Results-based budgeting is not new, having been used for a number of years in both the public and
private sectors of several developed and developing countries. RBM is a new management approach
focused on achieving results; a broad management strategy aimed at changing the way agencies
operate, with improving performance and achieving results as the central orientation. RBB is about
formulating programme budgets that are driven by a number of desired results which are
articulated at the outset of the budgetary process, and against which actual performance is
measured at the end of a biennium.
In 1997, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan launched a comprehensive
reform initiative and proposed shifting from programme budgeting to results-based budgeting
(RBB). This was a significant shift in budgeting techniques in the United Nations. Since the 1990s,
the major Specialized Agencies of the United Nations system such as World Bank, WHO,
UNESCO, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) have adopted results-based or performance-based budgeting systems. Other
organizations, such as the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations Children’s
Fund (UNICEF), the Universal Postal Union (UPU) and the World Meteorological Organization
(WMO), have now also adopted RBB.
What is results-based budgeting?
Organizations define RBB in different ways; however all definitions revolve around the concept of
aligning resources behind results. Along the definition of RBB offered by the Secretary General of
the United Nations, RBB is a results-driven budgeting process in which:
· Programme formulation and resources justification involve a set of predefined objectives,
expected results, outputs, inputs and performance indicators which constitute a ‘logical
framework’;
· Expected results justify resource requirements, which are derived from — and linked to —
outputs to be delivered, with a view to achieving such results; and
· Actual performance in achieving results is measured by predefined performance indicators.
This definition captures the main features of RBB, namely: objectives, expected results, outputs,
and performance indicators. The following definitions provide the conceptual starting point for
our discussion of results and performance accountability.
The Question is whats the way forward for the Developing Countries in preparations of their budgets to suit the RBB system for better fundng and Reporting?
