Partnership for Budget Transparency: Civil Society Oversight of Public Spending

Project Description:

The objective of the project is to improve budget transparency and accountability in Georgia by strengthening civil society organizations’ (CSO) capacity to promote reform and bring about improvement in budget spending and, through increasing interaction between civil society and Georgian public institutions, to improve public finance expenditure oversight mechanisms.

The Eurasia Partnership Foundation (EPF) contracted Policy and Management Consulting Group (PMCG) to enhance CSOs’ skills in Public Expenditure Management (PEM) and to ensure that they are able to properly monitor budget spending and to affect positive change through being engaged in the process of effective advocacy.

In order to ensure the efficiency of the project, PMCG will undertake the following activities:

• Organize a series of trainings on public policy-making and PEM oversight mechanisms;
• Publish a booklet for beginners about monitoring budget spending.

Trainings will include the framework of policy-making and budget decisions, steps toward budget preparation, and European and international best practices in PEM among other issues. PMCG will develop a Georgian-language booklet entitled Monitoring Budget Spending for Beginners. The booklet will cover information about public expenditure management and methods which CSOs could utilize to oversee public spending.

As a result of the efficiently planned and implemented activities, taxpayers and citizens of Georgia will be given an opportunity to gather a clear understanding of where and why the Government of Georgia allocates financial resources which should simultaneously raise the confidence level of Georgian citizens in their public institutions

Background Information:

EPF operates in the belief that societies function best when people take responsibility for their own social and economic prosperity. EPF’s programs equip CSOs and individual civic activists to define and achieve outcomes of enduring benefit to themselves and their communities. EPF employs a demand-driven approach, which allows civil society actors to determine the issues that are of importance to their communities and to develop interventions that will be effective in addressing identified needs – a critical component of a vibrant democracy. At the same time, EPF mobilizes communities and/or interest groups around specific issue areas to create demand for change.

Follow the links below for detailed information:

Eurasia Partnership Foundation
Strengthening Government of Autonomous Republic of Adjara Institutional Capacity for Program Budgeting

Consultancy/Training Services in Budgetary Oversight and Programme Budgeting to the Parliament of Georgia within the UNDP Project “A strong Parliament in a Consolidated Democracy”

Training Courses for Senior Civil Servants in 14 Newly-Created Municipalities