Ask Your Government
Sign this Call on the MDG Summit to Demand Budget Transparency
Governments worldwide have committed to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 — including the improvement of maternal health. To know what still needs to be done, we need to know what is already being done. This requires detailed, comprehensive budget information.
In January 2010, civil society organizations in 86 countries began to request information from their governments on development resources and spending. The over 500 initial requests now total over 1,000 letters, phone calls, and face-to-face meetings — but have produced few answers. To date, only 50 governments have responded regarding their expenditures on drugs to treat eclampsia and to stop postpartum hemorrhage (only 11 provided truly comprehensive data) and only 48 have responded on their expenditures on the training of midwives (only 13 provided comprehensive data). Without this information it is impossible to evaluate whether spending is adequate or appropriate. To achieve the Goals, the MDG Summit must:
- declare government budget transparency essential for meeting the MDGs;
- require all governments to report complete budget information on their efforts to realize the goals, on a yearly basis, from 2011 to 2015; and
- require donor countries to publish information on their MDG-related funding, including that reported by countries to whom they provide aid.
All of the reported information must be made available to the public (in useful and accessible formats) in each participating country and through relevant U.N. websites.
Sincerely,
