. What you can measure, you can manage."
During the webinar on Gender Equality and Climate Resilience there were interesting discussions followed by a Q&A session. The Gender Equality and Climate Resilience event was closed by the Director General Aman Trana and Yoko Watanabe, Director Environment, CCSD, ADB who highlighted that “Our role is to lay the foundations for changes and the next generations will continue and finish the work."
PEFA Flagship Training in Asia
The two-and-a-half-day PEFA Flagship Training in Asia on November 8-10, 2023, organized by the PEFA Secretariat and the Asian Development Bank, was kicked-off by the ADB Vice-President Bruce Gosper. Participating in the opening session was Srinivas Gurazada, Head of the PEFA Secretariat, Srinivasan Janardanam, ADB Director, and Julitta Ponniah, the Senior Financial Management Specialist, ADB.
Senior PFM experts from the PEFA Secretariat - Helena Ramos, Antonio Blasco, Guillaume Brule, and Mona El-Chami - presented an overview of the PEFA products and process, with practical exercises, quizzes, and a lot of interesting discussion.
The PEFA Framework in ten languages and the related Guidance materials in four different languages are available on the PEFA website. With the large number of participants from sub-national governments, there was a special interest in the recently published Guidance for Sub-National PEFA Assessments.
Considering the increasing number of PEFA assessments, particularly combining the use of the PEFA Framework with an array of additional PEFA methodologies, the presentations on the supplementary framework PEFA Gender and PEFA Climate were specifically designed to provide hands-on training and facilitate technical discussions between different stakeholders including assessors with PFM, Gender, and/or Climate change expertise. There was much interest in the examples from the application of PEFA Gender in 41 countries, and application of PEFA Climate piloting in 20 countries.
The participants were interested in the guidance materials distributed during the training and in the PEFA Products: Pocket Guide, which provides the corresponding QR codes for easy access to all PEFA Products. There was much enthusiasm and collaboration surrounding the presentations. Certificates of participation were awarded to all participants who completed the training sessions.
This video, developed by the ADB team, highlights the views of PFM leaders and practitioners participating in the PEFA Flagship Training in Asia and it reflects on the importance of PFM, the benefits of PEFA assessments, how development partners use PEFA, among many other takeaways.
Having questions? Contact PEFA Secretariat at: services@pefa.org
