Country Dialogue in Senegal: Pre-dialogue
The pre-dialogue for the use and strengthening of country systems took place from 2nd to 4th September in Dakar. Government representatives and development partners actively participated in the first round of consultations and shared feedback concerning ongoing challenges to UCS. After parallel one-day sessions to discuss separately, development partners, civil society organisations and representatives of government met to identify areas that the ongoing dialogue should address for supporting UCS.
The four areas agreed upon were planning, budgeting, reporting and procurement. All stakeholders submitted statements describing the four most urgent problems for each dimension. Based on this identification, a diagnostic on the current use and weaknesses of those four components will be conducted, identifying options to strengthen their effectiveness and increase their use.
Potential actions include the joint formulation of criteria for integrating aid into planning, budgets and reports. This study will be rolled out over the next three months including regular reporting sessions to all stakeholders. The results will then inform the High Level dialogue in March or April where all parties will agree to formal engagements.