[2005 February 20]
In 2002 Idasa published a five multi-country study titled: Budget Transparency and Participation: Five African Case Studies. The study included Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Zambia and was based on a 1999 pilot transparency and participation study conducted in South Africa. The study drew heavily on other international efforts, notably the international codes for transparency, as developed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and general public finance principles. An added dimension, a perspective on participation, was included and the study framework concentrated on budget transparency, rather than fiscal transparency. The methodology applied in the first South African study developed by Idasa’s Budget Information Service (BIS) in collaboration with the International Budget Project (IBP) of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington DC has since been used as a starting point for further civil society research on budget transparency in the subsequent 5 multi-country study and now also in the forthcoming 8 multi-country study.
Subsequently in 2003/2004 the Africa Budget Project (ABP) in BIS was fortunate to secure funding from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the Ford Foundation office for Southern Africa and the International Budget Project to update the existing 5 country study, but also to expand it to include four more countries namely Burkina Faso, Namibia, Botswana and Uganda. The objective of the study, as with the two previous studies, is to look at budget transparency from the viewpoint of the ordinary citizen and ask what information a person will need to engage meaningfully with budget and other decisions about public resources. The study aims to provide civil society with a credible platform from which to advocate for more transparent, timely, accurate and comprehensive information in useful formats that would allow for greater citizen participation in public debate that can be used to hold their governments to account for performance. The report hence evaluates the mechanisms that promote good governance in the country, through advocating for more transparency in the budget process, identification of the main weaknesses of the process, and setting up a credible base to involve civil society organisations in the decision making and the budget process.
Below follows a summary of the findings of the 2004 study. For more information on the full report please contact the editors.
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DownloadsBOTSWANA
BOTSWANA.pdf
BURKINA FASO
BURKINA FASO.pdf
GHANA
GHANA.pdf
KENYA
KENYA.pdf
NAMIBIA
NAMIBIA.pdf
NIGERIA
NIGERIA.pdf
SOUTH AFRICA
SOUTH AFRICA.pdf
UGANDA
UGANDA.pdf
ZAMBIA
ZAMBIA.pdf
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