Background

Further to the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in January 2005, pledges over USD 4.5 billion worth of external aid were made at the April 2005 Oslo conference against the Sudanese JAM Framework. This presents an immediate challenge to foreign and national partners to deliver and absorb aid rapidly and efficiently to achieve the JAM results and contribute to the MDGs.

This situation calls for the establishment of a transparent government-led result-based aid management system that delivers aid efficiently and effectively - from the points of view of both donors and recipients. This project will build the first block of such a system in the form of an assistance information database (AID) that will track pledges and map proposed and approved program/ project by sector and location. In direct link with this regular information tool, the project will support the construction and facilitate the operation of dialogue and decision-making structures among the various partners so that information regarding the planning, conception and implementation of the projects/programs circulates in a transparent manner among experts and decision-makers.

However, the immediate need for accurate and timely monitoring of aid flows and projects to ensure their effective use according to agreed national priorities must not undermine the need to organize the shift from an externally-managed mode - a small portion of aid currently goes directly to indigenous partners and almost none as Direct Budget Support (DBS) - to a nationally-managed mode. The establishment of principled MDTFs goes in that direction. But the long-term road to ownership of aid management presupposes that joint capacity assessments of public financial management systems have been performed and a capacity-building strategy developed jointly between donor and national partners. With time, this will allow greater use of national country systems to deliver and administer foreign aid so that full alignment on partners priorities on one hand and on national implementation modalities on the other hand can be claimed.

Objectives
The key objectives for the project are to:
• Develop the capacities of the Government, with MIC as a focal point, to perform its aid related functions: collection and dissemination of information, fund mobilization, monitoring and evaluation, and coordination and regulation of partners’ relations.
• Promote and encourage the incorporation and harmonization of aid strategies, policies and processes within appropriate national management systems

The Project’s intended outcome as stated in the Country Program Results and Resource Framework, is ‘to lay the foundation of a Government-led and results-based aid management system that handles external humanitarian and development resources in a transparent and accountable manner which is in line with agreed national priorities’. The broader development objective is to ensure that Official Development Assistance (ODA) contributes effectively and efficiently to national reconstruction, poverty eradication and conflict prevention in the Sudan

Snapshots of the project's major achievements
• Aid Management and Coordination Unit (AMCU) established in MIC and equipped
• The ministerial focal points network established includes 23 line and technical ministries.
• Installation of the IT network and related infrastructure
• Paris Declaration Survey 2008
• Capacity development is concentrating on Basic Skills and aid management related issues across the whole ministry (and line ministries) targeting mainly junior and middle grades staff and also included practical on the job support and mentoring:
• MIC website and the Sudan Aid Information Database (SAID) were launched in April 2010 (http://mic.gov.sd/)
  o The website contains legacy aid data since independence to the year 2008
  o The website has annual aid reports covering the periods 2005-2008
  o The website contains all aid related documents and agreements
• AMCU Participated in many of the international events on aid management and effectiveness to interact and follow up with the international aid community on changes and updates in the field of aid and provide opportunities of exposure and active participation to staff members
• Assessment and support of the aid management structures in the aid intensive states (Blue Nile, South Kordofan and Kassala)
• MIC M&E Unit established and equipped