The Ministry of Planning and Economic Development organizes a workshop on “The Institutional Framework Supporting the Activation of Program Plans and Performance”

The Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, represented by the Programs and Performance Unit, held an interactive workshop entitled “The Institutional Framework Supporting the Activation of Program and Performance Plans”.

The workshop witnessed the presence of Muhammad Al-Sabki, Advisor to the Minister of Finance, Head of the Programs and Performance Budget Unit, representatives of CAOA (Central Agency for Organization & Administration) as well as 90 officials from the strategic, planning, follow-up, and budget departments in about 27 ministries and government agencies.

Dr. Jamil Helmy, Assistant Minister of Planning for Sustainable Development Plan Follow-up Affairs, and Head of the Programs and Performance Unit, said that the objectives of the workshop are to reach the best practices in implementing programs and performance, by discussing and agreeing on a unified and integrated institutional framework that takes into account the circumstances of each entity, ensuring the activation of the implementation of programs. 

Helmy stressed the importance of having a mechanism to ensure the sustainability of work teams concerned with programs and performance and to provide institutional memory in all entities, stressing the necessity of implementing specialized training programs to address technical gaps, in a way that ensures the effective implementation of program and performance budgets and plans.

Dr. Jamil Helmy reviewed the results of the study conducted by the Programs and Performance Unit to diagnose the current situation in 19 ministries.

He further noted that about 95% of the participating ministries had strategic departments established, 63% of which reported directly to the minister, which confirms the government’s interest in activating the role of these departments. 

He added that the study showed that the process of preparing and monitoring program and performance budgets is carried out by committees and work teams in about 69% of the ministries, which include representatives of the strategic departments and financial affairs departments.

 Helmy said that 26% is carried out by the strategic planning departments, pointing out that the departments have a role in preparing and implementing Program budgets and performance.

  The departments include strategic, financial affairs, internal audit, human resources, equal opportunities, human rights and sustainable development units. About the optimal situation for program implementation and performance, the study indicated that 84% of participants stressed the need for departments to follow strategy.

 The departments also include organizing specialized training courses for those responsible for preparing the program and performance budgets, determining the objectives and sub-programs of each government agency, and how to choose projects that are appropriate to the nature of the entity’s work and its role in achieving Egypt’s Vision 2030.

Helmy also touched on the requirements for preparing budgets, programs, and performance plans (22 requirements), the most important of which is defining strategic performance indicators for each entity, with the need to integrate gender, human rights, and environmental sustainability indicators into follow-up and evaluation reports.

  Helmy reviewed the institutional frameworks for preparing and monitoring program and performance budgets in the Ministries of Endowments, Social Solidarity, Supply and Internal Trade, and Water Resources and Irrigation.

Moreover, he hailed the efforts of the Central Agency for Organization and Administration (CAOA) in the field of institutional reform in the state’s administrative apparatus.

For his part, Muhammad Al-Sobky, Advisor to the Minister of Finance, reviewed the importance of budgeting programs and performance in light of the Consolidated Public Finance Law No. (6) of 2022, and the efforts made by the government to implement and prepare the budget of programs and performance, and the basic pillars of the effective implementation of programs and performance.

  Al-Sobky stressed that the program and performance budget include the objectives of the economic and social development plan, which is funded from all sections of the state’s general budget, in line with Egypt’s Vision 2030 and the government’s work program.

Aya Khaled, representative of the Central Administration for Institutional Efficiency in the Central Agency for Organization and Administration, discussed the agency’s role in activating the program budget and performance and touched on the decision of the President of the Central Agency for Organization and Administration No. (86) of 2019 regarding the creation of an organizational division for strategic management in the units of the state’s administrative apparatus.

The “The Institutional Framework Supporting the Activation of Program and Performance Plans”  witnessed large participation from 25 ministries: Finance, Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities, Communications and Information Technology, Trade and Industry, Youth and Sports, Justice, Civil Aviation, Education and Technical Education, Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Agriculture and Land Reclamation, Water Resources.