The Centre for Development Finance, Institute for Financial Management and Research, and the
Accountability Initiative, Centre for Policy Research, are delighted to invite you to a conference entitled
“From Outlays to Outcomes: Getting Development from Development Expenditures”
on Tuesday, 25th August 2009.
The conference will be held at the “Dome”, Taj Ambassador Hotel, Sujan Singh Park, New Delhi from 9.30am onwards .
Drawing together eminent policy‐makers, practitioners, civil society activists and academics, the conference aims to create a meaningful dialogue on the processes and mechanisms for strengthening transparency and accountability in the implementation of social sector programs in India.
Shri. Abhijit Sen, Member, Planning Commission will deliver the keynote address.
Deliberations at the conference will emphasize three key issues:
1. Getting the design right: Strengthening planning, institutional arrangements and processes for monitoring and tracking funds.
2. Monitoring outcomes: Identifying tools and processes to ensure that outcomes are tracked regularly, and progress on outcomes is disseminated widely.
3. Using Information Technology (IT): Harnessing the potential of IT to track fund flows, and monitor processes and program implementation.
The conference will provide a forum for key stakeholders –policy‐makers, practitioners, civil society and academics –to exchange ideas, draw lessons from experience, and identify solutions to what is perhaps the greatest challenge faced by the government: ensuring accountability in the money spent. The conference will also bring together researchers and practitioners from around the world to share their experiences and best practice. The deliberation and recommendations drawn from this exchange will be disseminated widely to encourage a greater debate and catalyze action for change.
The conference will close with a moderated panel discussion to debate the issue from practitioners’ perspectives. The panel discussion will begin at 18.00 hrs.
We look forward to seeing you. Please confirm your participation by writing to us at:
achieve.outcomes@gmail.com .
Existing institutions do not confirm to the ideal of "Government-of the people-for the people-by the people". Overcentralised administrative set-up does not result in accountability of grass-root public authorities, that have interface with citizens and are accountable only to their administrative superiors.
ReplyDeleteRTI Act has changed the situation: a citizen can demand the records from any level of administrative authority. Typically, a citizen is concerned with authority at lowest rung, with whome he/she interacts. Effective accountaility of the lowest rung of administrative hierarchy is the crux of he problem.
Partly, the solution may lie in enforcing public disclosure on outome / outlay/ performance at the lowest level undersection 4(2) of RTI Act, to enable every beneiciary to make his/her own assessment on whether the grass root public authority is performing or not.
Quality of disclosure and dissemination of information under section 4 of RTI Act needs to upgraded to enable effective public accountability and effective acountability to the "beneficiary" of development expenditure.This is an area where intense research is needed and one can begin with grass-root disclosure/dissemination of information in each flagship program.