What will remain after closing the BTAP project?
“hanks to the consultation, the policies have more effectively addressed people’s needs. The state budget has been therefore spent more efficiently”
That question was raised by Mr Nguyen Dang Anh, vice chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee, Quang Tri provincial People’s Council just before closing the 3-year-project funded by the EU and Finland Government. And the answer was provided by himself: “We now have the way of working to ensure transparency, accountability and participation in state budget management”.
Transparency, accountability and participation are key elements of all state budget management initiatives in Quang Tri province. These elements have positively contributed to improving state budget management efficiency at the local level. Mr Anh affirmed that he will take responsibility for ensuring that these elements are integrated into all annual monitoring activities of the People’s Councils.
This strong commitment is well founded from his persistent efforts during the past 3 years working with BTAP coalition. He has contributed to the amazing changes in both perception and practice in the province. Three years ago, many local leaders questioned, “How can local communities be able to monitor the state budget with such limited awareness? Is people’s participation really necessary?”. However, communities’ oversight role is now quite well recognized by the local leaders in Quang Tri province.
When starting the project in 2015, Mr. Anh and his colleagues naturally felt unsure, confused and discouraged due to many challenges against promoting transparency and participation in the state budget management. After a lot of efforts, his team finally discovered where the “bedrock” lay. He shared, “We follow official procedures for local policy making process. However, consultations were only conducted with related governmental units and associations. Therefore, the policies do not match very well with local context in some cases. With project support, we have expanded consultation to local communities for decision making processes related to local fees and agricultural extension. Thanks to the consultation, the policies have more effectively addressed people’s needs. The state budget has been therefore spent more efficiently.” Mr. Anh admitted that it was not easy to ensure transparency, accountability and participation due to challenges in time, resources and different perspectives. However, he still confirmed, “We will make all efforts to ensuring that these elements are presented in all monitoring activities of the People’s Councils.”
The project “Non-state actors promoting state budget transparency” funded by the EU and Finland, Oxfam and the Budget Transparency, Accountability and People’s Participation coalition (BTAP) have cooperated with social organizations, elected representatives, and people in two provinces, Hoa Binh and Quang Tri, for state budget oversight. We built capacities for people and facilitated their engagement with local authorities to monitor state-invested programmes.