SDG-aligned Budgeting
This self-paced Massive Open Online course (MOOC) has been developed by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). A number of countries have attempted to better link their budgeting with the SDGs and national planning overall, however, the progress is uneven. As underscored in the recent UNDP guidance, any country regardless of its budgeting system can take a number of steps that can help align the allocation of public resources with the national SDG priorities. This set of measures has however to be adapted to the specific situation of the country. In addition, there is a broader need to enable Parliaments to play a more active role when it comes to fiscal oversight in connection with national priorities and SDGs as well as pro-actively influence budget formulation where national budgeting processes allow so.
This e-learning course aims to build the capacity of countries to foster policy coherence by anchoring the SDGs in the national budgets; develop nationally tailored approaches, apply best practice and tools to align budgeting with SDGs and national priorities, and enhance the Parliaments’ engagement. The course is geared towards the needs of representatives from Ministries of Finance, Economy and other Ministries that may be actively involved in the budgeting processes, members of Parliament working on finance/budgeting issues, Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI), academia and other stakeholders including staff of UN Country Teams and international organizations.
Detailed guidelines on specific areas - including SDGs and strategic budgeting, SDG budget coding and tagging, SDGs and subnational budgeting, and SDGs - transparency and accountability, are being developed and will be made part of future training courses on the above specific topics.
This e-learning course aims to build the national capacities and of staff of UN County Teams and international organizations – through raising awareness on how to foster policy coherence by anchoring the SDGs in the national budgets; strengthening their knowledge of possible approaches and tools on how to better align SDG budgeting, and strengthening the role of the Parliaments in this respect.
It is expected that, by the end of the course, participants will be better positioned to:
- Define the importance of the budgeting aligned to national strategies and SDGs to promote greater policy coherence
- Discuss how budgeting can be aligned with SDGs at varying stages of PFM reform or maturity of performance-based budgeting systems and more specifically in their country context
- Describe 2-3 approaches to strengthen the monitoring of the SDG-aligned public spending using budget coding and to evaluate the effectiveness of SDG related public spending given the specific country context
- Explain how the role of Parliaments can be strengthened when it comes to budgeting and fiscal oversight of SDGs
Module 1. Why to align budgeting with national strategies and the SDGs
Module 2. How to align budgets with the SDGs: The UNDP approach
Module 3. Operationalizing SDG-aligned Budgeting
Module 4. Strengthening accountability and the role of Parliaments for SDG-aligned budgets
This e-learning course is developed in English and consists of four modules. Each module is developed around the overall learning objectives, as well as second-level learning objectives specific to each module. Each module includes an interactive presentation complemented by a set of practice quizzes (“knowledge checks”/formative assessment). Each interactive lesson includes several scenarios developed around the topic presented, followed up by assessment questions. Prior to taking the modules, participants are invited to take an ex-ante quiz, composed of 6 questions, that aims to assess the baseline knowledge of the participant. The same set of questions will be asked in the final assessment together with other questions – a total of 20 questions - to assess the knowledge and skills acquired. The latter will be graded and will serve as basis for certification. The interactive lessons within the module are implemented in a way that one needs to review all information on the slide prior to proceeding further. Once completed, the respective sections will be unlocked on the sidebar.
Estimated net study time ranges between 1 – 2 hours per module depending on the individual’s pace.
The target audience of the e-learning course is relevant staff from Ministries of Finance, Economy and other Ministries that may be actively involved in the budgeting processes, members of parliament working on finance/budgeting issues, Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI), academia and other stakeholders including staff of UN Country Teams and international organizations working on SDG financing frameworks to guide the cooperation framework with the national counterparts.