Overall Goal
The overall goal of the Budget Information Programme is to promote transparent and participatory engagement of key institutions in public finance management with emphasis on execution and auditing.
Objectives
- To build evidence-based research on public finance management
- To strengthen key institutions that engage in public finance management
- To improve public finance monitoring, evaluation and reporting
- To develop diverse budget analyses
Components
- Parliamentary support
- Citizen/civil society support
- Gender budgeting initiative
- Local authorities support
Citizen Support
IEA works to increase citizen participation in all four stages of the budget process (an outline of the sources of the process and opportunities for citizen engagement is contained on this link). Some of the ways that IEA builds citizen engagement in the budget preparation, planning and audit stages are through holding Pre-Budget Hearings in Nairobi and beyond, through our partners, submitting a Citizens Alternative Budget to Treasury, the Official Opposition Leader, Shadow Finance Minister and the Fiscal Appropriations and Analysis parliamentary committee(FAAC), engagement in Sector Working Groups via position papers and engagement in the national pre-budget hearings. To increase the quality of citizen engagement at the budget approval and execution stages, the IEA holds regional post budget forums from July through August, to explain the budget process, present an overview of the budget read in June, and get citizens feedback on the proposals. These proposals are published in the newspaper.
To build on our efforts to increase citizens' participation, the IEA initiated the formation of the Kenya Budget Engagement Forum in December 2006. The members who are essentially private sector and civil society, formed a forum to engage each other, share information and partner on activities of interest.
Local Government Support
Local government and local finance in Kenya is a complex and relatively unexamined area. In 2005, the IEA held a roundtable to discuss local government finance reforms under the Kenya Local Government Reform Program. The following year, IEA in partnership with Kenya National Commission on Human Rights(KNHRC) and the World Bank, carried out a survey of Constituency Development Fund (CDF) access, utilization and management. The report was published in August of the same year. On 14 September, the IEA briefed the parliamentary CDF committee on the findings and recommendations in the report. The report was then launched to the public on 19 september and attended by the Chair of the parliamentary CDF committee who also made a few remarks. A briefing was later held for members of the National Manangement Committee on CDF, Ministry of Planning and National Development and Treasury in the next quarter.
In mid 2005, the IEA also partnered with the Hans Seidel Foundation (HSF), Kenya Institute of Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA), Institute of Policy Analysis and Research(IPAR) and Institute of Civic Affairs and Development (ICAD) to hold a conference on July 19 and 20 in Nairobi, to deliberate and come up with acceptable and practical standards that can define a suitable way forward for decentralised funds. Those who participated included Ministry of Finance, development partners and Kenya Local Government Reform Programme. During the conference, proposals were raised on how to make decentralised funds work. The conference report is to be published, the proposals reviewed by a team and a way forward determined.
IEA plans to deepen its local government support over the next 24 months. More specifically, the IEA anticipates engagement in Local Authority and CDF operational and financial management over the next 24 months.
Parliament Support
Kenya parliament has eleven departmental committees mandated by the Parliamentary Standing Order No. 151 (4) to investigate, inquire into and report on all matters relating to estimates of the assigned ministries and departments. Additionally, reviews of the Standing Orders, which form the framework for parliamentary engagement in legislative and oversight matters, are ongoing. In 2005 parliament passed a motion that authorised the establishment of the Fiscal Analysis and Appropriations Committee (FAAC) with the responsibilty of coordinating budget oversight. The motion also established the Office of Fiscal Analysis (OFA) which is a secretariat that would provide technical support to FAAC and other parliamentary committees in the analysis of the budget. IEA participated in the formulation of and creation of support for the motion and the bill that established the FAAC. The FAAC of parliameent has since been constituted but the OFA is yet to take off.
With the support of IEA and SUNY, the FAAC held its first critical meeting on 29 March 2007 in Nairobi. FAAC invited members of all parliamentary departmental committees, to meet with Treasury to audit budget 2006/07. This first and successful meeting convened by the FAAC and embraced by the Treasury, takes Kenya a step closer towards realizing the goals of the Fiscal Management Bill. IEA and SUNY are organizing a meeting for parliamentary departmental committees and FAAC to discuss an audit of Budget 2006/07, the proposed Budget Strategy Paper 2007/08 and sector priorities for 2007/08 - 2009/10.
IEA is also a member of the Parliamentarry Initiatives Network which aims to ensure better coordination of civil society activities on strengthening parliaments' capacity in legislation, oversight and representation. Other members of the network include State University of New York Parliamentary Strengthening Program (SUNY Kenya), Transparency International-Kenya(TI-Kenya), Centre for Governance and Development (CGD), Parliamentary Network on World Bank (PNoWB), Action Aid Kenya(AAK) and Ceentre for Minority Rights and Development (CEMIRIDE).
Gender Budgeting Initiative
The national budget has been 'geender neutral' and this has made it impossible to track the impact the budget has had on men, womem, boys and girls. Depending on how the budget and public services that it finances are structured, the outcomes for men and women can be unequal. However, outcomes indicate that women lag behind in development and have been the most affected by poverty.
The Gender Budget Initiaitive seeks to make the Kenyan National budget an engendered budget. Under this initiative, the IEA has published two documents on gender miainstreaming and tools for gender responsive budgeeting. The IEA has also carried out budget 2004/05 analysis from a gender perspective.
Due to the magnitude in scope of gender analysis, IEA has adopted a sector approach to this initiative in year 2005. A pilot approach is A Rapid Assessment of the Water, Sanitation and Sewerage Framework and a Gender and Tax research that is ongoing.
