The International Budget Partnership’s Open Budget Survey is a global assessment of transparency, participation, and oversight in budget processes. The survey assessed budget systems in 102 countries, including the MamaYe countries.
Introduction The International Budget Partnership’s Open Budget Survey is a global assessment of transparency, participation, and oversight in budget processes. The survey was first conducted in 2006 and this report was the fifth.
Methods The survey assessed budget systems in 102 countries according to three pillars of accountability:
- Budget transparency
- Public participation
- Oversight institutions (i.e. the legislature and the supreme audit institution of each country)
The survey was made up of 140 questions. Budget transparency was assessed based on the answers to 109 questions, giving a score on the Open Budget Index from 0 to 100. Public participation was rated using the answers to 16 questions. The strength of oversight institutions was based on the responses to the final 15 questions; separate scores were given for the legislature and supreme audit institution of each country. The survey was conducted by independent researchers in each of the 102 countries surveyed. The findings were reviewed by an anonymous expert and feedback was invited from national governments.
Key findings All except four of the countries surveyed did not meet at least one of the three pillars of accountability (budget transparency, public participation, and oversight institutions). 32 countries did not meet any of the three pillars of accountability, indicating major weaknesses in budget processes. Budget transparency Only one in four countries provided sufficient budget information to their citizens (defined as a score of over 60 out of 100 on the Open Budget Index). 78 countries provide insufficient information (scoring 60 or less), of which 17 provided extremely limited or no budget information to their citizens. Reasons why budget documents were not publically available were because they were not produced at all, they were produced for internal use only, or because documents were published too late to be useful. Public participation Opportunities for citizens to engage in the budget process were uncommon in most countries. Of the 102 countries surveyed, the average participation score was 25 out of 100. Oversight institutions Legislatures have an important role in ensuring government funds are collected and spent in a way that reflects national priorities.Almost two-thirds of the countries surveyed were found to have legislatures with limited powers to fulfil their oversight role. The role of supreme audit institutions is to examine the use of public funds. Overall, the strength of supreme audit institutions was found to be relatively good, with an average score of 65 out of 100. However, 43 countries scored less than 60 indicating limitations ineffective oversight.
Conclusions and recommendations The report concludes that despite some progress in budget accountability, there is still a long way to go to ensure strong transparency, participation and oversight in budget processes. The authors recognise that reforms must be tailored to individual country contexts, but some general recommendations are:
- Publish more information – documents that have already been written should be published on the government website
- Maintain gains in transparency
- Develop mechanisms to encourage citizen participation on what is in the budget and how it is implemented
- Empower oversight institutions
To read the report, click
here. To view the data as interactive maps and charts, click
here. To view MamaYe country results, based on this report, click on the country below:
International Budget Partnership. (2015). Open Budget Survey 2015. Washington DC: IBP.
International Budget Partnership. (2015). Open Budget Survey 2015. Washington DC: IBP.
