The African Development Bank Group's Fiduciary and Inspection Department, in collaboration with the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) Secretariat of the World Bank Group, conducted a flagship training on the PEFA framework for public financial management experts in Eastern Africa.
The event, which held from September 16-18, 2025, was attended by over 60 participants from the Bank Group, its regional member countries in Eastern Africa, and representatives from the World Bank. It sought to empower participants with skills in applying the PEFA framework, a globally recognized tool that provides a robust assessment of the effectiveness of public financial management systems.
Public financial management, or PFM, refers to how governments plan, collect, allocate, spend, and account for public funds to deliver services and achieve sustainable, transparent, and equitable growth.
The training offered practical guidance on incorporating climate and gender considerations into budget planning, policy development, and expenditure monitoring, to improve the impact and inclusiveness of government spending.
Opening the event on behalf of Alex Mubiru, Bank Group Director General for East Africa, Bubacarr Sankareh, Lead Operations Advisor, emphasized that PFM is "a cornerstone of development" essential for achieving Agenda 2063, the SDGs, and the Bank's vision for the continent's development. He reiterated the importance of capacity-building in light of evolving challenges and the growing focus on the utility of development programs.
Kenya's Principal Secretary for the National Treasury, Chris Kiptoo, highlighted the role of PFM in building trust with citizens, noting that "demands for good governance, accountability and transparency are enormous. Having staff who understand the focus of PEFA in the management of our country's public finance management institutions help to ensure that public funds are handled properly, and that all stakeholders work together to achieve value for money in the use of public resources."
Legesse Eshetu, Manager of the Bank Group's Financial Management Division for East Southern regions and Nigeria, underscored the importance of evidence-based approaches to public financial management policy reform, and the central role of diagnostic tools in shaping effective interventions.
Srinivas Gurazada, Head of the PEFA Secretariat, stressed the importance of collaboration with development partners, national governments and civil society, among others. "The strength of PEFA lies not only in the robustness of the framework but also in the partnerships that underpin its application," he said.
Participants reflected positively on the practical insights gained during the training. Margaret Kamau, Principal Climate Change and Green Growth Officer at the African Development Bank, described it as both eye-opening and informative--particularly the opportunity to collaborate with peers from other countries and exchange lessons. "My key takeaway is that PEFA assessment is a diagnostic tool--not the medicine. It should be conducted based on the current state of the public financial management system, not on how we wish it to be," she noted.
Linet Miriti, AfDB Chief Gender Officer, wishes she had benefited from the training earlier. "If I had completed this training beforehand, my work would have been more focused, efficient, and rigorous," she said.
"When you get PFM right, you get everything right," said Yusuf Karo, of Kenya's National Treasury, urging that follow-up training sessions be held every quarter.
The training concluded with a shared commitment to continue leveraging the PEFA framework as a catalyst for reform. By equipping practitioners with the right tools and fostering collaboration across institutions, the African Development Bank Group and its partners are affirming their commitment to ensuring that Africa's public resources are managed transparently, effectively, and in the service of sustainable growth.
