Regional Workshop on Participatory Budgeting in Africa: 6 – 8 March 2007, St. Lucia Park, Harare, Zimbabwe

From the 6^th – 8^th March 2007, MDP-ESA with funding from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) organized a regional workshop on Participatory Budgeting in Africa. The workshop builds on other ongoing efforts of MDP-ESA and its partners, including the World Bank and UN-Habitat, to enhance the competence of elected and non-elected local government officials, the private sector and civil society in the application of civic participation in sub national budgeting as a tool for promoting good governance and deepening democracy.

The workshop was attended by attended by 45 participants from eleven countries - Ethiopia, Ecuador, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Rwanda, Tanzania, UK, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Participants included: central and local government practitioners, parliamentarians, the media and civil society representatives as well as individuals from training and research institutions from Europe, Latin America and the African region

Group Photo: Participants who attended the PB Workshop

The overall purpose of the workshop was to provide an opportunity for local government officials and managers of public services, CBOs, and NGOs, and capacity building institutions to share the experience of African countries with the adoption and implementation of civic participation in sub national budgeting in particular and governance in general. It also aimed to review the right enabling environment under which such an innovation can effectively be implemented to respond to the challenges of meeting the MDGs targets, improving municipal governance and service delivery, addressing PRSPs and NEPAD issues.  

The workshop’s specific objectives were:

·         To highlight the importance of civic participation in sub national budgeting as one of the key Social Accountability tool;

·         To identify the key constraints and challenges associated with civic participation in sub national budgeting in Africa;

·         To review the necessary capacity building needs in both participatory governance and budgeting in Africa; and

·         To come up with an action plan and then identify a few selected municipalities for piloting participatory budgeting.

Mr. Partson Mbiriri, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Local Government Public and Urban Development, Zimbabwe (Guest of Honour)Officially Opening the Workshop

The workshop provided an opportunity for local government officers and practitioners, non-state actors and collaborating partners to review and share experiences on emerging issues and lessons learnt in the application of participatory budgeting in Africa in a bid to effectively respond to the challenges of development and service provision at the local level and identify ways of strengthening local democracy and good governance.

During the three days of deliberation it emerged that, local authorities which do not practice participatory budgeting have failed to close the gap between the demand for services and their provision. On the other hand in local authorities were participatory budgeting is practiced, NGO networks and the private sector have been encouraged to partner with local governments in improving the livelihood of citizens and the delivery of public services.