Rockefeller Faculty Delivers Training for Zimbabwe Parliamentary Staff

Finance training

ALBANY, N.Y. (February 15, 2022) — Throughout the month of January, Rockefeller College professors Gang Chen and Mikhail Ivonchyk delivered four weeks of public financial management training for the Parliament of Zimbabwe’s senior staff. The executive training was organized through Rockefeller’s Center for Policy Research (CPR) and funded through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The Zimbabwe Project focuses on providing technical assistance, trainings, and educational programs for the parliamentary staff to improve the African nation’s oversight of the executive, its budget processes, and to enable informed and timely passing of laws consistent with Zimbabwe’s constitution.

“Public Finance & Budgeting is one of Rockefeller College’s nationally ranked specialties,” said Professor Chen who led training design on behalf of the Department of Public Administration and Policy. “We are excited for this great opportunity to share our expertise in public financial management with the senior staff from the Parliament of Zimbabwe.”

The month-long training consisted of workshops and lectures on the topics of public budgeting; economic development, budget, and fiscal policy; budget systems and reforms; governments’ financial conditions and cutback management; fiscal transparency and citizen participation; capital budget and infrastructure financing; intergovernmental fiscal relations; and debt management. The program served as the first of five modules to be delivered in the College’s Zimbabwe Project. 

“This effort by Professor Chen and Professor Ivonchyk is an important one that can make a difference for public officials and help them to do a better job,” said CPR Director and Rockefeller College Professor Victor Asal. “We are proud that the Center is part of the effort to make this happen.” 

USAID, which leads international development and humanitarian assistance programs through partnerships with nations all over the world, is working with the Southern African Parliamentary Trust (SAPST) and Rockefeller College to deliver this five-year institutional capacity building program.