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                   The International Budget Project\
 
  About the Project

Rationale
The role of the International Budget Project reflects, in part, recent dramatic transformations in systems of governments.  Over the past decade, dozens of countries have shifted from being closed to open societies and are constructing more participatory decision-making processes. The goals of this ongoing process extend beyond the establishment of free elections. Open and democratic societies require an informed citizenry, public participation, and governing processes that are transparent. Establishing open institutions and participatory decision-making processes is a daunting challenge, particularly in countries that have for their entire history been ruled by non-democratic regimes.

Formidable economic challenges also remain in developing and newly democratizing countries.  Even in countries where significant economic growth has occurred, it frequently has been accompanied by sharp dislocations and often has not been broadly shared among the countries’ populations.  The nature of a country's budget process and the actual decisions on government budgets will play large roles in determining whether a country can meet the above challenges. The budget is perhaps the most important policy document, and the decisions made on the budget have profound effects on a nation’s citizens. There is also a growing consensus that budget decisions need to be subjected to public scrutiny and debate.

As evidence of this growing consensus, civil society organizations in many developing and transition countries have been working to build capacity to understand, analyze, and influence government budgets.  Bound by a common commitment to inclusive budgeting, transparency, and social justice, these “budget groups” have carved an important niche in promoting civic engagement in public policy by producing timely, credible information on the impact of the budget on poor people.

Budget work is advancing in every region, in both middle- and low-income countries, among think tanks and grassroots organizations, and within individual organizations and across coalitions.  The work first took root successfully in middle-income countries, such as Brazil, India, Israel, Mexico, Poland, Russia, and South Africa, predominantly among NGOs and think tanks.  More recently, a second wave of organizations, typically more community-based or grassroots in nature, has emerged in low-income countries in Africa (Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda), South and Central America (Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru), Southeast Asia (Indonesia), and Central Asia (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan).

Although the trend towards a greater role for civil society in the budget process is still at an early stage, budget groups are increasing providing evidence that they can contribute to better policy making and implementation by:

  • Producing accessible materials to increase budget literacy and broaden public debate about the budget.

  • Providing training to the legislature, the media, and civil society to enhance budget oversight.

  • Improving executive decision-making by collecting information on citizens' priorities and the impact of government programs.

  • Tracking intergovernmental expenditures to reduce corruption and waste.

  • Analyzing the impact of budgetary choices on the poor and marginalized.

  • Tracking executive branch responses to the work of the auditor-general and legislatures.

The role of civil society in improving and monitoring public expenditure systems, revenues and expenditures is being increasingly recognized on the international stage.  The World Bank and International Monetary Fund now frequently support budget groups as a way of complementing the loans they make to national governments.  Similarly, major bilateral donors, such as the U.K. Department for international Development (DFID), the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), and the Danish International Development Agency, are courting budget groups as key components of strategies to reduce poverty and improve governance. 

As a further sign of growth in the budget work community, budget groups are collaborating with international networks on gender and children’s rights, and there is growing discussion of the synergies between budget work and international work on governance, socio-economic rights, debt reduction, oil and gas sectors, and international financial institutions.   In addition, several dynamic regional networks and an international network of budget groups have started to emerge.  A regional network of budget institutions has emerged in Africa, due in no small part to the efforts of the African Budget Project at Idasa; and Fundar is helping to develop a network of groups across South and Central America.  Budget organizations are also working together across regions.  Through the IBP, experienced budget groups are providing training and technical assistance to civil society groups and donors across the world.  Groups are also cooperating on a multi-country budget transparency measurement effort – the Open Budgets Questionnaire – initiated by the IBP and partners around the world. 

It is in this context that the International Budget Project of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities was started in 1997. The project promotes the exchange of ideas among and cooperation between the growing number of budget policy researchers; nurtures the development of applied budget research; and acts as a resource base for such research. 

Although budget work is thriving in many countries, budget systems remain closed in most countries and several obstacles contribute to excluding stakeholders outside of the executive branch from an effective role in deciding how the nation’s resources are allocated.   The IBP works to assist civil society budget groups to address these challenges by providing training and technical assistance, advancing budget transparency, acting as the primary source of information on civil society budget work, and enhancing and directing donor investment in the sector. 

In addition, given the common goals and challenges faced by budget policy researchers and NGOs interested in budget issues, the IBP works to encourage civil society budget organizations to work with and learn from each other.  The IBP’s primary strategy for doing so is to build regional partners that can serves as key nodes for regional and international networks on budgets.  Every organization should not have to create its own approach to examining budget issues out of whole cloth. The International Budget Project can point to useful models and approaches and can bring these new organizations together so they could learn directly from one another.

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