BUDGET MONITORING AND TRANSPARENCY IN THE MENA REGION

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In cooperation with the International Budget Project, the Open Society Institute, the Ford Foundation and the Institute for Democracy in South Africa, Partners in Development was pleased to host this two-day conference in Cairo aimed at fostering public broader engagement in budget monitoring and encouraging greater fiscal transparency in the Middle East and North Africa.

Civil society organizations in many developing and transition countries over the past ten years have expanded their capacity to play a constructive role in shaping government budgets. Experience shows that knowledge of budget analysis and advocacy can benefit a wide range of civil society organizations, including think-tanks, grass-roots organizations, women's and children's advocacy organizations and academic institutions.

The aim of the conference was to explore the role of civil society, parliament, and the media in public budgeting across all sectors, as well as evaluate innovations in budget reform. The session also examined how receptive the environment is for greater budget transparency, effectiveness and efficiency in the Arab world. Countries represented from the region included: Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Qatar, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

The agenda focuses on analyzing both the capacity of budget monitoring in the region, as well as the various state sectors that sound public budgeting can target. The program includes country studies illustrating the current state of budget transparency, workshops on monitoring education, health, and service delivery budgets, and discussion on the role of parliament and the media in civil society budget work.

This debate must take account the wealth of oil and gas that comprise the majority of the region's government revenues and budget disparities. The often problematic relationship between the extractive industries and the national budget merits discussion, and the conference sought to highlight issues of oil sector governance, best practices in revenue management, and international initiatives to promote extractive sector transparency.

The seminar introduced international and local examples of budget capacity as a means to stimulate dialogue by introducing participants to leading practitioners and examples of budget work around the world; deepening understanding of budget transparency and participation in the budget process; and building and strengthening relationships between civil society groups and parliamentarians in the MENA region interested in applied budget work.

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