Investigating Budget Credibility: A Toolkit for Civil Society Organizations

Sally Torbert is the Global Lead for Policy and Research at the International Budget Partnership (IBP), based in Zagreb, Croatia. She provides strategic leadership for the design, implementation, and delivery of IBP’s global research and policy agenda, including the Open Budget Survey and multi-country initiatives on public finance and accountability. She leads the design of approaches that connect research, advocacy, and implementation across countries, oversees research design, methodology and quality assurance, and leads the translation of evidence into advocacy, capacity development, and engagement with governments, civil society, and other accountability actors. She leads and supports the policy and research teams responsible for delivering these initiatives.

Before joining IBP, Sally worked as a public sector and governance specialist with the World Bank, DAI, UNCDF, UNDP, and other international organizations. Her work focused on public financial management, fiscal decentralization and local governance, institutional coordination and capacity strengthening, service delivery and public sector effectiveness, and community and civil society engagement in monitoring public resources and holding institutions accountable in Afghanistan, Lao PDR, Nepal, Mozambique, and Timor-Leste. She has managed complex governance programs and multidisciplinary teams, designed and delivered capacity development for government and civil society actors, and advised on municipal budgeting, intergovernmental transfers, donor coordination, and the integration of public financial management into sector and governance reforms.

Sally holds a Bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University.