Increasing Civil Society Participation in Budgeting Processes in the Pacific

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (16 August 2004) - ADB will help encourage civil society groups in the Pacific to participate more fully in resource allocation processes, through a technical assistance (TA) grant approved for US$500,000.

The TA, from the Poverty Reduction Cooperation Fund, financed by the Government of the United Kingdom, will be carried out in two pilot countries - the Fiji Islands and Vanuatu.

It will assess regional practices of involving civil society members in resource allocation processes at all levels, with particular attention paid to the concerns of women and youth groups, often the most marginalized in society.

Based on this assessment, the TA will outline activities that can improve civil society participation in resource allocation processes and to encourage the governments to become more responsive to civil society in return.

"By enhancing the capacity of civil society, government officials, elected representatives, and traditional leaders in budget literacy and advocacy, the TA will help promote a more responsive and pro-poor resource allocation," says Michaela Prokop, an ADB Economist.

"Involving civil society in the resource allocation process can contribute to government accountability and to the integration of a pro-poor perspective of the annual budget and planning documents."

Lack of access to and declining quality of basic social services have been cited as important factors contributing to hardship in poverty assessments conducted in the Pacific.

There are significant disparities in the delivery of basic social services, which often fail to reach the outer islands, rural areas, urban squatter settlements, and the most vulnerable, particularly women and the youth.

Given the Pacific's geography and the remoteness of the national Government to the areas where government services are most needed, strengthening the linkages between the community, provincial, and national governance levels and the participation of civil society at the various levels are essential to improve basic social service delivery.

The TA will build on the work carried out under a previous TA for Civil Society Participation in Budget Formulation in the Pacific. The earlier TA developed general training materials on budget literacy and held regional workshops for national-level government staff and civil society organizations. The new TA will extend these activities to more stakeholders in the Fiji Islands and Vanuatu.

An action plan for scaling up the activities conducted under this TA to other ministries and participants will be drawn up within 22 months of the TA's inception. The TA is scheduled to begin in September 2004 and is expected to be completed in December 2006.

Read the full TA report

About ADB