By Anja Rudiger, International Budget Partnership, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Transparency & Accountability Initiative,
Dec 10, 2018
This publication presents four stories that envision public finance in the year 2040 and illustrate the crucial role of public finance systems and policies in advancing — or undermining — economic equality, social justice, sustainable development, and human rights. Organizations working in the fiscal transparency and accountability field can draw on these scenarios to stimulate a dialogue about long-term strategies for advancing fiscal transparency and accountability in ways that will contribute to positive change in the lives of the poor and marginalized.
By International Budget Partnership South Africa,
Dec 03, 2018
Many communities living in informal settlements in metropolitan municipalities in South Africa receive basic services such as water, sanitation and refuse removal from outsourced service providers. This paper provides a detailed overview of the minimum level of procurement information South African metropolitan municipalities should be publishing on their supply chain management websites to support public engagement in the monitoring of the delivery of outsourced services and engagement in the tender process.
By Carlene van der Westhuizen, International Budget Partnership South Africa,
Dec 03, 2018
In South African metropolitan municipalities, the provision of basic services like water, sanitation, and electricity to urban informal settlements is an ongoing struggle, but very little is known about what specifically goes wrong. This research examines the findings of social audits, provider bid specifications, and interviews with municipal officials to identify the systemic causes of outsourced service delivery challenges and outlines several issues local governments could address to improve service delivery to informal settlements at scale.
By International Budget Partnership South Africa,
Nov 26, 2018
This guide is designed to help informal settlement communities in South Africa find the documents that provide information about a service being delivered to their community, which can be used to monitor if services are being delivered according to government contracts, and to engage with the government to improve the delivery of the service.
By Jason Lakin, Ph.D., Sally Torbert, and Suad Hasan,
Nov 07, 2018
Program-based budgeting is about making budgets more transparent, ensuring that public money is spent on the right priorities, and linking budgets more closely to the purposes of spending. Program structure in program-based budgeting is central to some of the most fundamental questions in public finance reform. This paper, prepared with financial and technical assistance from the World Health Organization, aims to contribute to the global knowledge of program budgeting in low- and middle-income countries through the lens of program structure and its definition and evolution in the health sector.
By Jason Lakin, Ph.D. and Suad Hasan,
Nov 07, 2018
A persistent challenge for both reformers and budget users in many countries undertaking the transition to program budgeting is learning about practices in other countries. This dataset and technical note, produced as part of research undertaken for a larger World Health Organization project, contains an assessment of budget documents from 30 low- and middle-income countries with some form of program budgeting. A brief technical note describes the data collected and offers a summary of what it tells us, and the dataset contains the full assessment and additional notes.
By Paolo de Renzio,
Nov 07, 2018
This case study looks at how the Brazilian government has approached program budgeting in the health sector and assesses the way in which the government has linked health spending with key policy objectives. Despite Brazil’s extensive history of program budgeting, this paper identifies some important challenges the government needs to address it if wants to provide a clearer picture of how, and for what purpose, health funds are actually spent.
By Ari Nurman,
Nov 07, 2018
This case study examines program budgeting in the health sector in Indonesia. The authors examined Indonesian legislation and budget documents, and conducted several interviews with resource persons from relevant institutions to collect information on Indonesia’s implementation of program-based budgeting and all of its accompanying challenges.
By Jason Lakin, Ph.D.,
Nov 07, 2018
Mexico has an elaborate system of “budgeting for results,” of which budget programs are an important part. While program budgeting is not new in Mexico, the last decade has seen efforts to refine and consolidate the number of budget programs, and to enhance the quality and logic of performance indicators and targets. This case study examines Mexico’s approach to program budgeting in the health sector – in particular the advantages and disadvantages of having a large number of programs.
By Jason Lakin, Ph.D.,
Nov 07, 2018
The Philippines presents a somewhat unique case of program budgeting. The introduction of programs came after nearly a decade of challenges arising from performance-oriented budget reforms. Program budgeting was introduced in 2015 in part to address the accountability challenges of performance measures at the ministry level, but it was not fully implemented until 2018. Though it is too early draw conclusions about how well program budgeting is working in the Philippines, this case study presents insights we can glean from the process used to set up program structures in the health budget.
