Inclusiveness: Budgets are presented and questions area asked by the community and responses by Councillors and Officials are recorded. Budgets are amended to include necessary adjustments as required. Concerns pertaining to Provincial / National issues are recorded and communicated to the relevant authorities. The decentralized presentations ensure a participative budgeting process. Presentations are reasonably attended. Community Mobilisers are deployed in various wards to facilitate participation and assist citizens especially in the previously disadvantaged areas. Translators are used to ensure that communication is multi-lingual (diverse society).

Results and Impact of the PB Process:

1. Communities are aware of the budgets and resource availability and relate these to service delivery.
    

2. Community feedback enables informed decisions to be made in the budget.
    

3. Helps eliminate the feeling of suspicion, marginalization and exclusion from the budgeting process.
    

4. Creates reliable, transparent and accountable budgeting

 Constraints:

Like any other municipality with limited resources and unlimited community needs and wants, Ethikweni is faced by financial constraints in implementing the Participatory Budgeting process.. To counter this problem, a prioritization process takes place to ensure that basic needs are addressed in all communities. Another shortcoming relates to political agendas of parties which create bottlenecks during the budget approval process.

 By. Mr. Owen Naidoo, Financial Officer, Ethikweni Municipal Council

http://www.durban.gov.za
naidooo@durban.gov.za

Introduction

The Participatory Budgeting process in Tanzania is a continuous engagement all the year round involving training and sensitization of the communities and local government staff and civic leaders on planning through a bottom – up approach and methodologies such as O & OD and Plan Rep which have been adopted by the Local Governments.  Through the process, Plans are initiated and approved through meetings at the Lower Local Government levels, and consolidated into District, Regional and National Plans.  Budgeting is also done at the Local Government levels whereby Indicative Planning Figures (IPFs) are provided by the Central Government and this enables the Local Governments to know how much they expect to get from the Central Government and determine what they will contribute from their own sources.

Tanzania has democratically elected leaders with democratic institutions like the Parliament, Local Government Authorities and has the Freedom of Association by NGOs, Faith Organizations, Civil Society Organizations, CBOs and the Press.

The driving force behind the Participatory Budgeting initiative: The Government of Tanzania committed itself to enhance community participation in development planning and budgeting. This commitment emanates from the Constitution which enshrines the establishment of Local Government system as a means to give power to the people, the Local Government Reform Policy which aims at decentralizing powers and resources to the Local Authorities and the amended Local Government Laws which provide the framework for Decentralization by Devolution.

Objectives:

• To be able to carter for the needs of the communities inclusively – that is considering the needs of all categories in the society such as the gender, youth, elderly, and other vulnerable groups.
   

• To address aspects of ownership to the proposed plans and accountability to the successes and failures of this plans by the communities/the people and their localities.