Getting a Seat at the Table: Civil Society Advocacy for Budget Transparency in “Untransparent” Countries

In September 2011 the International Budget Partnership (IBP) and civil society partners in 10 countries with limited transparency launched an advocacy initiative to increase the amount of budget information made available to the public. This note documents the partners’ experience of this initiative.

Authors

Albert van Zyl

Country Manager, South Africa , International Budget Parnership

Albert van Zyl is the International Budget Partnership’s (IBP) South Africa Country Manager. van Zyl joined IBP in 2005 from South Africa where he established and managed the macroeconomic analysis and budget offices in the Western Cape Treasury. Before that he worked at the Budget Information Service (BIS) at the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa) and directed it from 2000-2002. Most recently he worked as IBP’s Director of Strategy and Learning. Van Zyl holds MA degrees in Politics, Philosophy, and Economy from the Universities of Stellenbosch and Bordeaux, France. He has been published on a range of public finance issues including CSO oversight of budgets, fiscal policy, social service finance, budget transparency, and subnational finance.