FY02 Q1 Quarterly Report: Programme Gouvernance et Paix (PGP) - Senegal

The program is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and is implemented by FHI 360. The program's overarching objectives are to strengthen democracy, good governance, and reconciliation in Senegal through four separate, but linked and mutually reinforcing, components: 1) transparency and accountability, 2) fiscal decentralization, 3) citizen participation in the electoral process, and 4) dialogue for social stability in the Casamance. PGP focuses on policy reform in four strategic areas to promote sustainable good governance in Senegal: improving oversight mechanisms to fight against corruption, improving transparency and accountability in the extractive industries, promoting fiscal decentralization, and strengthening citizen participation in the electoral process. The program works with critical national- and local-level institutions and individuals, including elected officials, government agencies, oversight agencies, civil society organizations, and Collectivités Locales. In the area of improving oversight mechanisms to fight against corruption, PGP supports the advocacy for and work towards policy reforms to bring the national legal framework into compliance with international standards related to the fight against corruption. The program also reinforces the capacity of the national oversight agencies to operationalize and efficiently implement a National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP), and supports national level CSOs to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the anti-corruption efforts. During this quarter, five proposed reforms in areas critical to the fight against corruption were submitted to the Government of Senegal (GOS) and forwarded to the National Reform Commission. The proposed reform areas include candidate financial disclosure, political party financing, recovery of stolen public funds from the exterior, access to public information, and CNLCC reform through the Penal Procedures Code and Penal Code review. Two of these proposed reforms (Penal Procedures Code and Penal Code) were approved by the National Reform Commission and submitted to the Ministry of Justice. In the area of improving transparency and accountability in the extractive industries, PGP supports the building of coalitions (public, private, and civil society) and a network of reform "champions." The program supports these coalitions and "champions" in advocacy efforts to push the GOS to officially accede to the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) and to adopt policy reforms compliant with "Publish What You Pay" international standards. These standards will mandate that the private sector publish what it pays and that the government publish what it receives, under the control of international and national commissions where civil society is represented. During this quarter, a coalition of civil society organizations (CSOs) expressed concerns about revenue transparency in the mining sector. The CSOs expressed a lack of understanding of the totality of the agreements and conventions signed by the GOS, and were concerned about the receipt and distribution of revenues, including the type and amount of revenues that the State is receiving from royalties, taxes, and other contributions, tax exemptions for mining, and the intra-state model of distribution of the mining revenues. PGP's role in this area is to support the building of coalitions and a network of reform "champions" to push the GOS to officially accede to the EITI and to adopt policy reforms compliant with "Publish What You Pay" international standards. The program also supports national level CSOs to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the anti-corruption efforts and to promote fiscal decentralization. In the area of promoting fiscal decentralization, PGP supports the creation and strengthening of local institutions and mechanisms to improve government performance and management and democratic governance within target Collectivités Locales. The program also supports the development of a National Decentralization Policy and the implementation of a Decentralization and Local Development Program. In the area of strengthening citizen participation in the electoral process, PGP supports the building of coalitions and a network of reform "champions" to promote citizen participation in the electoral process. The program also supports the development of a National Electoral Code and the implementation of a voter registration program. Overall, PGP's activities during this quarter focused on promoting sustainable good governance in Senegal through policy reform, capacity building, and advocacy efforts. The program's activities are aimed at strengthening democracy, good governance, and reconciliation in Senegal, and are expected to have a positive impact on the country's development and stability.