World Bank project calls for media and civil society engagement in budget process
A World Bank-funded project on building media and civil society capacities for budget transparency being implemented at the Batticaloa Municipal Council (MC) revealed that there was no platform for media and civil society to involve in the decision-making process and to debate government spending strategy and contestability of expenditure allocations among various units at different levels. This has contributed directly to the lack of accountability.
In 2011, The Marga Institute received a grant of US$ 50,000 from the World Bank’s demand for good governance fund to implement a project on “Building media and civil society capacity for budget transparency” in the Batticaloa Municipal Council. According to a survey conducted under this project, no civil society group has had any discussion with the (BMC) on the expenditure of the council although they agreed that it was important to have an open discussion.
Many citizens believed that there was poor coordination between the media and BMC.
The survey revealed that 60 per cent of provincial media personnel in the area were not familiar with budgets and 90 per cent of them have no proper understanding about terms in the budget related to revenue and expenditure.
Lack of facilities to obtain information and the bureaucracy were the major constraints faced by media. According to the findings of the survey, 69.2 per cent of a group of senior officials was of the view that the interests of citizens were not considered in the budgeting process and it highlighted the need for active civil society participation in the process.
Batticaloa Mayor Sivageetha Prabaharan told a workshop jointly organized by the Marga Institute and the World Bank in Colombo recently that her council is implementing a budget transparency initiative.
She said the council is the pioneer in introducing participatory budget concept with the assistance of Marga and the World Bank. Ms Prabaharan disclosed that during the past citizens in the area didn’t have any interest in the local government budget other than paying their taxes.
They were not given an opportunity to be aware as to how their tax money is utilised by the council. They do not have a control over the money paid by them for their own services and benefits, she said.
After the re-activating of taxpayers association with members representing all sectors irrespective of political party affiliations, the trend has been changed. The association is assisting the activities of the council and it represents the people to arrive at amicable settlements in issues with the council.
The proposals of taxpayers are processed through various stages until the final stage is reached and again presented for the observation and suggestions of the taxpayers, she said.
Village development committees were set up in each Grama Seva division to directly participate in the budgetary proposal meetings and their suggestions will be evaluated and accommodated in the council budget, she revealed.
Marga Institute Governing Council member Asoka Gunawardena said that the outcome of the project was the increased interaction between civil society and municipal council counterparts in accessing budget information allowing them to voice citizen concerns at local level.
Follow @timesonlinelk
Related Posts:
Budget 2013: Daunting task of cutting deficitWith 2012 budget targets already gone awry, Treasury officials have begun the preparatory work for the November 2013 budget giving ...
Education sector gets 14 percent more next yearThe Government allocations for both the education and higher education sectors in the country for 2013 have increased by close ...
BT-RCB budget survey draws Treasury attentionA 3-pronged approach by the Business Times (BT) last week in asking the public what they expect in the Government's ...
State institutions directed to make compulsory savings in 2013 budgetState institutions are to be directed to provide for compulsory savings of 12 per cent in the 2013 budget spending ...
BT-RCB poll: City and rural folk differ on education issuesDiverse views, interestingly, emerged in the BT-RCB joint email-cum-street poll on education issues conducted this week, just as the struggle ...