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Participatory Budgeting : Contents of CD RomThis book provides an overview of the principles underlying participatory budgeting. It analyzes the merits and demerits of participatory budgeting practices around the world with a view to guiding policy makers and practitioners on improving such practices in the interest of inclusive governance. This publication includes five regional surveys, and seven country case studies can be found on the accompanying CD ROM. The study explains that participatory budgeting has been advanced by budget practitioners and academics as an important tool for inclusive and accountable governance and has been implemented in various forms in many developing countries around the globe. It adds that through participatory budgeting, citizens have the opportunity to gain firsthand knowledge of government operations, influence government policies, and hold government to account. However, participatory processes also run the risk of capture by interest groups. Captured processes may continue to promote elitism in government decision making. This book examines the potential and perils of participatory budgeting, as observed from practices around the globe. It is divided into three parts. Part I presents the nuts and bolts of participatory budgeting. Part II surveys experiences with participatory budgeting in various regions of the world. Part III (Vol. 2) is on the CD ROM accompanying this book, and it examines case studies of practices in seven countries.
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Demanding Good Governance : Lessons
 from Social Accountability Initiatives in AfricaThis is a challenging time for Africa.
 The combined effects of the global economic crisis, the need
 for equitable allocation of natural resource assets, and the
 ever-changing balance of influence and power between the
 developed and developing worlds are requiring African
 countries to re-evaluate their governance structures.
 "Social accountability," as defined in this book,
 is an approach to enhancing government accountability and
 transparency. It refers to the wide range of citizen actions
 to hold the state to account, as well as actions on the part
 of government, media, and other actors that promote or
 facilitate these efforts. Social accountability strategies
 and tools help empower ordinary citizens to exercise their
 inherent rights and to hold governments accountable for the
 use of public funds and how they exercise authority. Global
 experience has shown that such initiatives can be catalytic
 and that they increasingly play a critical role in securing
 and sustaining governance reforms that strengthen
 transparency and accountability. The case studies presented
 in this book represent a cross-section of African countries,
 drawing on initiatives launched and implemented both by
 civil society groups and by local and national governments
 in countries with different political contexts and cultures.
 Over the past decade, a wide range of social accountability
 practices- such as participatory budgeting, independent
 budget analysis, participatory monitoring of public
 expenditures and citizen evaluation of public services-have
 been developed and tested in countries such as Brazil,
 India, the Philippines, and South Africa. In less developed
 Sub-Saharan African countries, civil society and government
 actors are also actively creating and experimenting with
 social accountability approaches (and tools), but these
 experiences, their outcomes, and lessons have received less
 attention and been less documented, studied, and shared.
 This volume aims to help fill this gap by describing and
 analyzing a selection of social accountability initiatives
 from seven Sub-Saharan countries: Benin, Ghana, Malawi,
 Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.
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Demanding Good Governance : Lessons from Social Accountability Initiatives in AfricaThis is a challenging time for Africa. The combined effects of the global economic crisis, the need for equitable allocation of natural resource assets, and the ever-changing balance of influence and power between the developed and developing worlds are requiring African countries to re-evaluate their governance structures. "Social accountability," as defined in this book, is an approach to enhancing government accountability and transparency. It refers to the wide range of citizen actions to hold the state to account, as well as actions on the part of government, media, and other actors that promote or facilitate these efforts. Social accountability strategies and tools help empower ordinary citizens to exercise their inherent rights and to hold governments accountable for the use of public funds and how they exercise authority. Global experience has shown that such initiatives can be catalytic and that they increasingly play a critical role in securing and sustaining governance reforms that strengthen transparency and accountability. The case studies presented in this book represent a cross-section of African countries, drawing on initiatives launched and implemented both by civil society groups and by local and national governments in countries with different political contexts and cultures. Over the past decade, a wide range of social accountability practices- such as participatory budgeting, independent budget analysis, participatory monitoring of public expenditures and citizen evaluation of public services-have been developed and tested in countries such as Brazil, India, the Philippines, and South Africa. In less developed Sub-Saharan African countries, civil society and government actors are also actively creating and experimenting with social accountability approaches (and tools), but these experiences, their outcomes, and lessons have received less attention and been less documented, studied, and shared. This volume aims to help fill this gap by describing and analyzing a selection of social accountability initiatives from seven Sub-Saharan countries: Benin, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.