PESHAWAR, July 15: The Fiscal Decentralization Project, a wing of the National Reconstruction Bureau, organized a three-day training workshop “Budget and Revenue Mobilization” for senior government officials here on Monday.

“The workshop is aimed at training senior government functionaries as resource persons, who, in turn, will impart training to the officials at the district level to bring about a significant improvement in the living conditions and overall socio-economic situation under the power devolution plan,” said NRB’s national coordinator of training, Mohammad Zahoor.

The FDP, funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), is mainly concerned with planning and budget, revenue mobilization, fiscal transfer, audit and accounts, procurement and performance budgeting, the coordinator added.

A team of senior officials representing different line departments, like finance, accounts, local government, planning and development and provincial election authority, who were nominated by the provincial government, attended the workshop on the first day.

The Fiscal Decentralization Project has been tasked to develop new manuals to smoothly run the affairs of the district governments and produce modules on fiscal transfer, budget and planning, revenue mobilization, audit and accounts, procurement and performance budgeting, he revealed.

A training plan has been embarked upon in all the four provinces of the country, Mr Zahoor said. “What we need at the moment are not the elitist professionals, but those with a true national outlook and those who are committed to public welfare,” he observed.