STP Capacity Building and TA

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The Governance Capacity Building Technical Assistance (TA) Project will help modernize, and strengthen the capacity in economic (financial and budgetary) management, and supervision, and, build up basic institutional, and legal infrastructure in the finance, and in the natural resources and environment ministries, to manage a more complex economic, and social environment arising from the onset of the petroleum era, and the nascent market economy. The project will further strengthen the required human capacity within the civil service. The project consists of three components: 1) petroleum sector component, will continue the critical technical assistance, and capacity building in this nascent sector. It will help build an institutional, and legal framework to formulate policies, supervise, and regulate the petroleum sector. This will entail strengthening of the National Petroleum Agency in the development of institutional structures, human resources, and necessary equipment, while providing training programs. The legal framework will be strengthened, to include sector related environmental issues, and the country's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) will be established as will information management systems. Studies and seminars will be undertaken to help the Government develop an economic model of the EEZ, focused on the opportunities for sector development and job creation; 2) public finance component - seeks to improve financial management, so as to strengthen petroleum revenue management, harmonize budget nomenclatures and identify expenditures for poverty reduction. Public procurement, and relevant legislation shall be updated, to include the establishment of information systems, which would improve budget oversight and public finance management, through the provision of training, and the development of accounting planning. On the revenue side, accounting practices, and taxation will be improved, through training and capacity building; and, 3) support for the implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), includes training and capacity building, namely through seminars, workshops, and study tours.