It gives me great pleasure, on behalf of the Municipal Development Partnership for Eastern and Southern Africa (MDP-ESA) to welcome you to this Issue of our Newsletter on the Participatory Budgeting Knowledge and Action Support Facility for Africa.

I am glad to inform the readers that the World Bank's Social Development Department (SDV), in collaboration with the World Bank Institute (WBI), has provided funding to MDP-ESA through the Norwegian and Finish Trust Fund (TFESSD) to establish a Participatory Budgeting Knowledge and Action Support Facility for Africa. The Facility will establish links and serve as a focal point to channel demands from various institutions and individuals, such as policy experts, program managers and legislative drafters seeking expertise and advice in the area of participator}- budgeting and other related fields. MDP-ESA will rely on acknowledged experts in the Africa region and beyond in responding to this demand. A similar Facility has also been established for the Latin America and Caribbean Region at the International Centre for Urban Management (CIGU) in Ecuador. MDP-ESA and CIGU will collaborate closely to promote cross-regional knowledge sharing, where possible drawing from, and involving other regional networks.

MDP-ESA wishes to express its sincere gratitude to the World Bank and The Netherlands Government for providing financial and technical support to this initiative.

I hope you will enjoy reading this issue on Participatory Budgeting. Thank you

George W Matovu
Regional Director

Municipal Development Partnership
 Eastern and Southern Africa