89829 B u d g e t T r a n s pa r e n c y I n i t i at i v e SUBNATIONAL BUDGET PROCESSES AND PRACTICES IN NEPAL Findings and Observations from an Assessment in Three Pilot Districts Nepal embarked on a process of decentralization, first through the 1999 Local Self Governance Act, which introduced major policy reforms to devolve decision-making power to local bodies, and later through its 2007 interim constitution, which abol- ished a feudal state structure and established a federal system of governance that prioritized local government. These reforms presented an important opportunity to not only improve efficiency but also engage citizens at the subnational level. However, they have not yet translated into a more efficient use of budget resources at the subnational level or enhanced citizen under- standing of budget processes. It was in this context that the Budget Transparency Initiative (BTI) piloted an innovative approach in 2011 to simplify, analyze, and disclose budgets at the subnational level and to build awareness and capacity among government officials and citizens that could promote a public dialogue around public expenditures through social accountability approaches. In this context, under the aegis of the BTI, a study was conducted in 2011 to assess the gaps between policies and actual implementation of the budget at the subnational level in three pilot districts in Nepal—Kaski, Dolakha, and Nawalparasi. Analysis from the study, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions revealed several gaps between policy and prac- tice in subnational budget formulation and execution processes, such as the predominance of top-down processes, lack of cost-benefit analyses in budget allocation decisions, delays in communication of budget ceilings and release of allocations, and capture of user committees. This note describes the institutional framework underlying this context, outlines the methodology used, and presents key findings and observations from the study. Context also detailed an accountability and transparency system to be followed at the local level in order to make the public expendi- After the people’s movement in 2005, Nepal’s 2007 interim con- ture system more effective. stitution abolished a feudal state structure and established a federal system of governance that prioritized local government Despite these progressive measures, the awareness of bud- toward strengthening equity-based sustainable growth and getary processes among citizens is limited. Annual budget development in Nepal. A 601-member constitutional assembly announcements capture the interest of the media and profes- (CA) was formed in 2008 to complete peace negotiations in the sional and public interest bodies, but most of these public dis- country and draft a new Nepali constitution. New CA members, cussions do not elaborate on the details of budgetary transfers often with limited or no experience in budgets and the budget- or address inefficiencies in public expenditures. Several citizen making process, were either elected or nominated from differ- engagement tools devised by the government for regular bud- ent political parties and cross-sections of Nepali society. get execution, monitoring, and evaluation remain within the administrative and technical realms; citizens are often ignorant Moreover, the 1999 Local Self Governance Act had intro- of actual budget allocations, commitments, and expenditures duced major policy reforms to devolve decision-making power for specific projects and are therefore unable to effectively to local bodies. The law established a system of expenditure demand the delivery of services. and revenue assignments and intergovernmental transfers and In this challenging context, the World Bank-supported Given the increase in resources being transferred to the sub- Budget Transparency Initiative (BTI) piloted an innovative national level every year in Nepal, a team under the aegis of the approach in 2011 to simplify, analyze, and disclose budgets at BTI conducted research to deepen the understanding of critical the subnational level and to build awareness and capacity of issues in budget-making processes and practices at the subna- citizens and government officials at various levels that would tional level. The study specifically focused on assessing the gaps promote a public dialogue about public expenditures through between policies and actual implementation of the budget at social accountability approaches. The goal of the pilot initiative the subnational level and creating awareness about these gaps was to introduce transparency into budget processes in order to at the national and subnational levels. Three pilot districts— reduce waste and corruption and, by actively engaging citizens Kaski, Dolakha, and Nawalparasi—representing three regions: and soliciting their feedback, foster the demand financial infor- mountainous, hilly, and plains, respectively—were selected as mation disclosure.1 the basis for this study. 1. Some of the approaches piloted under the BTI are expected to be replicated and scaled up by a recently created public financial management multi-donor trust fund. Box 1. Overview of the National and Subnational Process and Institutional Framework National budget process. The Ministry of Finance (MoF) and National Planning Commission (NPC) lead the annual budget pro- cess and with the involvement of sector ministries, a few civil society organizations, and other experts formulate the budget. The resource committee, comprised of the NPC, the central bank and MoF, is responsible for estimating the total revenue and spending for the annual budget. Based on this overall expenditure limit, the MoF and NPC determine annual expenditure ceilings for sector ministries. The sector ministries then set nonbinding budget ceilings for departments, district offices, and local bodies under their mandates. Subsequently, the MoF and the NPC receive programs with details on current and capital expenditures that significantly exceed the initial expenditure ceilings; they finalize allocations in the annual budget based on negotiations with the sector ministries, taking into account past expenditure levels and internal and external sources of funding.a However, budget allocations continue to be adjusted. New projects and programs are added at the budget approval stage and actual funds released at the budget execution stage tend to be modified due to high reallocation levels. Subnational budget process. The NPC sets the overall district level ceilings. As per the MoF’s budgetary directives, village devel- opment committeesb (VDC)—the most grassroots-level local elected bodies involved the budget cycle—are responsible for producing lists of desired district-level programs along with anticipated budgets. This is accomplished through VDC council meetings that include representatives from political parties and civil society groups.3 The VDCs approve programs and forward their demands to the area council, an intermediary body created to compile village-centered program requests; they are then forwarded to the district development committee (DDC). Representatives of political parties and civil society groups as well as officials of both DDC and the local offices of sector ministries participate in area council meetings. After this process, various sector committees at the district level that include government officials and political party representatives meet to discuss the demands put forward by the designated areas and propose projects and programs to the DDCs. The DDCs submit the requests to the central level for budget allocation. Once implemented, DDC-led projects are audited by the auditor general (AG); the line ministry-led projects are audited by the financial comptroller general’s office. a. Nepal has a three-year rolling medium-term expenditure framework. Forward expenditure estimates are presented in budget documents but prior year estimates are not used as a starting point for new spending ceilings and allocations. b. A village development council (VDC), an autonomous institution, is the lower tier of the ministry of local development. The VDC gives villagers an element of control and responsibility over development and ensures the proper utilization and distribution of state funds as well as increased interaction between government officials, nongovernmental organizations, and other development agencies. By law, members of the VDC are elected. However, if there is no elected body—as has been the case in Nepal for the past several years as a result of the political stalemate—a three-member committee chaired by the secretary of the VDC plus two additional nominated officials replaces the elected body. c. There are five regional level offices in Nepal, but their role in the budgetary process and implementation is limited. A regional budgetary framework does not exist and regional offices are not assigned specific roles. Regional offices are primarily assigned project or program coordinating and monitoring roles. 2 This note highlight gaps observed between policy and prac- tice in subnational budget formulation and execution processes, In Kaski District, the Local Development Officer holds two describes the institutional framework underlying this context, public hearings in a year, broadcasts the list of programs and outlines the methodology used, and presents the key findings their progress through local radio on a regular basis and on and observations. their webpage. Expenditure related information is disseminated through their bulletin and the local newspaper. Methodology The study team employed a qualitative methodology to expand DDCs with actual allocations in the three pilot districts for fis- the knowledge of critical issues in the budget-making process cal 2009–10 and fiscal 2010–11 (see table 1). While a decentralized and practices of Nepal. The team gathered information through process can enhance transparency and accountability in budget a literature review of government documents and independent processes, current practices must better integrate local priori- studies and through focus group discussions that included all of ties from the bottom-up in budget formulation and allocation. the local offices of the line ministries responsible for develop- District-level budget ceilings are not communicated in ment projects as well as relevant civil society groups. The team a timely manner. The NPC, after consultations with relevant also met with local development and planning officers, including departments, is required to communicate budgetary ceilings social mobilizers, district education officers, and district public for the coming fiscal year to each DDC by the beginning of health officers to cross check and further verify observations December of the current fiscal year. These ceilings are fixed by made at focus group discussions. The key findings from these the NPC based on district socioeconomic and development intensive interactions and subsequent analysis are summarized indices and include programs that are supposed to be imple- below. mented by or through the DDC or line ministry local offices. In practice, however, these ceilings are neither set nor communi- Key Findings and Observations cated about in a timely manner. In the absence of these ceilings, DDC officials face considerable pressure to include programs The findings and observations presented in this section are cat- that do not necessarily fit local priorities but that are rather egorized around the key stages of the budget cycle—budget demands from powerful vested interests. In the pilot districts, formulation, budget execution, and auditing. Key observations because of the absence of these ceilings, the local line minis- from the capacity-building program are also summarized below. try offices have adopted the practice of requesting a 10 per- These findings synthesize a variety of discussions with stake- cent increase in the current budget. Consultations with relevant holders during the course of the study. The team has made departments or offices are rarely held. every effort to triangulate its findings, but it remains difficult to back up some of them with hard evidence. Delays in communicating district-level priorities exist. The DDC is responsible for consolidating proposals from VDCs, Budget Formulation approving the district-level program proposals, and forwarding them to the NPC and MoF through the respective line ministries Budget formulation is more of a top-down than bottom- by mid-March of that fiscal year. To enable this, DDC council up process. In principle, the budget process is meant to be a meetings must be completed in a timely manner so that these bottom-up process that aligns district-level priorities with bud- proposals can reach the central government but this has not getary allocations at the national level. In practice, the budget occurred in recent years. Area councils, which serve as an inter- formulation process is primarily a top-down approach because, mediaries between VDCs and DDCs have not been in place for more often than not, local-level programs proposed through several years. Further, DDC council meetings in the pilot districts participatory processes are inadequately funded.2 A disconnect were usually organized in June or July, leaving little time for dis- between district priorities and actual allocations was clearly trict proposals to be considered at the central government level. demonstrated by comparing the programs proposed by the Budget allocation decisions lack consideration of project 2. The local government in Nepal is almost 100 percent dependent on the central govern- appraisal or cost-benefit criteria. NPC, MoF, and DDCs do not ment for its resources. In such a context, the local government surrenders their planning independence in order to have access to resources; a situation is further exacerbated currently employ a scientific approach, such as cost effective- when, in the absence of elected local representatives, nominated central government ness analysis, to examine projects and programs. At the proj- representatives follow the wishes of fund providers. This note recognizes this discon- nect between district priorities and actual allocation, citing the current situation in this ect level, this has encouraged the DDC to inflate requests for context, but it is beyond the scope of the study to explore the reasons for this situation. 3 Table 1. Disconnect between Amount Proposed by Districts and Actual Allocations in Fiscal 2009–10 and Fiscal 2010–11 Amount proposed Actual allocation Amount proposed Actual allocation Budget items by DDC (% of total) (% of total) by DDC (% of total) (% of total) Fiscal 2009–10 Fiscal 2010–11 Dolkha Local development 38 33 38 38 Education 29 12 40 13 Health 5 8 6 7 Drinking water 2 3 3 2 Electricity 2 31 2 29 Roads 19 2 0 2 Kaski Local development 31 39 30 49 Education 21 28 30 16 Health 3 10 7 7 Drinking water 2 5 1 3 Electricity 1 2 2 1 Roads 28 5 18 4 Irrigation 3 4 3 1 Nawalparasi Local development 29 26 21 44 Education 41 23 31 22 Health 4 8 8 5 Drinking water 1 5 1 4 Irrigation 13 9 6 5 Actual allocation is higher than amount proposed by DDC. Actual allocation is lower than amount proposed by DDC. allocations on the assumption that requested amounts will be budget allocations and communicates this to CA members and cut by some percentage, first by NPC and then again by MoF. then after some delay to DDCs. Line ministries inform local Without any scientific, transparent, benchmarking criteria to offices about local budget allocations through their own chan- facilitate any evaluation of costs and benefits, both demands nels. However, local-level stakeholders who will be impacted by for budgetary allocations as well as subsequent cuts depend on these programs cannot access the budget details that are most ad hoc factors. In such a scenario, budget proposals and alloca- relevant to them. The same is true for budget expenditures. tion requests are easily influenced by powerful stakeholders at Dissemination of information on programs included in the bud- the local level. get is currently poor.3 However, as observed in the pilot districts, the local development offices in some districts are publishing a Budget figures are publicly available but at the local list of projects and programs through bulletins at an increasing level are often inaccessible. The government of Nepal makes rate. For example, in Kaski District, the local development office national- and district-level budgets available on its website in three publications: the Red Book, Budget Book, and Source 3. DDC-led programs are not determined ahead of time so it is impossible to disseminate Book, the release of which often attracts wide media atten- budgetary information about such programs in advance. However, information on pro- grams funded by the ministry of local development and local offices of the line ministries tion. The NPC publishes a list of local-level programs receiving can be disseminated immediately after the budget presentation. 4 holds two public hearings per year and regularly broadcasts the list of programs and their progress on local radio and on its web- site. Expenditure-related information is disseminated in the bul- letins and in the local newspaper. Similarly, budget information was prominently displayed on information boards at the district development committee office in Dolakha district (figure 1). Lack of continuity in party representation compromises decision making. Parties do not appoint one representative on a permanent basis to attend all DDC council meetings that include representatives from all local parties. The frequent changes of party representatives is disruptive to the continuity in priority-setting and decision making, and leads to delays in the initiation and completion of projects. In some cases, user committees have reportedly been dissolved and new ones cre- ated because of changes in party representatives. Budget Execution Allocated budgets are not released in a timely manner. Typically, the first installment of the allocated program budget should be released directly to the DDC within the first quarter, including relevant instructions to the district treasury for the release of funds. In the three pilot districts, the practice was quite different. Budget allocations were not released to the project or program prior to the second week of February, result- ing in delays in the commencement of project or program activ- ities. During field visits at the end of the first quarter, allocated budgets had not been released in any of the three pilot districts. Technical and institutional capacity is limited at the local level. VDCs do not have the technical capacity to document their priorities and select programs based on their needs, mainly due to shortages of skilled manpower at the local level, as was Figure 1. Budget Information on Display in District evidenced in the three pilot districts. Even though a provision Development Committee Office, Dolakha District states that district-level technicians can provide technical sup- port and advice to the villages, DDCs are constrained by the User committees are susceptible to capture by political availability and workload of a limited number of technicians. interests. Although large projects follow set procurement pro- This severely limits DDCs in their capacity to use allocated cesses, an assessment of smaller projects in different sectors resources in a timely manner. indicates that the practice of implementing them through user Political wrangling has contributed to poor budgetary prac- committees is on the rise. Several disturbing trends related to tices. Because of the weaknesses in budget formulation, limited the functioning of these user committees were reported in the local-level technical capacity, irregular monitoring and supervi- three pilot districts. sion, and the fluid political situation, poor budgetary practices • User committees are created quickly and arbitrarily, often have increased with political pressures for the inclusion of new without consultation with project stakeholders and local projects during the fiscal year, an increase in the number of last communities. minute transfers from unspent budget items, and intraministry • Some user committees attempted to hinder the monitoring transfers between projects. of work quality, resource utilization, and expenditure record- keeping by concerned agencies. 5 • Local contractors captured user committees in advance by and VDCs often appoint their own private auditors to audit their becoming the heads or active members of the committees accounts, which suit their own interest, and the audit report is and then proposing activities that suited their interests. The approved by the municipality and VDC council. When there is no lack of transparency and access to project information by elected body at the municipality and the VDC, as has been the intended beneficiaries prevented social monitoring of these case for some time in Nepal because of the political stalemate, types of incidents. a three-member committee chaired by the executive officer of • Officials and representatives from civil society groups stated the municipality or the secretary of the VDC and two other offi- that major political parties were engaged in capturing pro- cials nominated to be members approves the auditor’s report. It grams and sharing resources at the local level through the is evident that the lack of proper auditing oversight leaves room formation of user committees. for improper resource utilization. • Politically well-connected user committees attempt to trans- Programs implemented through user committees often fer additional funds from the central level to new or ongo- evade scrutiny. Municipality or VDC-led programs implemented ing programs toward the end of the fiscal year. Furthermore, through user committees are only subject to public or social these committees pressure the DDC and/or relevant line audits.7 Consequently, all expenses made by such committees ministry local office to release transferred funds immediately and that are reported to have been socially audited are auto- after they have been received from the central level, flouting matically accepted, escaping scrutiny by the auditor general’s standard contract management practices. office. User committees can easily be (and often are) created Monitoring and supervision is often irregular and unsys- or coopted by contractors who then hire sub-contractors to tematic. The 1999 Local Self-Governance Act provided for a execute work projects. Public hearings and social audits can also monitoring committee under the chairmanship of the prime be easily manipulated by these vested interests, leaving con- minister to monitor whether or not the objectives, policies, and siderable room for the misutilization of resources because the provisions of this law are being followed,4 but the committee is expenses by user committees experience little or no scrutiny. not yet operational. At the local level, a monitoring and super- vision system is in place but is dysfunctional. The progress of Capacity Building8 both DDC and local-level line-ministry programs is reviewed by To address the need for capacity building, the pilot designed concerned officials but, as discussed above, several limitations and conducted several trainings. At the national level, a two-day prevent them from being effective at clearing bottlenecks or training program was rolled out for 110 CA members and senior enhancing project quality. In addition, the limited capacity and political party representatives9 to increase their awareness of the availability of technicians prevents them from providing proper budget-making process and the role of various agencies in its for- estimates of program costs or reviewing reported expenses, fur- mulation and implementation.10 To simplify the budget process ther compromising the quality of monitoring and supervision. and complement this training, the team produced and published 650 copies of a budget literacy handbook for the CA members in Auditing Practices Nepali. These handbooks were used in the training for CA mem- Auditing practices are often not consistent and leave consid- bers and will continue to be used in future trainings. At the sub- erable scope for improvement. Through the 1999 Local Self national level, the team produced and distributed 400 copies of a Governance Act, all DDC programs are expected to be internally and externally audited through the financial comptroller general 7. Projects and programs led by line ministries but implemented by user committees, are office5 and auditor general,6 respectively. In practice, the auditor subject to audits by designated auditors as a part of internal auditing under the financial comptroller general office. general only audits DDC expenditures from grants—not expenses 8. The high demand for training from constituent assembly members and district level officials around budget processes led to a capacity building activity in the BTI. However, from the DDC’s own revenue sources. Despite there being a pro- this was not directly related to the study (other than that observations from training par- vision for DDC-led internal audits, not all DDCs have internal ticipants informed the study). Lessons learned from the capacity building component of the BTI are reflected in this section. auditors nor is internal auditing a regular practice. Municipalities 9. A new election is likely to take place sometime soon which would necessitate addi- tional training for new Parliamentarians and political party representatives. 10. The training program was comprised of nice topics related to the budget process: (1) 4. http://www.nepaldemocracy.org/documents/national_laws/local_gov_act.htm. overview of the budget making-process in Nepal; (2) process and programming of plan- 5. The financial comptroller general office is the main government agency responsible ning and budgeting; (3) resource estimation in the budget; (4) foreign aid management; (5) for treasury operations of the government of Nepal. It is responsible for overseeing all the budget release and authorization process; (6) the audit system and process; (7) the government expenditures against budgets, tracking all revenue receipts, and preparing all role of parliamentary committees in budget making and implementation; (8) macroeco- consolidated financial statements of the government. nomic management and the budget; and (9) reforming the budget process for results- 6. The AG is the supreme audit institution of the government of Nepal. based budgeting. 6 simplified version of the “National Planning Commission’s District Preliminary Recommendations Budget II,” which outlines information on program and budgetary allocations for the respective districts as well as various relevant The findings discussed above lend themselves to a set of rec- guidelines.11 Accompanying district-level workshops included the ommendations that may help address the gaps between policy participation of district-level government office chiefs, DDC offi- and practice in the budget formulation, implementation, and cials, VDC secretaries, a district financial comptroller officer, polit- auditing phases. The recommendations and lessons learned are ical party representatives, local nongovernmental organizations, briefly summarized below. and civil society organizations. Each workshop offered presenta- • The 2007 Budget Formulation Directives clearly stipulate tions on issues like the national budget process and key steps in the timeframe in which programs from the local level must district-level budget, program, and prioritization criteria. Two key be submitted. Incentives and disincentives should be pro- lessons emerged from these capacity-building efforts. vided to ensure that the directives and timeframes specified The unmet need for training on budgetary processes was therein are followed in both letter and spirit. high. Budget formulation and execution processes are complex. • In most countries, cost-benefit analyses (CBA) are applicable Most elected representatives and officials, especially those that only to large capital spending projects, but the actual use are new, are unaware of these processes but are reluctant to of CBA analysis tends to be limited because of the lack of admit it by virtue of their stature and position in society. Not technical capacity to conduct CBA. In a low-capacity envi- surprisingly, the demand for capacity building around budget- ronment, a more suitable approach could be a basic proj- ary processes was enormous. A peer-to-peer learning program ect appraisal that involves selecting a project based on a about budgetary processes was developed in response to this clear need for it, adequate demand for expected services, demand. The training program provided a platform for partici- clear and measurable objectives, consideration and analysis pants12 to discuss issues related to the budgetary process with of options, a detailed design, complete cost estimates and knowledgeable senior practitioners. a comprehensive implementation plan that includes a pro- curement plan and alignment with strategic expenditure pri- Peer-to-peer capacity building in Nepali, devoid of tech- orities. Cost-effectiveness analysis is a quantitative approach nical jargon was most effective. Several trainings were con- used in many countries for small capital investment proj- ducted and a budget literacy handbook was published in simple ects. The NPC and the MoF should consider deploying such Nepali for CA members, senior political party representatives, approaches when possible to ensure maximum value for and local officials to address the need for capacity building. money. The use of budget handbooks and presentations that were in • Duplications and overlaps in budgetary processes at the DDC Nepali, devoid of all unnecessary technical jargon—was quite level can be better addressed by including line ministries and effective. These capacity-building activities were greatly appre- their sector programs. Including sectoral programs a part of ciated by the CA members, many of whom requested that the DDC-proposed programs would ensure greater coherency trainings continue on a regular basis. Numerous members were and consistency with set priorities at the village and area new to their roles as CA members, and they especially valued level. the fact that the trainings were led by credible Nepali experts • Efforts to strengthen technical and institutional capacity and practitioners.13 at the local level under the leadership of the DDC must be made to ensure the proper utilization of resources. • A built-in dissemination mechanism at various stages of pro- gram implementation carried out by the stakeholders and communities through user groups would ensure a more 11. Such guidelines include: NPC and the ministry of local development budgetary guide- transparent and accountable system. lines; guidelines for selecting and implementing local infrastructure projects in the district, • A system of auditing by both the comptroller and AG offices and the ministry of local development’s guidelines for minimum condition for perfor- mance measures for additional grants to the district, municipality, and VDC. should be in place along with a parallel mechanism to cross- 12. Closed-door training programs encourage candid discussions; oftentimes, elected rep- resentatives and officials are not comfortable asking questions in front of civil society check progress reporting; this would enhance project quality representatives. and financial discipline. At present, municipalities and VDCs 13. These included senior officials from the national planning commission, auditor gen- eral’s office, financial comptroller general’s office, and the ministry of law, justice and par- where officials function in leadership roles meant for elected liamentary affairs. The ministry of finance has requested that the World Bank conduct functionaries are not subject to random checks by the AG. additional trainings for CA members based on the evaluation and the lessons learned from this training. At the very least, all private auditors that are used should 7 be accredited by the AG and a short list should be prepared Despite these challenges, a recently-created multidonor from which the VDC can choose. The AG can conduct a ran- public financial management trust fund has integrated several dom check audit as part of their accreditation process. BTI activities, including peer-to-peer learning and simplified • User committees appear to be undermining rather than budget handbooks for use in capacity-building efforts for con- enhancing governance in managing public expenditures and stituent assembly members; this will likely expand the reach of service delivery at the local level. A system that subjects user this initial pilot in Nepal. committees to formal audits and possibly even performance audits conducted by a responsible government agency is References critical to improving governance. Social audits can comple- Government of Nepal. 2000. “Report of the Local Body Fiscal Commission,” ment but not substitute for a formal external audit. Government of Nepal, Ministry of Local Development, Kathmandu. ———. 2007. Budget Formulation Directives, 4th Edition. Kathmandu: Government Conclusions of Nepal. Human Resources and Development Canada (HRDC). 1998. “The Impact of Public financial management reform in a country like Nepal that Decentralization on the Poor, Kathmandu, Nepal.” is in such a state of political and social flux is a challenging task. Institute for Policy Research and Development (IPRAD). 2000. “Assessment of the Not unexpectedly, political uncertainty in Nepal has posed chal- Effectiveness of Local Level Programs,” Kathmandu, Nepal. lenges to sustain and expand on the above-mentioned findings. Khanal, D. R. 1998, “A Review of the Effectiveness of Government Funded Programs,” The 2008 constituent assembly was mandated to draft a new World Bank, Kathmandu. constitution and establish a federalist structure in Nepal. After Khanal, D. R., Resham B. Thapa, and Anil Belbase. 2011. “Mapping District Level four years of extensions to the term of the constituent assem- Budgetary Priorities and Actual Allocations in Nepal: A Case Study of Three bly, there was still a failure to agree on a new constitution. The Pilot Districts in Nepal.” Kathmandu, Nepal. assembly was dissolved; elections for a new one are expected Ministry of Finance. 2007. “Budget Preparation Guidelines.” Kathmandu: Government of Nepal. sometime in 2013. ———. 2011. “Red Book.” http://www.mof.gov.np/contentFiles-Content-dW8= Policy Research and Development (PRAD) Nepal. 2011. Public Expenditure Management Reform through Budget Publication, Kathmandu: Nepal Acknowledgements This learning note was prepared by Darshana Patel and Sanjay Agarwal of the Social Development Department (SDV) at the World Bank. It is based on “Mapping District Level Budgetary Priorities and Actual Allocations in Nepal: A Case Study of Three Pilot Districts in Nepal” (April 2011) by Dr. Dilli Raj Khanal, Resham B. Thapa, and Anil Belbase and “Public Expenditure Management Reform through Budget Publication” (November 2011) by Policy Research and Development Nepal (PRAD). The authors are grateful to Sanjeev S. Ahluwalia, Roshan Bajracharya, Nataliya Biletska, Helene Grandvoinnet, Aurelien Kruse, Luiza Nora, Tahseen Sayed, Vera Songwe, Anjalee Thakali, and Johannes Widmann for their invaluable insights and comments and to Laura Johnson for her editorial support. The authors would like to express their gratitude to the Governance Partnership Facility (GPF) for supporting the activities under this initiative. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this note are entirely those of the authors and should not be attributed in any manner to the World Bank, its affiliated organiza- tions, or members of its Board of Executive Directors or the countries they represent. For additional information on this and other pilots under the Budget Transparency Initiative, please contact Sanjay Agarwal (sagarwal2@worldbank.org) and Darshana Patel (dpatel@worldbank.org).