To support the GRA’s efforts in diversifying budget revenues and to deter any possible cuts to the health and education budgets, FSVC implemented a robust program to assist the GRA in better managing available resources and support civil society in advocating for effective use of budget resources.

• FSVC’s program included 8 activities with the GRA on international best practices in budget management with a focus on specific tools and mechanisms; namely, options for decentralization of the budget, approaches to budget risk management, effective management of state owned enterprises (SoEs), medium-term budget planning, models for forecasting revenues, and processes and procedures for cash management.
• FSVC also implemented 5 activities with a group of 11 CSOs representing the health, education and civil justice sectors on improving their knowledge of the budget process and their capacity to advocate for more effective use of budget resources to support social programs.

Throughout this program, FSVC maintained a flexible approach in order to adapt to requests from both local counterparts and USAID/Angola, often to address urgent challenges caused by the ongoing economic crisis.  This flexibility allowed FSVC to deliver timely, relevant and critical assistance to support Angola’s efforts to improve the management of public financial resources.

Over the course of the program, FSVC recruited 17 volunteer experts from the public and private sectors.  The volunteer experts were leaders in their areas of expertise and contributed greatly by sharing their knowledge and practical expertise with the counterpart institutions.  The recruited volunteer experts came from, among others, KPMG LLP, Colorado State University, New York State Budget Office, the U.S. Export-Import Bank, Manchester Metropolitan University, the Law Commission of the UK, Taxpayers for Common Sense, Common Cause, United Nations Development Program and the World Bank.