PEFA, the international organisation that sets standards for measuring the performance of Public Financial Management (PFM) worldwide, has published a new version of its Volume IV Handbook on Using PEFA to support Public Financial Management improvement. The forward-looking handbook represents the first attempt to go beyond pure performance evaluation. Instead, the emphasis is on the action plans that come after the evaluation.

We are proud that the updated guidelines draw heavily on lessons learned by the PEFA Secretariat at a May 2019 workshop with the Subnational PFM Programme of the Swiss SECO Cooperation, implemented by the Basel Institute's regional office in Peru.

The aim of the workshop was to turn the handbook's theory into practice and gather detailed feedback from invited officials, many of whom are part of the newly formed PFM Experts Network. The experts, officials and public servants who participated expressed their optimism that PFM in Peru would continue to improve thanks to these renewed efforts and momentum.

About the PEFA handbook

The revised Volume IV Handbook is part of a series of new products developed by the PEFA Secretariat to improve the impact and use of the PEFA Framework for assessing public financial management, issued in 2016.

Volume IV provides guidance on how to use PEFA assessments as part of a stakeholder dialogue to develop and sequence PFM reform initiatives. It focuses on the issues that need to be considered when developing effective reform initiatives, strategies or action plans designed to address each country's unique situation. 

Find out more

• Local governments in Peru come together for pioneering global pilot to improve public financial management
• See the original article in Spanish on the PFM Programme website
• Find out more about the Subnational PFM Programme in Peru