The Road to Addis Ababa: What’s Next for Budget Transparency and Participation?
All eyes are on Addis Ababa as leaders from 193 countries, along with thousands of representatives from civil society, academia, and the private sector, meet for the 3rd Financing for Development conference this week. Fresh from day one of the conference, IBP’s Claire Schouten takes stock of how budget transparency and participation have fared in the negotiations thus far, and details some of the important side events on offer. Read More.
Bridging the Gap Between Opening Budgets and Transforming Lives
The connection between budget transparency and better service delivery isn’t always straightforward. From our latest Annual Report, this essay details IBP South Africa’s “bottom up” approach to transparency – an exploration of what budget information is needed for citizens to better understand the public services they care about most. Read more.
Budget Analysis: A Tool for Effective Advocacy On Sexual and Reproductive Health
Any policy that a government commits to requires resources if it is to be achieved. A recent guide from International Planned Parenthood aims to arm activists and civil society with the skills they need to analyze sexual and reproductive health budgets and ensure governments are delivering on their promises. Read more.
What Have We Learned from Tracking Budget Transparency More Frequently?
Over the last 12 months IBP has been piloting a tool which tracks, on a monthly basis, the budget information governments in 30 countries are releasing to the public. A key finding that has emerged through the more frequent monitoring through the Open Budget Survey Tracker — the volatility of open budgets, and what that means for participation and accountability — is discussed in this Annual Report essay. Read more.
Publications
IBP Publications
Improving Program-Based Budgeting in Kenya: This guide examines the evolution of program-based budgeting Kenya between 2013/14 and 2015/16, following an example from the health sector.
Further Reading from the Field
The Open Development Institute’s recent paper, “Linkages between Public Sector Revenues and Expenditures in Developing Countries,” examines whether a better understanding of the link between revenue and expenditure will help governments and external actors achieve their goals in developing countries.
The U.S. Department of State’s 2015 Fiscal Transparency Report reviews whether or not countries have met the department’s minimum fiscal transparency standards as well as details the progress countries have made in meeting the requirements.
This paper from the Global Partnership for Social Accountability, “Does Collaboration with Civil Society Strengthen Accountability Institutions? An Exploration,” looks at the benefits as well as the risks of collaboration between civil society and accountability institutions, like anti-corruption bodies and supreme audit institutions.
The International Monetary Fund’s working paper, “Fiscal Decentralization and the Efficiency of Public Service Delivery,” looks at how fiscal decentralization affects service delivery, finding it can improve efficiency under certain circumstances.
Jobs
IBP Director of Operations: IBP is seeking a dynamic, highly experienced Director of Operations who will be responsible for overseeing a wide array of functions related to the organization’s infrastructure and operations, and who will lead in ensuring effective management and operations throughout the organization.
IBP Program Officer for Content Development and Digital Strategy: The program officer will play a role that is both creative and analytical in developing, producing, and promoting IBP’s principal electronic communication products: the bimonthly newsletter, website, and social media platforms.
Publish What You Fund, Aid Information Advisor: The Aid Information Advisor will support the Research and Monitoring work stream of Publish What You Fund and will lead on the development and maintenance of tools for monitoring aid transparency and support with the production of the 2016 Aid Transparency Index.