Series Information
A Public Expenditure Tracking Survey (PETS) is a diagnostic tool used to study the flow of public funds from the center to service providers. It has successfully been applied in many countries around the world where public accounting systems function poorly or provide unreliable information. The PETS has proven to be a useful tool to identify and quantify the leakage of funds. The PETS has also served as an analytical tool for understanding the causes underlying problems, so that informed policies can be developed. Finally, PETS results have successfully been used to improve transparency and accountability by supporting "power of information" campaigns.
PETS are often combined with Quantitative Service Delivery Surveys (QSDS) in order to obtain a more complete picture of the efficiency and equity of a public allocation system, activities at the provider level, as well as various agents involved in the process of service delivery.
While most of PETS and QSDS have been conducted in the health and education sectors, a few have also covered other sectors, such as justice, Early Childhood Programs, water, agriculture, and rural roads.
In the past decade, about 40 PETS and QSDS have been implemented in about 30 countries. While a large majority of these surveys have been conducted in Africa, which currently accounts for 66 percent of the total number of studies, PETS/QSDS have been implemented in all six regions of the World Bank (East Asia and Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa).
Abstract
Nigeria is one of the few countries in the developing world that has systematically decentralized the delivery of basic services in health and education to locally elected governments and community-based organizations. Its health policy also has also been guided by the Bamako Initiative to encourage and sustain community participation in primary health care services.
This study uses an extensive survey of primary health facilities and local governments to analyze how local institutions - government and community-based - function in practice in delivering basic health services, and to draw lessons for improving public accountability.
The research was carried out in June-August 2002 in 30 local government areas of Lagos and Kogi states. Treasurers and primary health care coordinators in each of the 30 local governments, as well as managers and staff members in 252 health facilities were interviewed. Data from over 700 health workers was collected.
In addition to its analytical objectives, the conduct of this study was specifically designed to promote evidence-based policy dialogue in Nigeria by engaging the active participation of the government agency responsible for monitoring and supervising outcomes in primary health care service delivery - National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA). The agency was closely involved at every stage of the survey - from study design to its implementation and subsequent analysis.
