By Jasson Kalugendo, International Consultant – Capacity, Knowledge and Communication, GPI Results and Mutual Accountability
One of the needs identified by the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation (GPEDC) in the Nairobi Outcome Document in December 2016 was to utilize official development assistance (ODA) and other international public finance to strengthen resource mobilisation at the country-partner level. This includes improving tax collection as well as strengthening financial reforms, investment and business infrastructure to create an enabling environment for the domestic and international business sectors to contribute to the implementation of Agenda 2030.
During the Strengthening Global Partnership Initiatives Engagement Workshop and the Global Festival of Action for Sustainable Development (Bonn March 20-24, 2018), it was learned that Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TIWB), a GPI, was a response to the Addis Ababa Action Agenda to strengthen the capacity of partner countries to finance their own development in the context of Agenda 2030. Created in 2015 as a joint partnership between the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the objective was to provide expert tax auditors to developing countries to enhance their tax audit capacity and strengthen their institutional tax frameworks.
TIWB recognises that partnerships are the key to implementing programs in different countries in Asia Pacific, Africa, Europe, and Latin America and Caribbean. TIWB does not operate in isolation, but instead works with existing institutional platforms, such UNDP country offices and other regional tax administration bodies, to implement its programs in partner countries. TIWB works with host countries to ensure the programme is well funded and sustained. In Uganda for example, TIWB collaborated with the African Tax Administration Forum, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the World Bank Group and the Government of Uganda to support domestic resource mobilisation in the country and strengthen the capacity of the Uganda Revenue Authorities
One-to-one mentoring session at the Tax Inspectors Without Borders capacity building workshop for tax audit in Sri Lanka, 2017. Photo: OECD/UNDP TIWB Programme
It is also noteworthy that the TIWB recognises the importance of local content by customising its universal program to fit host-country specify circumstances in terms of needs, time convenience, existing capacity and other levels of assistance required. TIWB transfers tax audit knowledge and skills to tax administrations in developing countries through technical assistance, which is delivered through partnerships with tax administrations in developed economies and also through a UNDP managed roster of highly specialized independent tax audit experts. In this way, tax audit systems in the hosting country benefit from new techniques in the market and varied experiences and knowledge from other countries. For instance, the pilot phase in Uganda draws on learning and knowledge from Australia, South Africa and other countries in the south-south triangular.
On the TIWB official website, the impact of TIWB is described in three ways. First, partner country requests to TIWB in 2017 are continuing to rise. The TIWB has 30 ongoing and completed programmes in 25 developing countries, with 19 upcoming programmes currently in the pipeline.
Second, an immediate increase in tax revenue has been observed after the TIWB interventions. For example, TIWB assistance programmes have resulted in an additional USD 328 million in tax revenues being mobilised so far.
Thirdly, the program has triggered a change of mindset, particularly in the partner countries. Countries that have participated in the program have stepped out of the box. Rather than waiting for aid from donor communities to implement development plans, the program alerts countries to recognise the need to strengthen the mechanisms of their own tax administrations to mobilise domestic resources and implement development plans in their respective countries.
TIWB supports the GPEDC commitment to mobilise domestic resources to implement Agenda 2030. More importantly, TIWB brings permanent sustainable solutions to development partner countries. Official development assistance has been, and still is, critical for development implementation in many partner countries. But aid is always insufficient and its availability is in decline, which puts development progress at risk in the partner countries. TIWB empowers partner countries to seek solutions from within rather than relying so heavily on outside funding to implement the Sustainable Development Goals.
Empowerment Enterprises of Africa 