Citizens often lack information onthe use of public funds. They are usually left out ofallocation decisions and do not have opportuni¬ties toprovide adequate and timely feedback on the use of scarceresources. Transparency in budgetary processes reducesopportu¬nities for wasteful and corrupt spending. As aconsequence, and because it can increase trust inauthorities and lead to enhanced tax collections, budgettransparency could increase resources avail¬able to fightpoverty. Therefore, with support from the World Bank, tworegions in Cameroon (the North-West and Adamawa) piloted aninitiative to promote greater budget transparency with threeobjectives: simplification, analysis, and disclosure ofbudgets at multiple levels (national, regional, divisional,municipal, school, and health center); awareness andcapacity-building of government officials and local/regionalinstitutions to promote public dialogue about publicexpenditures by encouraging demand-side governance; anddocumentation and dissemination of activities. In both theregions, steering committees under the chairman¬ship oftheir governors spearheaded and coordinated the activitiesunder the initiative. Two local nongovernmentalorganizations with expertise in social accountabilityapproaches facilitated the community mobilization and budgetdissemination process.
PDF
download
878987797
028-85220240
