Mission and Purpose
International Budget Partnership (IBP) wants to fight poverty and to do so they need to address government budgets. Budgets are the government’s most powerful tool to meet the needs and priorities of a country and its people. The aim of the IBP is to ensure that government budgets are more immediate to the needs of poor and low-income people in society and, to make budget systems more apparent and responsible to the public.
The IBP believes that the public has a right to wide-ranging, timely, and valuable information on how the government manages public funds. This allows for the identifications of a broad range of solutions. Their experience shows that when ordinary people have a chance to be involved and informed, broader public engagement in government budget processes can promote large improvements in governance and poverty. “In order to foster more open, participatory, and accountable public budgeting, the IBP partners with civil society organizations around the world, leveraging their knowledge of their country’s political context, their experience navigating policy processes for social change, and their relationships with the public in order to transform their country’s budget system.” [1]
What does IBP do? Five Major Steps:
1. Building budget analysis and advocacy skills through training and technical assistance. This allows for education on budgets which helps create a solid information base.
2. Measuring and advancing transparency, accountability, and public participation in the budget process.
3. Contributing to strong and sustainable organizations by providing financial assistance for civil society budget work.
4. Enhancing knowledge exchange among civil society budget groups and other public finance stakeholders by acting as a hub of information on civil society budget work. This helps weigh the pros and cons of each budget work, allowing for the best to be chosen.
5. Building vibrant international and regional budget networks, finding the top possible solutions.
What is the impact of this?
The IBP and civil society organizations that work together hope to contribute on how governments can reform the managing of public funds around the world.
This allows for the budget process (being the proposal of budgets, the deliberative debates on them, how they are implemented and how they are assessed) to be known to the public and how they are able to add input. The needs of the poor and marginalized are effectively addressed by the budget policies and how the budget rules, institutions and regulations are stronger and able to resist corruption and poor management.
History
“In 1985 Disha, a civil society organization (CSO) in Gujarat, India, wanted the government to address several issues affecting poor people living in tribal areas, including land rights and support for Tendu leaf-plucker women. Although Disha was well-equipped with economic and moral arguments and were seasoned advocates, they realized that without hard data on how the national and local governments were currently using, and planning to use, public funds to support tribal development, it would be nearly impossible to convince the government to address these issues. So Disha began to gather this data and use it to advocate for stronger policies for poor, tribal people.Thus was born one of the first “budget groups” — CSOs that analyze government budgets and undertake advocacy to influence these budgets in order to improve policies, service delivery, and outcomes, particularly for the poor.” [1]
Why Civil Society Budget Work?
Public budgets are the outlines for how the government will raise and use the public funds needed for the policies and programs. Though the budget directly impacts all of a nation’s people, usually the public has been shut out of the processes through which these decisions are made.
This allows for people from all over to participate, creating an equal deliberative model for expansion in the world. With the help of people around the world, IBP hopes to make the best decision possible for all countries. This attitude has begun to change in the past decade, influenced largely by increasing efforts by civil society organizations to participate in government budget processes in order to affect policy choices and make public budgeting more open and accountable. It is being recognized that when ordinary people are involved in managing the public’s money, you get stronger decisions and better outcomes for the people, especially the poor people.
Two things need to happen to make this work. One: governments need to provide the public with information and chance to participate in the budget process. Two: civil society and the public need the skills to understand and use this information to effectively promote for better plans.
Based on this belief, the International Budget Partnership was formed in 1997 within the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities [2] to collaborate with general society to start budget analysis and advocacy in order to improve governance and decrease poverty. The IBP invests in civil society’s capacity to understand and analyze government budgets and participate in budget processes.
“The work of the IBP is fueled by these core assumptions:
• Public understanding and engagement are necessary if public budgeting processes are to be reformed and budgets are to be more responsive.
• Successful CSO engagement requires that citizens have access to information and opportunities to participate in the formulation, implementation, and oversight of public policies and budgets.
• Government has the primary duty to provide the public with timely, comprehensive information on the budget and opportunities for participation in budget processes.
• Government has the primary duty to ensure that the maximum available public funds are devoted to reductions in poverty. Public funds should be spent on public priorities, especially those of the poor and marginalized.” [1]
Activities
IBP’s Electronic Publications – documents and promotes the budget work that is done and the organizations that make it possible. This is a free bimonthly newsletter that anyone can subscribe to. This creates a solid information base for the people that are interested in learning about budget work.
Open Budget Blog/International Budget Listserv – these are both ongoing discussions on current budget issues and people are able to participate and also able to start new feeds. This allows for discussion by all types of people by adequately distributing speaking opportunities. This is a very deliberative means for which people can help others ensure for mutual comprehension while considering other ideas and experiences.
Funding
The International Budget Partnership collaborates with a large and diverse network of civil society organizations (CSOs) around the world. The IBP — through the Partnership Initiative (PI), the Open Budget Initiative (OBI), and the Training Program — provides re-grants and technical assistance to a wide range of organizations. “All together, during 2009, the IBP made grants totaling $1,929,000 to 47 organizations in 33 countries, plus an additional $825,000 in pass-through grants to two organizations.” [3]
The IBP also provides a number of smaller grants to strengthen support. These grants contribute to a coordinated campaign within and across countries, but with a narrower focus than the Partnership Initiative. The Open Budget Initiative seeks, in now close to 100 countries, greater transparency in government budgets and greater government accountability for the effective use of scarce public resources.
The financial support IBP provides goes to a diverse group of organizations. Some, such as Fundar in Mexico or Ibase in Brazil highly capable CSOs that use budget analysis in pursuit of broad national-level policy goals. Others, such as HakiElimu in Tanzania and the Omar Asghar Khan Foundation in Pakistan, got their start with a focus on a single sector and have gradually expanded their work from that foundation.
Major Donors:
Ford Foundation
Open Society Institute
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Major Projects
Open Budget Survey 2010 The Open Budget Survey is the only independent, comparative, and regular measure of budget transparency and accountability around the world. The 2010 Survey finds that 74 of the 94 countries assessed fail to meet basic standards of precision and accountability with national budgets. This opens the door to abuse and inappropriate and inefficient use of public money. However, the 2010 Survey also reveals that improvement can, and has happened, in a relatively short time period and in some of most challenging contexts.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 [ http://www.internationalbudget.org/who-we-are/ International Budget Partnership (Who We Are)]
- ↑ Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
- ↑ International Budget Partnership (Funding)
Secondary Sources
Child Friendly Budgets for 2010 and Beyond - http://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/files/Global_Economic_Crisis_Cambodia.pdf
"Fiscal Transparency - Self-Evaluation Report." IMF -- International Monetary Fund Home Page. International Monetary Fund. Web. 07 Dec. 2010. <http://www.imf.org/external/np/fad/trans/summary/summary.htm>.
Isaken, Jan, Inge Amudsen, and Arne Wiig. "CMI Publication: Budget, State and People. Budget Process, Civil Society and Transparency in Angola." Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) - Research for Development and Justice. 2007. Web. 03 Dec. 2010. <http://www.cmi.no/publications/publication/?2706=budget-state-and-people-budget-process>.
Mohanty, Siba Sankar. "An Analysis of the Budgetary Allocations for the Scheduled Caste Sub Plan (SCSP) in Recent Years." NSA Policy Brief No- 313, 20 Aug. 2008. Web. 7 Dec. 2010. <http://www.nsa.org.in/Policybrief/313SibasankarmohantySCSP.pdf>.
People's Advocacy. "PROBLEM/ISSUE STRATEGIC ANALYSIS TOOLS." Peoples Advocacy, 2010. Web. 7 Dec. 2010. <http://www.internationalbudget.org/files/From_Problems_to_Issues.pdf>.
Ramkumar, Vivek, and Isaac Shapiro. "Guide to Transparency in Government Budget Reports: How Civil Society Can Use Budget Reports for Research and Advocacy | IBP." International Budget Partnership. Web. 03 Dec. 2010. <http://www.internationalbudget.org/library/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3944>.
"Transparency at the IMF." Global Transparency Initiative, Oct. 2007. Web. 7 Dec. 2010. <http://www.ifitransparency.org/doc/Transparency_IMF_GTI.pdf>.
External Links
International Budget Partnership Website – http://www.internationalbudget.org/
Ford Foundation - http://www.fordfoundation.org/
Open Society Foundations - http://www.soros.org/
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation - http://www.hewlett.org/
Open Budget Survey 2010 - www.openbudgetindex.org