From the Open Budgets Blog
Accountants With Opinions: How Can Government Audits Drive Accountability?
How can government auditors better fulfill their crucial function of holding the powerful to account? In November 2016 IBP convened a group of leading experts and practitioners from the field of government auditing to discuss how to make audits more impactful.
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Doing Accountability Differently in India
Budgets are complex. There are different actors operating at different levels with competing interests – often leading to accountability breakdowns. Look at how two IBP partners in India are “doing accountability differently” to ensure that budgets lead to improved public services.
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Balancing Act: An Online Tool for Capturing the Public’s Budget Priorities
Engaged Public has an interactive online tool – Balancing Act – that teaches citizens how budgets work and captures their input on budget priorities. Originally developed for U.S. audiences, Engaged Public is working to adapt the tool to different country contexts
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New IBP Publication
How Does Civil Society Use Budget Information?
Is there a mismatch between the budget information governments supply and that needed by civil society to engage in budget processes? This paper examines the “demand side” of fiscal transparency using findings from a global survey of 176 individuals who use budget information for analysis and advocacy activities. Based on the responses, authors Paolo de Renzio (IBP) and Massimo Mastruzzi (World Bank) reveal a “fiscal transparency effectiveness gap” between the fiscal information that governments often provide and the information that civil society needs.
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Further Reading From the Field
- The International Budget Partnership: Reflecting on Two Decades of Campaigning for Fiscal Governance Reform (Development Leadership Program)
- Budget Accountability Systems: What the Open Budget Survey Shows about Countries in the Asia and Pacific Region (Asian Development Bank)
- Does Aid Dependency Hinder Budget Transparency? (Dev Policy Blog)
- Guide on Principles and Mechanisms of Public Participation in Fiscal Policy (Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency)
- Scaling Accountability Through Vertically Integrated Civil Society Policy Monitoring and Advocacy (Making All Voices Count)
- In the Eye of the Beholder: When is Governance Data “Good Enough”? (Aid Data and Governance Data Alliance)
A New Light Shines on Africa
In recent years, governments in francophone Africa have taken concrete actions to shine more light on how they are raising and spending public money. In a piece for U.S. News and World Report, IBP’s Vivek Ramkumar and Warren Krafchik explain how these actions can lead to more effective efforts to address development issues in the region.
Job Announcements
View current job openings at the International Budget Partnership here.