From the Open Budgets Blog
Making the Most of Citizens Budgets
There are numerous approaches governments can use to publish and disseminate a Citizens Budget. This post details two strategies worth exploring further: the importance of involving the public, and the need for more innovative dissemination strategies.
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Ending Extreme Poverty with Domestic Resources
A recent working paper published by the Center for Global Development found that almost three-quarters of global poverty could be tackled through the redistribution of existing domestic resources. Co-author Chris Hoy shares what this means for those working on government budgets.
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Decentralized Budget Transparency?
There is a tendency to assume that budget information is centralized within national finance ministries. But recent exploratory work by IBP South Africa suggests that potential sources of budget information — specifically the information civil society needs to monitor implementation on the ground — are more varied than one might expect.
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Case Studies on the Impact of Audits
Is India’s Ministry of Coal Effective in Supporting Coal Production?
A 2012 audit of India’s nationalized coal industry exposed a lack of transparency, gross irregularities, and inefficiencies in administrative processes. This case study details the findings and examines the impact of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report.
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Accountability for Safe Train Service in Argentina
Argentina’s General Audit Office had previously issued reports pointing out issues related to train services provided by the private company Trains of Buenos Aires (TBA). However, its March 2012 report, coming just days after a fatal accident involving a TBA train, had a much greater impact.
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Philippines’ Commission on Audit Key to Unearthing “Pork Barrel” Scandal
A 2012 investigation by the Philippines Commission of Audit (CoA) shed light on the misuse of the Priority Development Assistance Fund by members of the Philippines Congress, other government officials, and NGOs. This case study examines the impact of the CoA’s findings.
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Further Reading From the Field
- Data and the City: New Report on how Public Data is Fostering Civic Engagement in Urban Regions (Open Knowledge International)
- Connecting the Dots: Building the Case for Open Data to Fight Corruption (World Wide Web Foundation)
Putting the Government’s Budget Proposal in Context
On 22 February 2017 the South African Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan delivered the annual budget speech upon tabling the Executive’s Budget Proposal in parliament. As an example of how CSOs can engage in this stage of the process, IBP South Africa responded with an assessment of the proposal.
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