The African Development Bank Group (AfDB Group) held a capacity-building workshop between July 10 and 12, to improve management and monitoring of projects financed or co-financed by the Bank in Senegal. The workshop, a joint initiative by the Bank's country office in Senegal and its Disbursement Division, took place from in the coastal town of Saly, 70 km south-east of Dakar.

Bringing together Bank project coordinators, administrative and financial officers, and accountants, as well as representatives of Senegal's public expenditure departments involved in project monitoring and implementation, the workshop provided training in the Bank's disbursement rules and procedures.

"The objective of the workshop, to build the capacity of units managing projects that are financed by the Bank Group, was achieved. This workshop will enable better understanding of the rules and procedures for disbursement, increasing fluency in the process of disbursing funds that have been mobilized for development projects," said Abdoulaye Kane, head of the Disbursement Division of the Bank's Financial Control Department. "The ultimate aim is to improve the quality of incoming disbursement files, to substantially reduce the rate of rejection of disbursement files, and to provide to funds to contractors more quickly."

Massata Fall, in charge of the Bank's portfolio in Senegal, said: "It is important for directors and administrative and financial managers to be familiar with and proficient in these disbursement methods, since this will reduce the rate of disbursement rejections and speed up the disbursement process."

Participants expressed satisfaction with the training. "We would like to thank the African Development Bank for making this support available, and for the quality of the support. I would stress the importance of completing projects in a way that is satisfactory for all parties, and the value of these projects for institution-building," said Ms. Valentine Ogougbemi Diop, chief accountant at a project to develop transport routes linking inaccessible production regions in Senegal.

Oumou Kalsome Hane, program manager at Senegal's Public Expenditure Approval Department, said: "The training was very valuable because it gave us a clearer understanding of the disbursement procedures followed by the African Development Bank, and helped us understand the process, from request formulation right through to project closure."

The training was followed by bilateral working sessions involving Bank Group experts and local project managers, to clarify specific concerns.