Community Leaders doing group work at a training on participatory budgeting.
Over the past 10 years, several civil society organisations have been carrying out advocacy for a more open and accountable budget culture in the country. The pressures have resulted in some openness in the Federal Budget and the Federal Revenue Allocations to the different States and Local Governments. While some State Governments publish their budgets on the State’s websites, Local Governments have continued to treat their budgets as a secret document not open to public viewing.
At Community Life Project (CLP), we work with Grassroots Communities and Local institutions to promote inclusion, amplify voice and increase participation in budget advocacy and project monitoring. We are working with grassroots leaders and citizens by building their capacity to engage in the budget making process, to analyse the budget and monitor projects in their environment. We are empowering them to make demands of their local representatives and to insist on openness and accountability. We are also working with Government Agencies to create space for citizens to participate in making decisions that affect their lives.
In the last 5 years, we have trained and empowered 4,799 Grassroots Community Leaders in 12 States on how to engage their Local Governments to get the real needs of their communities included in the budget. 648 Local Government Officials have been trained and sensitised on how to organise and get the inputs of the communities during the budget making process.
We are committed to getting more local leaders interested in the budget, to see the budget as the key instrument in development and to hold their representatives accountable.