BudgIT's exponential growth—raising awareness and participation in government budgets among the people of Liberia, Ghana, and Sierra Leone

It's no secret that corruption thrives in opaque budget systems, which is why BudgIT continues to increase access to budgetary information for citizens to drive development and promote good governance in Africa. In 2022, we expanded our work to Senegal, conducting a feasibility study and reviewing how to navigate language barriers and other societal issues that could prevent our work in the country. In our country offices in Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, our core programs focused on budget access and demanding accountability from the health sector through the COVID-19 Transparency and Accountability Project, vaccine hesitancy, equity, and extractive transparency.?

The Budget Access Program

Providing simplified access to budgetary information is at the core of our existence at BudgIT. When citizens are informed, they are empowered to have a say in how public resources are expended and monitor service delivery in their communities. Our strategy involves developing visually appealing infographics and reports to creatively engage citizens and encourage them to demand transparency in public funds and service delivery. Budget transparency is crucial to good governance and economic development in African countries. It allows for greater public scrutiny and participation in the budget process, leading to more effective and efficient use of public resources. It also helps fight against corruption, making it more difficult for government officials to misallocate or embezzle funds.?

BudgIT Ghana developed a citizen-friendly report on the 2022 national budget titled "Building a Sustainable Entrepreneurial Nation: Fiscal Consolidation and Job Creation," using data visualization to make government budget information more accessible to citizens. Budget accessibility is beneficial when the Ghanaian economy is experiencing one of its worst economic crises, with an increased debt load of $7 billion and the highest inflation rate in 21 years at 50.3%. The simplified reports were printed on paper and distributed at citizen sensitization meetings to enable citizens to hold their governments accountable for using public resources.

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