The Launch of Ennajaa in Morocco in Collaboration With the World Bank

The World Bank will again support public sector reform, the acceleration of which has been hampered by the health crisis. This will be done starting next year, specifically over the period 2022-2025, through a Moroccan public sector performance program called Ennajaa. Led by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ennajaa will involve a $300 million (about DH2.4 billion) Results-Based Program Loan (RBPL) to the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco. It aims to improve the performance and transparency of core government operations based on data.

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Supporting three core areas

To achieve this goal, Ennajaa will support three core areas that are central to the transformation of the Moroccan public sector: efficient public spending, improved revenue management, and enhanced performance of a data-driven administration and integration of public services through interoperability. To achieve its first objective of improving the efficiency of public spending, Ennajaa will support the government’s efforts through better control of public spending. To this end, the program will focus its support on strengthening the performance approach induced by the 2015 Finance Law (LOF). This LOF introduced a new budget architecture based on public policy programs (with targets and indicators) and laid the foundation for results-based public management.

Ennajaa will work to increase the adoption of the performance approach within line ministries and regions, by integrating dialogue on performance management, improving the quality of performance indicators, strengthening performance evaluation, and encouraging the implementation of a State-Region Partnership Contract (Contrat de Partenariat État-Région -CPER). Ennajaa will also include climate and gender budget tagging and promote the availability of public procurement data to improve transparency and efficiency in public procurement; improve SMEs’ access to public procurement opportunities and maximize impact. To improve public revenues, Ennajaa will work to enhance taxpayer compliance and revenue collection by supporting more effective management of compliance risks. The program will focus on three areas: implementation of an integrated tax compliance improvement plan; strengthening the quality of taxpayer file data; and better use of third-party data. At the local level, Ennajaa will streamline the distribution of roles in local tax management, clarifying the involvement of the DGI, TGR and DGCT in local taxation and strengthening coordination between them. It will also accompany the DGI’s action plan for data management and the deployment of the new local tax governance framework, as described in Law 07-20 on local taxes.

Fez-Meknes, pilot region

Last but not least, to strengthen the foundations of digital transformation through interoperability and open data, the Ennajaa program will focus on implementing the national interoperability program, which is the key priority of the DDA’s 2021-2025 plan, and will promote the Open Data program to support the implementation of the government’s commitments under the Open Government Partnership. In addition, it will seek to respond to the findings and recommendations of the Open Data Readiness Assessment and Action Plan conducted with World Bank support in June-December 2020. Note that to give itself a better chance of success, Ennajaa will also build on the results of previously implemented programs, including the National Administrative Reform Plan (PNRA, 2018-2021); the National Plan for Dematerialization of Public Procurement; the Strategic Action Plan 2017-2021 of the General Directorate of Taxes and the General Guidance Note for the Development of Digital 2025. It should also be noted that it is the Fez-Meknes region that has been taken as a pilot for this program. In other words, it is the central structures of the administration and the population of this region that will be the main beneficiaries of the environmental and social benefits of Ennajaa.

Expected environmental and social benefits

The Ennajaa program will have numerous environmental and social benefits, including

• the program will strengthen the adoption and performance of key technical infrastructure, governance frameworks, and institutional arrangements needed to enable better use, reuse, and sharing of data across government;
• Increased adoption of these technologies is expected to result in reduced paper use and thus a reduced carbon footprint;
• It will also result in less travel between jurisdictions as well as user travel to those jurisdictions. The avoided energy consumption will contribute to the national effort to reduce greenhouse gases and improve air quality in urban centers;
• It not only meets the expectations of citizens using public services, but is also a credible solution for reducing expenses and improving the organization and management of public administration;
• it will increase the number of public services provided by users online without them feeling the need to travel. This is the case, for example, with civil status procedures and the payment of certain taxes.
• in the medium term, the program will improve budgetary performance and the efficiency of the use of public funds, which will have an impact on public investments

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(Featured image by 401 (K) 2012 CC BY-SA 2.0 via Flickr)

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First published in LesEco.ma, a third-party contributor translated and adapted the article from the original. In case of discrepancy, the original will prevail.

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