Support of reform processes in the fields of public finance and decentralisation in Mauritania (completed)

Context

Mauritania adopted its national Strategy for Accelerated Growth and Shared Prosperity in 2017, which is based on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda. The intention is to enable good governance in the country, primarily by modernising the administration and redistributing power from national to regional level.

Objective

The key actors in Mauritania have implemented public finance and decentralisation reforms in a citizen-oriented, transparent and accountable manner.

Approach

The project is supporting the country with its public finance by helping to digitalise its finance administration. For instance, integrated solutions are enabling the state treasury and local authorities to use a shared financial management system.

Transparency and accountability are also being strengthened through the support of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI). With assistance from German technical cooperation (TC), Mauritania is taking a leading role at global level, both in mainstreaming EITI and setting up the FiTI.

In order to improve living conditions in the long term, the country is committed to improving local government capacity and performance through its decentralisation policy. In this field of activity, the project is working towards needs-based self-governance with 20 municipalities in the regions of Tagant and Brakna. The municipalities are being advised on strategies to mobilise their own income at local level and create tax registers. The additional income generated will then finance more services.

Mauritanian partners are being supported in monitoring their achievement of the 17 SDGs. Mauritania already has an IT system that evaluates the institutional performance capacity of the 219 municipalities with the help of more than 300 indicators. This system is being upgraded to an information platform that spans multiple policy fields. At the same time, a chart of accounts based on the 2030 Agenda is to be developed for programme-based budgets to enable state revenues and expenditure to be allocated to the different SDGs.

Results

Citizen-oriented and decisive: the 211 local officials and elected representatives in the Tagant region perform their duties efficiently and in a citizen-oriented manner, focusing more clearly on mobilising their own income and providing basic services. The installation of 13 solar pumps in 8 partner municipalities has given approximately 17,500 people access to water. 

Establishing the transparency initiatives in the extractive and fisheries sectors ensures that around 35 per cent of state income is not diverted from the budget. This is a decisive step towards transparent budgeting.

Local employment promotion efforts have trained 100 young adults from the Tagant region in solar energy, pump technology and the installation of drinking water plants, enabling the first apprentices to start their careers in cooperation with Mauritanian companies.