At least 30 members of payam development committees from Yei Town and Mugwo Payams in Yei River County have been equipped with budgeting and financial literacy.
The training, supported by GIZ, aimed at strengthening local resource mobilization, planning, budgeting, and record-keeping to enhance grassroots development.
GIZ Coordinator Samuel Taban said the training was intended to empower payam development committee members with the knowledge needed for effective local resource collection and sound financial management.
“We have now brought the refresher training to the payam development committees because we want to give knowledge so that local administrations can be able to collect the available revenues and budget to use,” he said. “You are now the eyes of Yei River County and of the whole community. Time will come when payam directors will direct you on what you can do next.”
One of the beneficiaries, Sunday Grace from Gimunu Boma in Yei Town Payam, described the training as timely and beneficial. She said it enhanced their knowledge on monitoring and evaluating local resources to support payam development.
“I am very happy because I came for the training and it has taught me about keeping records, planning, budgeting and resource management,” she said. “Before this training, I did not know anything about revenues and expenditure, and I was not able to balance the books. However, with all that I have learnt today, I will be able to teach my colleagues in my department.”
Amos Alafi, a beneficiary from Mugwo Payam, said the training equipped them with practical skills in revenue management, including proper record-keeping, revenue collection and local revenue generation. He said it will greatly improve financial management.
“It is very important, and I learned about things to do with public finance management, bookkeeping, and revenue collection,” he stated. “Unlike before, where we didn’t know the right channels, leading to misuse of funds, this training will help us accumulate resources and develop our payams.”
For her part, Rose Doru Simbe, Director of Yei Town Payam, emphasized the importance of the training and urged participants to apply the knowledge learned by promoting transparency, accountability, and monitoring and evaluation in the management of public finances.
“I have understood something about financial management and transparency. The question is, are we going to implement it?” she said. “The government is being accused of a lot of things, but now you have understood why taxes are collected.”
The 30 participants included 18 men and 12 women. The training was designed to equip them with practical knowledge and skills in managing public resources and promoting accountability at the payam level.
and then