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Welcome to the PETS page.
Here you can easily find out what this method consists of, where and how to use it, its results, information campaigns on PETS, countries where PETS studies have been carried out, as well as reports and publications related to PETS. |
 What?
PETS is a method used to study the flow of public funds and other resources. It can vary greatly in content as
to the type of expenditures tracked, the number of levels of public administration studied, and the sectors
analysed.
The main question that a PETS sets out to answer is whether public funds and material resources end up where
they are supposed to. If this is not the case, a PETS should find out why funds are diverted. |
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Where?
PETS can be used on several levels: from the central government level, through the administrative hierarchy, and
out to the frontline service providers. It is most relevant where public accounting systems function poorly or
provide unreliable information.
The approach was developed by a group of researchers at the World Bank and was first used to study a primary
education reform in Uganda in 1996. Since then, several dozens of PETS have been implemented around the world,
both in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and in Eastern Europe. PETS has also been used in the health sector. |
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How?
PETS can vary greatly in quality (e.g. data quality, sample size). To implement a PETS, a research team
consisting either of external consultants or employees of a government statistical office, tries through dialogue
with different stakeholders, to identify leakage problems.
The next step is to draft a set of questionnaires corresponding to different tiers of the hierarchy and
categories of respondents. It is important to use these questionnaires at central (employees in the ministry),
and local level (local population, within the school).
For more information, see the sample questionnaire on PETS for primary school surveys
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In order to analyse how resources made available to frontline service providers are transformed into services
for the end users, a PETS is often complemented by a so-called 'Quantitative service delivery survey’ (QSDS)
(for more information, please see the studies referred to on this page).
It is crucial that the ministry of education is involved in the procedure. In this connection, the IIEP has
organized several intensive courses, where representatives from the education
sector have been trained in PETS. |
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Results
Conducted studies have shown that the amount of leakage is often difficult to estimate, due to poor book
keeping. Leakage rates can in some cases be very high. There are, however, fewer problems with leakage in salary
expenditures compared to non-salary expenditures.
Information campaigns
As the experience from
Uganda ,
shows PETS can have a positive impact when adequate information campaigns are conducted. The Ugandan central
government thus began publishing the monthly intergovernmental transfers of public funds in the main
newspapers. They also broadcasted information on the radio and required primary schools to post information on
their flows of funds.
This not only made information available to parents, but also signalled to local governments that the centre
had resumed its oversight function, drastically reducing fund leakages. |
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Countries
Indicating list of countries where one or several PETS studies have been carried out: Cambodia, Ghana, Kenya,
Mongolia, Namibia, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia
Other reports and publications
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Publication
Public expenditure tracking surveys in education
Peru, Uganda and Zambia
by Ritva Reinikka and Nathan Smith
 Download |
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Report
Sub-regional course on ‘Public expenditure tracking surveys in education’
Accra, Ghana, 22-26 May 2006
Ghana, Nigeria
Download |
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Recommended reading
PETS: lessons from Tanzania
Download the brief prepared by the U4 |
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