Empowering Citizens Through Accessible Budgetary Information
At the heart of BudgIT’s mission is the belief that informed citizens are powerful citizens. In 2024, this principle was implemented with a concerted effort to demystify complex national budgets across our country offices in Senegal, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. BudgIT produced simplified budget analyses, breaking down intricate public financial documents into clear, concise summaries readily understandable by the average citizen. These analyses were translated into local languages, ensuring accessibility for diverse communities. To further enhance citizens’ understanding, the BudgIT International Programs unit developed interactive videos that visually explained key budget allocations and processes, making complex data engaging and digestible. These resources, combined with over 60 community engagement meetings across key countries, have reached over 18 million people globally in 2024 alone, promoting a culture of active participation and informed decision-making.
Tracka: Leveraging Technology for Transparency and Accountability
Last year, we collaborated with the Hewlett Foundation to expand Tracka (http://tracka.ng), our platform for monitoring public project service delivery, to Ghana and Senegal, fostering citizen oversight and government accountability in both countries and training over 100 residents from the Diourbel, Kaolack, Thies, Saint Louis, Ziguinchor, and Dakar regions of Senegal and the Volta, Greater Accra, Oti, and Northern, Central, and Eastern regions of Ghana. We specifically targeted young people and women to promote inclusive governance and active, youthful citizens who demand service delivery and efficiency in distributing public funds. The surge in citizen-led inquiries and demands for service delivery, documented in Tracka diaries, showcases the platform’s transformative impact, particularly in amplifying marginalized voices.
Nurturing Future Leaders Through The BudgIT Youth Club
With over 1,000 young people in our BudgIT Youth Club, we are deploying creative and innovative ways to inform and engage citizens—women, youth, and other vulnerable groups, notably persons living with disabilities—about budget matters. In Senegal, our youth club sessions hosted over 120 people who led drive discussions about the national budget. Young people had a platform to display their talents and call for action through storytelling, poetry, and games. Similarly, in Liberia, Ghana, and Sierra Leone, we actively encourage young people to join the advocacy movement for a participatory budget. We empower them with civic education and simplified budget analysis, tools, and knowledge to become change agents in their communities.
Defending Democracy and Ensuring Electoral Integrity
BudgIT’s commitment extends beyond budget transparency to safeguarding democratic processes. Before the 2024 elections in Ghana, BudgIT partnered with the Digital Democracy Initiative (DDI) to empower first-time voters with civic education and fact-checking tools, combating misinformation and promoting peaceful participation. We held a workshop session, “Roadmap to Elections 2024: Improving Transparency and Combatting Electoral Fraud in Ghana, providing participants with essential fact-checking tools to combat misinformation and disinformation in preparation for the December 2024 polls. We empowered young Ghanaians with civic education and held debate forums where young people freely shared their ideas and commitment to restraining violence and corrupt vote-buying practices. In Senegal, BudgIT played a pivotal role in preserving democratic stability as a founding member of the “Ar sunu election” platform, preventing the postponement of the 2024 presidential elections. Both country offices also used social media posts to promote non-violent and transparent elections, as well as blog posts and educational videos, all efforts to strengthen democratic principles.
Beyond Budgets: Holistic Community Development in Liberia
Beyond its core budget transparency work, BudgIT Liberia implemented environmental conservation and sustainable development initiatives in Vortor Town, benefiting over 2,500 people across 15 communities, creating job opportunities, and training farmers in forestland restoration while addressing climate change-induced water scarcity with the construction of a safe drinking water hand pump. Recognizing the devastating effects of climate change in Morfeh Clan, Bomi County, BudgIT Liberia, in partnership with UNDP, distributed 50,000 seedlings, including 30,000 cocoa seedlings, for forest restoration in the Lake Piso Multi-Use Reserve. Furthermore, 40 farmers, primarily women, received training in soap production to support rural livelihoods, providing them with an income-generating avenue to support their families.
BudgIT Liberia’s commitment to fiscal transparency and accountability was also recognized with its nomination to Liberia’s Fiscal Transparency Advisory Group (FTAG) on March 14, 2024. Within four years of operation, this significant achievement underscores BudgIT’s growing influence in shaping Liberia’s public fiscal ecosystem. The FTAG was created to advise the government on fiscal transparency and public participation. BudgIT helped change the FTAG’s goals, worked on the 2025 Ministry of Finance and Development Planning workbook, and successfully pushed for the Independent Information Commission (IIC) to be involved in the budget process. All of these were important steps toward making the government more accountable.
Democracy Cafe: Cultivating Dialogue and Action
BudgIT International Programs also held monthly meetings under its Democracy Cafe initiative, “Advancing Accountability in Governance in Africa Series,” designed to facilitate insightful discussions on governance, democracy, electoral processes, and citizen participation. This series brings together stakeholders, policymakers, experts, and the public in constructive dialogues to deepen our understanding of democratic principles and accountable governance and contribute to advancing democratic values and practices in Senegal, Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
Capacity Building for Civic Organizations
During his August 2024 visit, Oluseun Onigbinde, BudgIT’s Global Director, conducted vital capacity-building sessions for over 70 Civil Society Organization (CSO) representatives in Sierra Leone and Liberia. These sessions focused on equipping participants with the knowledge and tools to enhance their advocacy efforts, drive policy reform, and strengthen civic engagement. Onigbinde led the core session, “Understanding Advocacy: Empowering Our Community,” defining advocacy as a powerful mechanism for amplifying marginalized voices and influencing decision-makers to create positive social change. He emphasized that effective advocacy empowers individuals to act and raises crucial public awareness, ultimately leading to tangible legislative and policy reforms.
Looking Ahead of 2025
BudgIT’s work has had a transformative impact, as evidenced by the number of people we have actively empowered who are constantly demanding efficient service delivery across Sub-Saharan Africa. We are raising community awareness and advocating for collective action in local communities such as Kukuo in Ghana. We are engaging young people like Mary to be peacemakers during unpredictable general elections, empowering young people to be changemakers in their communities, and using technology to bridge the gap between government and citizens around the world, shifting power imbalances from the government to the governed, and driving collective development globally.
We will continue to make concerted efforts to strengthen democracy. In 2025, we hope to collaborate with willing institutions interested in enhancing transparency, citizen involvement, and capacity building. Our work in West Africa will focus on supporting journalists through data journalism and civil society through capacity building in our thematic areas, including creative communication. We will expand our budget access initiatives to new communities to raise citizens’ awareness and demand fiscal information about national budgets to encourage collaboration and collective action toward effective service delivery.
Abiola Afolabi, the International Growth Lead at BudgIT, writes from Chicago, IL.