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with regard to the receipt and management of foreign grants that is used by the government in general, and more speciically within the marine sector or marine conservation sector.
A. SCOPE OF WORK
The assessment includes the ‘upstream stage’, which refers to the process of developing Indonesian marine conservation strategic plans and their derived annual work plans. This aims
to determine government and other stakeholders’ roles in the achievement of targets or performance indicators, in the lead-up to the allocation of funding. The assessment also includes
the ‘downstream stage’, which consists of the annual government budgeting process. This aims to ensure that annual government budgets relect their annual plans, which in turn derive from
the medium-term development framework. This process may identify inconsistencies between planning and resource allocation for programs or activities. It is also expected to identify gaps in
the funding provided by national and local governments that need to be illed, and that should be available for the marine conservation sector in Indonesia.
The planning stage is key to the subsequent stages in the inancial process, especially when foreign grants are not recorded in planning activities, which is then relected in government
budget and implementation documents. The process of budgeting, funds disbursement, and inancial reporting depends heavily on the planning process, as any grant that goes unrecorded
in government planning will not be able to be identiied at the later stages.
The assessment of the budgeting process will include the channeling of funds to other parties, such as NGOs, local governments, and communities. This covers the mechanism used to distribute
funds to ultimate recipients, the inancial management of the funds, and the procurement of goodsservices using these funds. Budget effectiveness is a critical point for assessment here,
to ensure that proposed budgets are suficient to enable the achievement of performance indicators, which is a priority of government programs.
Government processes in relation to the procurement of goods and services will also be visited to provide information on transparency and accountability. Monitoring and control of
the utilization of goods and services will also be assessed. This aims to ensure the reliability and integrity of processes as well as the suficiency of regulations with regard to foreign grants.
The funds disbursement process in the government system will also be examined, starting with requests for payment, up to the disbursement of funds to third parties. Government units have
1.
Source: USAID Factsheet: 2010, USAID Announces USAID FORWARD Reform Agenda, USAID website: http:transition.usaid.govpressfactsheets2010fs101118.html
2.
Source: Lister: 2008, Risks and Rewards in Using Country Systems, Mokoro Seminar, Oxford as quoted from Annual Report 2010, Jakarta Commitment Aid for Development Efectiveness
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actually managed this process for years and revisiting it is considered necessary to assess the associated timeframes and any accompanying complications.
The inancial reporting mechanism used at the lowest units of government or non-government organizations will be assessed, and comparison made between the existing relevant regulations
and actual performance. This aims to determine the exact timeframe required to complete, and contents of, reports produced as part of the government periodic reporting system. Samples
will be taken to ensure that the quality of information submitted is suficient.
Monitoring and evaluation activities with regard to government-funded programs will be assessed for effectiveness through an examination of available reports and documents, this will
include related follow-up activities. Monitoring and evaluation methodologies and tools will also be assessed to see whether any additional approaches can be adopted.
Auditing and oversight processes include both the internal and external auditing of government- funded activities, including those implemented at the district level. The inancial auditing system
will be visited to evaluate the adequacy of its technical aspects. This will include an analysis of audit report samples, along with an assessment of auditor competency and supervisory
mechanisms.
Performance auditing is conducted with regard to activities funded by the annual government budget. This component of the auditing program along with related reports will be analyzed
to assess the suficiency of technical aspects. Follow-up of results will also be focused on as a critical element in the auditing process. Finally, conclusions will be made on the adequacy
of existing government inancial and performance auditing practices and whether additional auditing is needed.
B. METHODOLOGY
