International Budget Partnership

The International Budget Partnership (IBP) leads a global campaign to promote transparency and citizen participation in decisions about how governments raise and spend revenues. In partnership with civil society organizations, state actors, international institutions, and the private sector, IBP undertakes research, training, and advocacy to ensure that budget decision-making processes are participatory and inclusive and that spending policies promote equity and justice. During this grant period, in addition to deepening transparency and civic engagement in budget processes, IBP will make necessary adjustments to their country strategies to ensure that country teams can engage effectively and timely with governments on COVID-19 spending decisions. The South Africa team has started an initiative to both enable residents of informal settlements in six major metropolitan centers to provide real-time feedback about gaps in water and sanitation services to their local governments and provide local governments with relevant data to effectively address those gaps.Given the centrality of government budgets in public service delivery, this grant serves several goals across GD&P. IBP’s budget analysis and expenditure tracking methods and tools are used by several issue- and sector-specific stakeholders including grantees in sexual and reproductive health, women’s economic empowerment, and water and sanitation to facilitate meaningful participation in public spending decisions. IBP’s open budget survey data is also used by governments, donors, and investors for decision making and by think tanks and other civil society organizations for analysis and advocacy. (Strategy: Transparency, Participation, and Accountability.)

The International Budget Partnership (IBP) leads a global civil society movement to use budget analysis and advocacy to improve governance and reduce poverty. IBP invests in the capacity of citizens to understand and analyze public budgets, participate in budget processes, and advocate for policies and reforms that make government more transparent, accountable, and responsive to the needs and priorities of citizens, especially the poor and marginalized. IBP also promotes budget policies that are based on fair taxation.