Paul Merideth

Samoa and the Marshall Island are currently piloted with the ADB project on Integrating Youth and Gender Issues into Public Expenditure. This project commenced in the later half of 2002. It was initially decided that Samoa would look into integrating Youth issues with the recent cabinet approval of the National Youth Policy whilst the Marshall Island would concentrate on gender issues. An initial visit by the project consulting team from South Australia as well as introduction workshops have been completed for both Samoa and the Marshall Islands. This was to be followed with the mentorship program for key representatives from relevant ministries for both Islands.

The mentorship program included visits to various Institutions as well as individual consultations with relevant South Australia Government Officials and Academics. This exercise was organized by the University of South Australia and was funded by the ADB. The team from Samoa includes representatives from Treasury, Education, Health Department and the Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture.

The purpose of the mentorship program was to bring together key department officials responsible for youth and gender development from both islands and to discuss with key ministries and agencies in South Australia on how they have integrated youth and gender issues into public expenditure.

However, country discussions with the Consulting team and the Samoan delegates led to certain recommendations regarding the scope and direction of the ADB pilot project. These were then discussed and finalized with the ADB project coordinator on the 9th and 10th December. Whilst the Marshall Island would continue looking into gender issues, Samoa opted that the outcome of this project was to

1. Broaden the scope to include all social cross cutting issues not focusing specifically on youths,
2. Integrate cross cutting issues into the current Planning and Budget framework for Samoa,
3. Utilize the CDC as a check/ monitoring point,
4. Focus on efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery such as to reduce budgetary pressures and for
5. All recommendations to be inline with the general thrust of the SDS and the current reform programs in Samoa.

BACKGROUND
The reform process in Samoa is well underway. Without a doubt, Samoa leads the region in this respect. As such, the success of any development project depends on how it is aligned with the reforms that have been institutionalized over the past 6 years. Hence, a focus on youth issues only and public expenditure would undermine the value in setting national objectives as outlined in the SDS.

The current budget process in Samoa would be best summarized with

1. i. The envelope somewhat determined by fiscal goals set out in the SDS
2. ii. Individual ministerial bids determine largely on how well the bids are prepared and how it fits into the 9 key priority areas stipulated in the SDS.

Government expenditure also has the responsibility of

1. Stimulating and fostering economic growth,
2. Meeting social and environmental responsibilities,
3. Meeting unforeseen events as well as external shocks to the economy

Challenges/Problems
In essence, the current reforms undertaken by government including it's privatization program resembles a neoclassical economic flavor. This has been proven to have social costs such as increasing the gap between the rich and the poor. The challenge is to strategically mitigate these reforms with pro poor policies addressing social issues facing the most disadvantaged groups of society. Monitoring and implementing these policies poses a notable degree of difficulty.

Addressing crosscutting social policies requires close collaboration between 2 or more agencies. This has always been a challenge, which is not particular to Samoa only. Individual Agencies/departments tend to have their specific focus and individual agendas. This was also the lesson we learnt from stakeholder consultations last year when compiling the SDS regarding the duplications in programs carried out by different government organizations and NGO's.

Another problem with addressing cross cutting Social Issues is that visible changes occur over a much longer timeframe. This makers it difficult to assess short-term impacts of varies programs.

From a budgetary viewpoint, specific performance measures for cross cutting social issues is a major challenge. In Samoa's case it would be difficult to have measures for outputs delivered amongst 2 or more departments. It is also an area where very little academic literature could be found.

Ideally, the budget screening process is the last checkpoint in ensuring cross cutting issues are delivered in the most cost effective way. However, considering the timeframe in which budget bids are screened its is difficult to pick out cross cutting issues and outputs delivered by more than one department. The problem is compounded when the same tasks are performed by NGO's.

Solutions/Recommendations
In order to address the disadvantaged, we need relevant information about who they are and their characteristics. The recent Poverty and Hardship Assessment Discussion paper and the 2002 HIES provides valuable insight on those who are facing hardship in Samoa. These studies need to be supplemented with other specific surveys in order to fully understand the extent of the problem in Samoa.

Tackling duplications and minimizing the waste in valuable government and donor resources requires improved coordination among social service providers. Setting up a high level (HOD level) Social Inclusion Taskforce that would screen various social services would achieve this objective. This Taskforce would ensure that social services are well coordinated and would promote a sharing of resources between various agencies. Such a move would have a positive impact on the government budget.

It has been proposed to ADB that an additional workshop with Heads of relevant Departments should be conducted as to engage their respective views on how to better address cross cutting social issues. This workshop would determine the make up and Terms of reference for a Social Inclusion Taskforce. In South Australia, a specific Social Inclusion Department has been set up to address cross cutting Issues. This has been modeled to what has been successfully implemented in the United Kingdom. However, considering the size of Samoa this may not be feasible and a Social Inclusion Taskforce comprising of say high level Officials from Treasury, Health, Education MWA, MYSC could serve Samoa just as well.

CONCLUSION
This mentorship program was very useful for me in understanding how cross cutting issues have been addressed and consequently funded in South Australia. It has given me a chance to consider what we have set out in SDS and how Samoa could better address social issues within our budgetary constraints. I wish to take this opportunity to thank you for nominating me as our country `coordinator for this ADB project. I will standby to be of any assistance should you wish to discuss this matter further.

Ma lou faaaloalo lava,

Paul Meredith
A/S EPPD