Planning and budgeting mechanisms in the Mozambique water sector: improving the decision making process

The aim of this document is to map the main planning and budgeting tools and mechanisms used in the water sector in Mozambique at all levels and to show how unit costs have been used to date and how they can influence services sustainability. The decision-making process in the water sector in Mozambique has undergone significant improvements with the approval of various planning and budgeting guiding tools, as well as with the creation of mechanisms that enable the integration and interlinking of tools at all levels. The reforms underway in the country, which enabled the introduction of more modern and effective planning, budgeting and financial control systems, provide the blueprint for the significant improvements that have been registered in all the sectors, including the water sector. An analysis of the sector’s planning and budgeting tools and mechanisms indicates that, despite great progress in recent years, there are still problems related to the harmonised use of these tools. There are discrepancies in the interpretation and implementation of the existing tools between the different levels.
The WASHCost project and the life-cycle costs approach seem to be producing data that is close to what is happening to normative costs in Mozambique where those exist. This
approach has a great potential to influence the capacity of stakeholders at provincial and district level and to provide relevant information for the budgeting process. Costs data can
feed into the existing structure where they can improve the accuracy of the Medium-Term Fiscal Framework which informs the sector annual and budgeting processes. Information
provided by WASHCost can also be used to better inform decision making on resource allocation and the development of sector master plans and district strategic development plans. The life-cycle costs approach also provides a methodology for updating cost data on a regular basis. [authors abstract]