Introduction to ELBAG
By Ene Obi Regional Training & Development Advisor MS-TCDC, Arusha, Tanzania. (ActionAid Denmark)
Context
Drawn from experiences of working with communities to support peoples actions to claim citizenship and rights and use of participatory methodologies and tools - the PRA and REFLECT approaches, PVA and STAR etc. Economics, a key area of policy making, has largely remained
out of the reach and realm of the poor and excluded people’s action in their effort to seek justice
To firmly establish people centred rights based governance at
the local level, there is a strong need to politicize economic decision making process and place it squarely within the domain of people’s agencies and public action. The need to hold government and its institutions accountable.
Understanding that bottom up processes lead to
democratisation of local, national and international level public policy making processes.
What ELBAG is!! Economic Literacy and Budget Accountability for Governance,
ELBAG is a process and methodological framework that combines organising people, developing grassroots
monitoring mechanisms, democratising knowledge (particularly
political economy and economics)
and using participatory tools and methods for building public
accountability and transparency, to initiate people centred advocacy processes
it creates space where people can discuss economics and use it as
an entry point to build inclusive, democratic and just governance It is about understanding how economic processes operate, asking questions about political economy and about taking action
Objectives It seeks to address the disconnection between local, national and
international level
Facilitate empowerment of people, ensure participation of poor and
marginalized people
Support the realisation of the rights of people and help in
encouraging democratisation of national level policy making processes
It facilitate serious mobilisation of the people to hold their
government to account
Reduce corruption, increase accountability in the processes of
governance and policy making, particularly with regards to budget formulation, economic planning and government decision making that impact their lives
Case studies from Nigeria Budget tool, as it reflects public policy and priorities: Engaging the Abia Parliament: Capacity building of the Parliament resulted into the Bureau of Budget the state now have BELBAG – Shadow Budget and engaged the Govt using
the media – immediate responses. It encourage serious networking of CSOs within the state to monitor the spending of their govt, and many are asking questions and demanding answers (and getting responses)
Media as a critical partner in the process – Journalist
Against Poverty
Reflections & Lessons Facilitated the empowerment of the people through series of
mobilisation, sensitization and capacity building
It’s earlier focus was more on the demand side engineering a lot of
capacity for CSOs with engaging the supply side on debates
Capacity gap on the supply side Critical engaging govt. through advocacy facilitates faster process in
meeting demands
Increase capacity building for the media, made media a partner Critical engagement with other stakeholders/peer review Continuous research on issues are very critical
Challenges and Opportunities Transparency and accountability (corruption now embedded in
every facet of the many countries) Political will and capacity gap on both sides/Poverty level still dropping Lack of true democracy in many countries/representation Lack of passage of Freedom of Information Bill/and where passed, implementation is an issue Project timeline/continuity Opportunities New democracies in some of the countries Encouragement/feedback of participants from the impact their work Willingness of AAI to continue to support the process More CSOs and groups interest success Political will (with some government)