Additional Financing to the Burundi Digital Foundations Project - Modernization of Public Financial Management

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The parent project is designed to increase high-speed internet access and to improve government capacity to provide and deliver digital public services, which will help lay the foundations for accelerated development of Burundi’s digital economy. The proposed additional financing adds to this objective the aim to manage public resources more effectively. The project is composed of three main components: Component 1: Digital Access and Inclusion will focus on creating digitally enabled citizens and expanding the existing consumer base for digital services. This component will support wider access to broadband, as well as the adoption of data-enabled services. It will do so by financing activities that helps strengthen the enabling environment for broadband market development, catalytic investments to expand local access networks, and schemes that support digital access enablers that help grow demand among groups that face barriers to access and usage. The design of this component is shaped by MFD and PCM principles. Sub-components will be implemented sequentially to ensure that upstream reforms improve the downstream investment climate. Activities under this component ultimately aim to connect more users to broadband and to create a growing user-base for digital services in Burundi. Proposed sub-components include: (1.1) Enabling environment for broadband and e-services access, (1.2) Local connectivity access, (1.3) Access and digital inclusion enablers. Component 2: Digital Public Service Delivery Enablers will focus on creating a digitally enabled government, by strengthening adoption of digital tools by government and introducing the basic building blocks for incrementally scaling more secure and sophisticated digital service delivery. This component will finance cross-cutting digital government foundations that can boost capacity for secure digital public service delivery and use of digital tools and systems by Burundi’s public administration. It will adopt a whole-of-government approach to developing the GoB’s “digital stack” for e-services. It will predominately focus on transversal, government back-end systems, including reusable and shared digital infrastructure, platforms, and legal and governance frameworks to improve and expand government’s capacity for digital public services delivery, reducing existing fragmentation and supporting incremental digital transformation of government, as well as greater resources efficiency (e.g., by reducing infrastructure duplication). By enhancing the digital capabilities of public administration, through digital tools and systems, and digital skills for civil servants using, managing, and maintaining the shared infrastructure and services deployed, the project will expand the GoB’s capacity to provide e-services, increasing resilience to shocks by enabling remote service delivery. Proposed sub-components include: (2.1) Institutional, legal, governance and technology frameworks for e-services; (2.2) Shared digital government infrastructure and platforms; (2.3) Digitalization of select services and flagship use-cases.The additional financing (AF) adds to Component 2 the objective to boost capacity for efficient and transparent use of public resources. To do this, the proposed new Sub-component 2.4, Modernization of Public Financial Management (PFM) processes, would enhance the efficiency and transparency of key PFM areas through process reengineering supported by digital technologies. The AF supports six key PFM processes: (i) budget preparation, execution, accounting, and reporting, (ii) treasury management, (iii) tax administration; (iv) public investment management and reform coordination; (v) public procurement; and (vi) human resources and payroll management. In the selection of activities priority is given to areas with the largest impact on expansion of fiscal space and enhancement of transparency. Process enhancements include technical assistance to develop the institutional and organizational frameworks needed for an efficient and transparent use of government resources, the purchase and roll-out of new or upgraded digital tools and equipment when needed, and the trainings and change management required to adopt lasting changes. Component 3: Institutional Coordination and Project Management finances project management and coordination, including procurement, financial management (FM), monitoring and evaluation (M&E), as well as environmental and social (E&S) safeguards management. The AF also reinforces the project implementation unit with additional recruitments and rehabilitation of a dedicated site for the project. Last, the AF will finance a Technical Assistance Facility to support key Government priorities.