Lessons Learned and Future Directions in Budget and Revenue Monitoring

The background of the project "Lessons Learned and Future Directions in Budget and Revenue Monitoring" was the dramatic growth in civil society engagement in government budgeting since the early 1990s in both low and middle-income developing and transition countries. Groups engage in a broad range of activities, including simplifying budgets and stimulating debate, providing budget training, measuring budgetary impacts and research. While experience in this area is growing, significant interest and funds have been directed towards monitoring governments' use of revenues coming from the sale of natural resources.

The project culminated in a workshop in April 2004, where representatives from NGOs in fifteen countries came together to consider how the experiences of budget advocates can help enhance the policy influence of natural resource monitoring groups.