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Tracking Public Expenditure

Image Source: Wikimedia

Image by Wikimedia/ EurovisionNim

GDN implemented a program to improve public expenditure accountability with members of think tanks, research centers and other policy research organizations in 14 developing countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America, by training them to monitor and analyze public expenditures in education, health and water.

In partnership with the Results for Development Institute (US), and over a period of five years, GDN strengthened the capacities of 148 professional staff from the 14 partner institutions to compare national budgets with public expenditure. The local research teams worked to leverage research into policy by systematically assessing sector and program budgets, measuring the benefit incidence of public spending, and designing multiple policy options for decision-makers. In total, 167 analytical reports were shared with 614 parliamentarians, ombudsmen and journalists, and 390 think tanks via 148 seminars.

The most significant results from the project are manifold. The Centre for the Study of Economies of Africa in Nigeria demanded – and got – greater data disclosure from the federal government, allowing civil society to access and monitor government financial data. This not only improved attitudes within the government, but also increased the accountability of the bureaucracy and contributed to greater transparency in revenue allocation, with government functionaries making additional information on budgets available to the public.

The training, mentoring and peer reviews enabled participants to gather data and evidence with which to make compelling arguments in favor of policy action – or against it. Sandeep MS from the Centre for Budget and Policy Studies in Bangalore, India, participated in the program. He said, “.. We had the Commissioner of the Labor Department calling us to make a presentation to his department, when our research was sort of making the buzz in the department. They are quite keen to incorporate our research findings into their future decision making.” 

In Armenia, the project resulted in educational reform, allowing students from poorer backgrounds to access higher education by changing the subsidy system. In Peru, students began to regularly monitor the national budget and participate in an annual essay contest called “Eyes on the Budget.” In Kenya, MPs and journalists were trained on how to analyze the national budget. In Guatemala, a conditional cash transfer program became institutionalized because of the advocacy from FUNDESA, the local partner. FUNDESA supported the newly created Ministry of Social Development to create  a private-public alliance (Program de Apoyo al Ejecutivo) to improve the way the CCTs program was implemented and evaluated in the country, for the benefit of close to 900,000 families targeted. In Mexico, the program was praised by public officials for the very useful analysis of the burden on the public health system of smoking, and the assessment of various options to reduce it, both through taxation and public awareness campaigns.

In sum, the program contributed to building more capable, accountable and responsive governments in the countries where the project operated.  NORC at the University of Chicago, one of the largest independent social research organizations in the United States, evaluated the program in January 2014. They concluded that although the development of internationally comparable information on public expenditures as a result of the program was limited, it made significant progress in improving the quality of the research done at country level.  

Most importantly, the program left behind 14 stronger institutions, with analytical capability, trained communications staff and increased local visibility and stature.  According to NORC, the program was relevant to increasing voice, accountability and responsiveness. “The countries targeted are ones in which voice and accountability were limited, yet there was enough space for civil society to operate and constructively engage with the government,” they said.

Program

Strengthening Institutions to improve Public Expenditure Accountability”, supported by the Department for International Development (DFID) United Kingdom, through its Governance and Transparency Fund (GTF), from December 2008 – October 2013.

Download other stories from the same program here  Armenia I Guaremala I Nigeria I Ghana I Indonesia