Minas Gerais Partnership II SWAP

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The Second Minas Gerais Partnership (SWAP) Project for Brazil will support the Government of Minas Gerais in its efforts to implement the 'State for Results' program in order to improve quality and efficiency in the delivery of public goods and services, reinforcing the fiscal and macroeconomic advances made through previous reforms, with the overall objective of promoting economic growth and poverty reduction. The project are the two components: (i) the SWAP component that will disburse against Eligible Expenditure Programs (EEP) in five sectors; and (ii) a technical assistance component to support the operation objectives in the five priority sectors. The technical assistance (TA) component will disburse as in a traditional operation against Statements of Expenditures (SOEs). The EEPs to be supported by the project account for about 10 percent of total Government expenditure in 2008 (13 percent if constitutionally mandated transfers and debt payments are not considered) and Bank financing will support about 20 percent of EEP expenditures each year. The sectors to be supported through the Minas Gerais Development Partnership II (MGDP II) are those with significant impact on the enabling environment for public service delivery (public sector, private sector development) or are sectors that have considerable expenditure programs in which improvements in efficiency of resource use and allocation, innovation in public management and improved monitoring and evaluation (M&E) can provide substantial gains (health, education, transport). Each of these sectors is a high priority for the Government. The Government is also keen to strengthen its approach to monitoring and evaluation of the State for Result Program. Through non-lending TA and through the loan, the Bank will support the development of: i) a household survey in order to provide information on outcomes at the household level to the Government; ii) quality assurance surveys as a means of verifying that the delivery of results in key areas is actually improving; iii) a series of impact evaluations in education, health and transport in order to assess results and provide feedback into the current program; and iv) guidance to the Government's team on revising indicators in line with the results of monitoring and evaluation.