How Does Civil Society Use Budget Information? Mapping Fiscal Transparency Gaps and Needs in Developing Countries
- Paolo de Renzio, Massimo Mastruzzi
- Dec 2016
- International Budget Partnership (IBP), Global initiative for fiscal Transparency (GIFT)
- International
In recent years, access to fiscal and budget information has been in focus in the international arena. Governments around the world are slowly opening up their budgets to public scrutiny by making increasing amounts of fiscal data available, often through the use of dedicated web portals. This increase in the supply, however, is often not matched by the adequate demand and use of budget information required to bring about some of its intended benefits, such as increased citizen engagement, improved oversight, and enhanced accountability. Similarly, civil society groups often complain that the information that governments do make available is not detailed or useful enough.
This paper brings together the findings from a global survey of civil society groups (CSOs) that use budget information for analysis and advocacy activities. It aims to arrive at a better understanding of how CSOs use budget information, the challenges that they face when accessing it, and the improvements they would like to see in the way governments disseminate it. The paper is organized as follows. The findings are survey-based and include issues around existing uses of budget information, accessibility of budget data and suggestions for improving governments’ fiscal transparency efforts as well as identify potential new areas for advancing both policy and research.
