Making the budget work for education – Experiences, achievements and lessons from civil society budget work

Over the last decade, budget work, or applied budget analysis, has become increasingly recognised as an important tool for holding governments and non-state actors accountable for their policy commitments, budget allocations and expenditure. Increasingly, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have adopted budget work as a key part of their advocacy and have recognised that the following three democratic principles are essential for the achievement of human development goals: Accountability; Public participation; and Transparency. This report focuses on the work supported by The Commonwealth Education Fund (CEF) to enable local communities to monitor spending on education at national and local levels. Case studies compiled by Idasa (Institute for Democracy in South Africa) examine work done by CEF partners in Bangladesh, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi and Uganda.