A guide to budget work for NGOs

This publication is our second guide to applied budget work. When Stefan Falk and I drafted the first guide in 1999, the International Budget Project was still quite new. We were unsure whether the initial interest expressed by non-governmental organizations in applied budget work
would continue to grow — particularly given the long-standing resistance in many countries to having open discussions and assessments of the budget — and whether it was possible to produce a document that was relevant to the diverse circumstances found in developing countries
and emerging democracies. Happily, the guide received a positive reception and interest in applied budget work continues to spread. There are now dozens of non-governmental organizations around the globe that have integrated budget analysis into their work or whose primary focus is budget analysis. Indeed, the work of these NGOs not only served as a source of inspiration, but also provided the many examples cited throughout this new guide. Their efforts are confirmation that applied budget work can make a meaningful contribution to addressing the problems of the poor and to improving systems of governing.