SHIPDET Special Topic Courses on Results-based Planning, Budgeting and Evaluation completed in Shanghai
SHIPDET Special Topic Courses on Results-based Planning, Budgeting and Evaluation, co-sponsored by the Ministry of Finance of China and the Asian Development Bank, co-organized by the Asia-Pacific Community of Practice on Managing for Development Results and the Asia-Pacific Finance and Development Center was held from March 26 to March 30, 2012 in Shanghai, China.
The training brought together 47 participants from the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Planning and other government departments of 12 countries in South Asia and Southeast Asia, including Bangladesh, India, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, and China.
The opening ceremony was chaired by Dr. Peng Runzhong, Director of AFDC on March 26. Dr. Li Kouqing, Deputy Director-General of AFDC and Ms. Farzana Ahmed, Lead Results Management Specialist of ADB delivered opening remarks respectively on behalf of the organizers of the training.
One of the core faculty of the training course was distinguished Professor Allen Schick from the University of Maryland of the USA. Before he came to the Maryland School of Public Policy, he served as a senior specialist at the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress. During the first two and a half days of the training, he elaborated on critical linkages of planning and budgeting in managing for development results, implementing results-based budgeting, the logic, benefits and limitations of medium-term expenditure frameworks (MTEF), and fiscal decentralization: governing for results.
The second part of the training was instructed by Prof. Joseph Capuno from School of Economics, University of the Philippines. He briefly touched upon monitoring and evaluation for development results, then introduced some evaluation techniques and finally focused on impact evaluation and talked about the logic as well as the benefits and limitations of impact evaluation. To give participants an in-depth understanding of this hot issue, he assigned each group a case study and asked participants to sketch an IE design for the case. Such hands-on learning experience would equip participants with relevant knowledge and skills in conducting impact evaluation.
Following each session instructed by experts, there has been a breakout group discussion as well as a country presentation on that specific topic. During the expert facilitated group presentation period, participants were encouraged to share their perspectives, report their discussion findings and actively interact with their counterparts on many important issues. The discussions were commented upon and finally summed up by experts at the end of each discussion session. Participants benefited a lot from this training pattern.
Amid the busy training schedule, participants were also invited to take part in a river cruise on the Huangpu River arranged by the organizers of the training. Before this field trip actually took place, an orientation on Shanghai and the Bund was introduced by the AFDC team, which helped participants to learn more of the city of Shanghai besides the training subject.
