The Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) program held its Steering Committee meeting on June 11-12, 2025. This event was hosted by the European Commission (EC) in Brussels, Belgium with participation from all the PEFA Partners. The meeting was chaired by Eric Deschoenmaeker from EC.
In his welcome remarks, Antti Karhunen, Director at the European Commission emphasized the importance of public financial management (PFM) and appreciated the positive impact of PEFA in improving PFM across countries.
The committee reviewed the progress report for the PEFA program, summarizing major activities and achievements in the first half of the year. The report highlighted significant strides in various areas of public financial management. In addition, many PEFA initiatives and work items were discussed, appreciated and approved.
The meeting also featured several presentations on topics like EU technical support to member states on PFM (by Marcin Brauhoff, European Commission), PEFA Gender experience in Zambia (by Nsandi Manza, Accountant General, Zambia), PEFA++ in Uganda (by Michael Okwakol, Ministry of Finance, Uganda), and a knowledge sharing presentation on Fiscal Institutions (by Jordi Baños Rivera, World Bank). These sessions provided valuable insights and shared best practices.
On the sidelines of the meeting, AskPEFA AI, an AI agent for the PEFA website was formally launched by the Chair, Eric Deschoenmaeker, who expressed enthusiasm in the new tool’s ability to answer PEFA related questions and invited all to use the tool.
The meeting also approved of the Revised Work Plan and Budget for the PEFA program, ensuring effective management of PEFA initiative.
The PEFA Steering Committee meets twice a year. It is composed of representatives of the following PEFA partners: the European Commission, International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development Agency (AFD), Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic, and the Ministry of Finance of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg.
The PEFA Steering Committee is responsible for: (a) providing overall strategic guidance and direction on the implementation of the PEFA program; (b) deciding on operational strategies and procedures; (c) approving annual work plans and budgets proposed by the PEFA Secretariat; (d) reviewing the progress in the implementation of approved activities; and (e) establishing working groups or subcommittees to assist in the technical and specific non-technical aspects of developing and maintaining the PEFA program.
The PEFA Secretariat is responsible for implementing the Steering Committee’s policies and approved work plans; delivering agreed services to the PEFA partner organizations and to other stakeholders as agreed by program policies; and reporting to the Steering Committee on progress of activities and progress against results targets.
