The Center for International Private Enterprise hosted an event titled “Controlling Corruption through Public Financial Management.”
This event featured the Honduras Minister of Finance, Wilfredo Cerrato, discussing the importance of augmenting efforts to control corruption with public financial management reforms. Through more transparent and accountable budgeting, expenditure, procurement, and human resource management, Honduras is seeking to improve the efficiency of public investment and the delivery of critical health, education, and infrastructure services for its citizens. He was joined by Marco Bográn, Executive Director of Invest-H, who is overseeing the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s (MCC) $15.6 million Threshold Program grant to support the Government of Honduras in its effort to improve public financial management and implement effective and transparent public-private partnerships. Andrew Wilson, CIPE’s Managing Director, moderated the discussion.
The MCC program is helping the Government of Honduras save money and improve the procurement and delivery of public services, and reduce opportunities for corruption—ultimately strengthening governance overall. The Government of Honduras is providing unprecedented access to its procurement, payment, and human resource records to allow civil society and donors to identify problems with budgeting, payment arrears, procurement, and contracting. The event speakers reviewed the progress the Government of Honduras has made under the MCC Threshold Program and other initiatives, as well as provided an assessment of the challenges.
Agenda:
Welcoming Remarks
- Andrew Wilson, Managing Director, CIPE
Panel Discussion
- Wilfredo Cerato , Government of Honduras Minister Of Finance
- John Wingle, Country Director for Guatemala and Honduras, MCC
- Frank Brown, Senior Program Officer for Anti-Corruption, CIPE
- Marco Bográn, General Director MCA-Honduras
- Andrew Wilson, Managing Director, CIPE (discussion moderator)
Speaker Bios:
- John Wingle is the Country Director for Guatemala and Honduras at the Millennium Challenge Corporation, where he manages the MCC’s Threshold Programs in Guatemala and Honduras. In addition, he is the Public Financial Management Project Lead in Honduras. At MCC, John previously served as the Country Economist for Benin, Mali, Honduras and El Salvador, MCC Resident Country Director – Namibia, and MCC Resident Country Director – Honduras. Prior to joining MCC, John served as an International Economist at the U.S. Treasury where he worked on a variety of international development issues including the design and establishment of the Millennium Challenge Corporation. John is fluent in Spanish and holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a B.A. in Humanities and a B. A. in Economics from Seattle University.
- Wilfredo Rafael Cerrato Rodríguez is the Finance Minister of Honduras. President Pepe Lobo named Cerrato as Finance Minister (Secretario de Estado en el Despacho de Finanzas) on August 7, 2012. Minister Cerrato was President of COALIANZA (Public Private Commission for Investment) from March 2011 until his appointment as finance minister. Mr. Cerrato has an Executive International MBA from INCAE Business School in Nicaragua and an MBA from UNICAH in Honduras. He speaks English and Spanish.
- Frank Brown is a senior program officer at CIPE on the anti-corruption and trade teams. Prior to joining CIPE, Brown spent 15 years as a journalist, the last 11 of them based in Moscow, where he was the bureau chief for Newsweek magazine. Over the course of his journalistic career, Brown reported on conflicts in Russia, Serbia, Kosovo and Sri Lanka, as well as on business, politics, and religion. He holds degrees from Columbia and Yale universities.
- Marco Bográn is the Executive Director of INVEST-H and the Millennium Challenge Account of Honduras. His responsibilities include overall oversight and implementation of all Programs and Projects under the implementing entity´s large and diverse portfolio, which includes infrastructure, road maintenance, rural development, food security programs. Marco’s previous professional experience includes Deputy Director/Legal Advisor for MCA-Honduras, General Legal Counsel for the Ministry of the Presidency, and Legal Consultant for the Presidential Commission for State Modernization, under World Bank, UNDP, and IDB financing. Marco has also been an associate professor and lecturer at several Law schools. His educational background includes a degree in Law and an LL.M. in Commercial Law. He was awarded academic honors during the study of both degrees. He also holds an MBA Degree. He is fully bilingual (Spanish and English).
- Andrew Wilson is the Managing Director of the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) in Washington, DC. Prior to assuming the role as head of the organization, Wilson was Deputy Director for Strategic Planning and Programs, where he oversaw staff efforts to develop and implement program strategies, coordinate internal proposal development, monitor knowledge management activities, and manage relationships with donors. Previously, he was the Regional Director for Europe, Eurasia, and South Asia at CIPE, where he directed grant and technical assistance programs to the aforementioned regions and coordinated CIPE’s corporate governance efforts across the globe. Working with CIPE he has extensive experience in dealing with private sector development issues in conflict and post-conflict settings, crafting successful business strategies to reduce corruption, encouraging entrepreneurship development, strengthening business advocacy, and the promotion of economic reform. He is currently a co-chair of the Private Sector Council at the Open Government Partnership (OGP).