Senegal’s commitment to poverty eradication is evidenced by its adoption of the 2030 Agenda and implementation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, achieving the SDGs, mainly SDG 6.2 on sanitation and hygiene, remains challenging. Ineffective implementation of public policy hampers the performance of sanitation programs. This brief analyzes Senegal’s public financial management system and reveals several constraints that arise during the budget implementation phase. The analysis shows that there is little alignment between budget planning, investment, and people’s needs, resulting in uneven access to sanitation services and hindering achievement of the SDG related to the sanitation sector.
This brief examines Senegal’s budget credibility issues in the sanitation sector between 2018 and 2021, assesses current progress on SDG 6.2, identifies bottlenecks that slow down performance of this sector, and reviews the potential causes of the identified budget credibility issues. Budget credibility refers to the ability of a government to meet its expenditure and revenue targets during the year. It is sometimes referred to as budget reliability or budget deviations and is recognized in the SDGs through SDG indicator 16.6.1.
The methodology used in this document consists of a triangulation of quantitative and qualitative data. The first stage consisted of a documentary review and analysis of (i) finance bills, (ii) budget execution reports for sanitation programs, (iii) public procurement reports, and (iv) reports on access to sanitation services. The second stage involved calculating budget gaps from finance bills and sanitation program budget reports. Finally, interviews were held with officials involved in budgeting for and implementing sanitation programs to gather explanations for the budget variances. These interviewees included representatives of the Sanitation Directorate, Rainwater Management Department, Procurement National Agency, and Directorate of Budget.
This publication is a part of Exploring the Connections between Budget Credibility and SDG Implementation.
