Planning Ministry's delegation reviews Egypt’s experience in linking SDGs to programs & performance budgets in Mexico.

A delegation from Egypt’s Ministry of Planning & Economic Development participated recently in a workshop on linking sustainable development goals (SDGs) and gender issues to balancing programs and performance.
 
The workshop has been organized by the United Nations Children’s Fund “UNICEF” - Egypt, in cooperation with the Global Network for Financial Transparency (GIFT).
The workshop was held in Mexico over a period of 3 days, with the participation of representatives from Colombia, Brazil, and Argentina.
H.E. Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, stressed the importance of strengthening cooperation with various international organizations, which are key partners in success, and benefiting from their international expertise in enhancing the efficiency of public spending, in line with Egypt's Vision 2030.
El-Said pointed out that the meetings and workshops are an appropriate opportunity to present the Egyptian experience and exchange experiences between countries.
Dr. Jamil Helmy, Assistant Minister of Planning and General Supervisor of the "Decent Life" project said that Egypt has pioneering experience in program and performance plans, which aim to improve public spending priorities and raise the efficiency of services provided to citizens.
For her part, Dr. Mona Essam, Assistant Minister for Sustainable Development Affairs and Head of the Sustainable Development Unit stressed the importance of the workshop in allowing countries to exchange experiences and lessons learned.
Moreover, Mr. Yasser Abdel Hakim, Director General of the Information Center, gave a detailed presentation on the integrated system for preparing and following up on the investment plan.
Abdul Hakim indicated that it includes a database of all investment projects in the country, follow-up of their implementation, as well as projects targeted to be completed in the year of the plan.
 
 
 
Similarly, Ahmed El-Shimy, Program Plans Officer at the Program and Performance Unit, reviewed the integration of sustainable development goals into follow-up and evaluation mechanisms, through the national system for monitoring and evaluating government performance "Adaa".
"Adaa" is the first electronic system to measure government performance following the latest international standards, referring to the system's strategic objectives.
El-Shimy also touched on the electronic system for following up on the national project for the development of the Egyptian countryside, "A Dignified Life", which was launched by the Ministry of Planning in early 2021, to measure and follow up the impact of the efforts undertaken by the state in the Egyptian countryside.
More than 58% of citizens benefit from the project, in addition to achieving all sustainable development goals, pointing to the inclusion of the system through the "Initiatives to Accelerate the Achieving Sustainable Development Goals" platform of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), according to El-Shimy.
Maryam Mahmoud, an economic researcher at the Sustainable Development Unit, explained the unit's actual steps in linking the investment plan flows for the fiscal years 2019/20, 2020/21, and 2021/22 with the goals of sustainable development.
During the transparency and community participation session, with the participation of Ambassador Khaled Shamaa, Egypt’s ambassador to Mexico, the ministry’s delegation reviewed the efforts made in this framework, including the mobile application “Sharek 2030”, as the first application for communication between the government and citizens.
The Sharek application is designed to spread awareness among citizens of sustainable development goals, projects, and related performance indicators.
The ministry's delegation also participated in the "Gender Issues and Children" session and reviewed efforts to integrate the most vulnerable groups (women, children, and people with special needs) into development plans.
The delegation referred to the issuance of the "Gender Responsive Sustainable Development Plan Guide", indicating that it is intended to increase the proportion of gender-responsive planning investments from the total investments directed to the human-building axis to 20% in the fiscal year plan (23/2024).
The workshop participants praised the Egyptian experience in linking sustainable development goals and gender issues to balancing programs and performance and automating the follow-up process.
Juan Pablo, Executive Director of the Global Network for Financial Transparency, stated that the Egyptian experience is a "learning resource" for the countries participating in the workshop and that it was able to achieve serious and tangible steps in a short time, compared to other countries whose experience began years ago.