Why It Worked: Critical Success Factors of a Financial Reform Project in Africa

Little is written about the critical success factors that make or break a project implementing a public financial management reform in Africa. Based on the twelve year experience of Harvard's DSA project which transformed Ethiopia's financial management in the third best on the continent, this paper presents the key factors of the projects success: task, context, patrons, roles, staff and decisions. The task was focused from the start on the basics of financial control (budget and accounts and their budget classification, chart of accounts and financial calendar) and the development of an often forgotten end state in PFM reform--the self-accounting unit. Three features of context supported the project: political (close ties between the US and Ethiopia government established during the civil war), task environment (a hard budget constraint) and, serendipity (a war that ensure one set of cooks in the kitchen and removed the inevitable critique by foreign aid agencies, and the government policy of second stage devolution--which made the focal point of district level decentralization). The third CSF, the projects patrons, stayed the course, met stated commitments and did not meddle. The project performed four roles (go-between in the vacuum of decentralization), decider (making the key decisions on pilots), first responder (providing PFM innovations not specified in the terms of reference) and perhaps most important, the furniture (an object that could be kicked and blamed). The project was able to assemble the array of essential staff: all rounders, managers, technicians, networkers and a closer.

Gladstone, Religion, Politics and America: Perceptions in the Press, 1868 – 1900

This thesis examines American perceptions of William Ewart Gladstone in the religious and secular press from 1868 to 1900. The scope of the study encompasses his role as a Christian apologist and his engagement in public affairs where religion and politics converged. The opinions of Americans are examined in the general categories of evangelicals, Roman Catholics, secular news organs and to a lesser extent Unitarians and agnostics. Gladstone’s reputation in the United States is followed through much of the latter half of the nineteenth century, beginning shortly after the close of the Civil War when Americans in the North held him in disrepute for his impolitic acknowledgement of Southern nationhood. This thesis demonstrates that American opinions of Gladstone were transformed as they increasingly perceived him to be a champion of Liberal reform and religious liberty and, especially for conservative evangelicals, a stalwart defender of Christian truth and civilisation against the rising tide of modern secularism. It also suggests that a pervasive anti-Catholicism inspired many in the United States to support Gladstone’s political causes. Finally, this study demonstrates that Americans projected their own values and myths on to the statesman. For many, he came to embody their progressive worldview with respect to the spread of religious and political liberty

Survival, Development and Population Dynamics of \u3ci\u3eEmpoasca Fabae\u3c/i\u3e (Homoptera: Cicadellidae) on Three Legume Hosts

Survival and development of potato leafhopper, Empoasca fabae, nymphs were measured on alfalfa (Medicago sativa), birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), and red clover (Trifolium pratense). Survival was not significantly different among host plants (mean = 62%). There was no interaction between sex and host plant for developmental time. Males developed significantly faster than females. Developmental time was fastest on alfalfa, intermediate on trefoil, and slowest on red clover. Plots of alfalfa, trefoil, and red clover were planted to compare the seasonal abundance of the potato leafhopper in the three forages. Nymphs were more abundant in trefoil than in alfalfa and red clover late in July, but no differences occurred on the other sample dates. At their peak, adults were more abundant in alfalfa than in trefoil and red clover

Reforming Public Financial Management in Africa

Successful public sector reform is rare in Africa. Over twelve years, Ethiopia transformed its public financial management (PFM) to international standards and now has the third best system in Africa that is managing the largest aid flows to the continent. This article presents a framework for understanding PFM reform based on the Ethiopian experience. Reforms succeed when they are aligned with the four drivers of public sector reform: COPS—context, ownership, purpose and strategy. Public financial management is a core function of the state and its sovereignty and it is not an appropriate arena for foreign aid intervention—governments must fully own it, which was a key to the success of Ethiopia’s reform. The purpose of PFM reform should be building stable and sustainable ‘plateaus’ of PFM that are appropriate to the local context and they should not be about risky and irrelevant ‘summits’ of international best practice. Plateaus not summits are needed in Africa. Finally, a strategy of reform has four tasks: recognize, improve, change, and sustain. Ethiopia succeeded because it implemented a recognize-improve-sustain strategy to support the government policy of rapid decentralization. All too often, much of PFM reform in Africa is about the change task and climbing financial summits

Rethinking the Millennium Development Goals for Africa

The global economy and especially its poorest members, face a perfect storm. The crisis has been created by a Global LIE: leverage that is unfathomable, institutions that are discredited, and, experts who are uncertain about the uncertainty. The poorest countries have been the hardest hit by the crisis, and their recovery may be years away. Under these circumstances, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are not a best bet development strategy for Africa. As a financing decision, developed countries have never adequately resourced the MDGs and are unlikely to do so in future as they face more pressing priorities: entitlements, terror, climate, stimulus, and unwinding. As an investment decision, the MDGs focus on social services, not infrastructure, which creates fiscal stress on the budget. The failure of the MDG to address revenue mobilization means that this strategy is fiscally unsustainable. A better strategy for foreign aid are DIGs (Decade Infrastructure Goals) that focus on the investment in growth promoting infrastructure (revenue, roads, power, and agriculture) rather than social services

Why it Worked: Critical Success Factors of a Financial Reform Project in Africa

Little is written about the critical success factors that make or break a project implementing a public financial management reform in Africa. Based on the twelve year experience of Harvard’s DSA project which transformed Ethiopia’s financial management in the third best on the continent, this paper presents the key factors of the projects success: task, context, patrons, roles, staff and decisions. The task was focused from the start on the basics of financial control (budget and accounts and their budget classification, chart of accounts and financial calendar) and the development of an often forgotten end state in PFM reform—the self-accounting unit. Three features of context supported the project: political (close ties between the US and Ethiopia government established during the civil war), task environment (a hard budget constraint) and, serendipity (a war that ensure one set of cooks in the kitchen and removed the inevitable critique by foreign aid agencies, and the government policy of second stage devolution—which made the focal point of district level decentralization). The third CSF, the projects patrons, stayed the course, met stated commitments and did not meddle. The project performed four roles (go-between in the vacuum of decentralization), decider (making the key decisions on pilots), first responder (providing PFM innovations not specified in the terms of reference) and perhaps most important, the furniture (an object that could be kicked and blamed). The project was able to assemble the array of essential staff: all rounders, managers, technicians, networkers and a closer

Geology of the Apache No. 2 Mining District Hidalgo County, New Mexico

The Apache Hills, 10 km south of Hachita, New Mexico are a WNW-trending series of low hills, approximately 12 km long. The rocks range in age from Paleozoic to Holocene. Limestone and sandstone of the Lower Cretaceous U-Bar and Mojado Formations are overlain by a thrust plate of Paleozoic limestone. The Oligocene Chapo Formation (new name) overlies the thrust plate uncomformably. The Formation is over 1,700 m thick and ranges in composition from rhyolite to basalt. The sedimentary and volcanic rocks have been intruded by several igneous rock types, the most prominent of which is a stock of quartz monzonite porphyry, elongated WNW. The stock was emplaced at shallow depth and has been dated at 27 m.y. The first post-Mojado structural event was the formation of thrust faults with attendant drag folds. Orientation of drag folds and fracture patterns in the footwall rocks suggest northeast yielding. WNW-trending open folds were subsequently formed. Volcanism began 30 m.y. later with the extrusion of quartz latite flows and culminated 3 m.y. later with intrusion of a quartz monzonite porphyry stock. Cauldron formation is suggested by the large volume of silicic flows, resurgent nature of the subvolcanic stock, the alignment of rhyolite dikes and plugs along possible cauldron margins, and possible moat deposits. Movement on high-angle faults post-date volcanic rocks. Two types of ore deposits are present. Contact metasomatic copper mineralization occurs adjacent to monzonite porphyry intrusive rocks at the Chapo, Sumertime, and Apache mines. Mineralization is characterized by pods and dissemination of chalcopyrite and secondary copper minerals in a calc-silicate gangue. Quartz-sulfide veins containing Pb, Zn, and Cu minerals are zoned peripheral to the center axis of the Apache stock. Their distribution appears to be related to possible couldron structures. Pervasive silification and quartz veining in the Mojado Formation coincides with a magnetic anomaly in secs. 12 and 13, T.29 S.,R. 14 W. South of the Apache mine, in sec. 13, T. 28 S., R. 14 W. and in adjacent areas, volcanic rocks of the Chapo Formation are propylitically altered and contain up to several percent pyrite