IBP Afrique Francophone
IBP Afrique Francophone is the International Budget Partnership’s regional office anchored in Dakar, Senegal. We address shared budget accountability challenges across the region, through a growing network of civil society partners, regional institutions and a common commitment to building public financial management systems that deliver better outcomes for everyone.
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Key impacts
In Senegal, we’ve worked alongside historically excluded communities— including people with disabilities, residents of informal settlements and women in the informal economy— to forge powerful coalitions that leverage community-generated evidence and participate in key decision-making spaces to improve how public money is raised and spent We’ve taken these lessons across the region to foster reforms and build more responsive and accountable public finance systems.
Systems and budget wins
3 million
informal settlement residents in Senegal reached with improved flood prevention and sanitation services
22 percent
improvement in sanitation budget execution (from 72% to 94%) in Senegal between 2021 and 2024
Gender considerations
embedded into Senegal's General Tax Code
First West African Forum on Francophone Public Finance cro-hosted in Burkina Faso
From Senegal to Francophone Africa
Since 2018, IBP has been building connections across Francophone Africa: through the Francophone Africa Network, successive EU-funded programming, and a growing roster of country partnerships and shared initiatives.
The case for a regional approach rests on what Francophone Africa shares: a common language, broadly similar public financial management systems rooted in regional frameworks, and a set of powerful regional institutions — including West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), the African Development Bank, and the West African Tax Administration Forum — with real normative power to drive reform.
In a region facing rising public debt, climate shocks, and contracting aid flows, those shared frameworks matter. Reform that takes root in one country can become a model the next can follow. IBP Afrique Francophone exists to help make sure it does.
Our Regional Footprint
Active programming across 11 Francophone African countries:
Benin
Burkina Faso
Mali
Côte d'Ivoire
Madagascar
Cameroon
Democratic Republic of Congo
Niger
Senegal
Chad
ToGO
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Three ways we drive change
Strengthening Civil Society Advocacy
We build grassroots movements’ capacity to generate community evidence that shapes government decisions on budgets and services. Our coalitions—linking these groups with budget analysts, civic organizations, service providers, and government reformers—have driven wins in health, sanitation, disability rights, tax equity, and climate resilience. And we connect groups across Francophone Africa so what works in one country takes root in another.
Strengthening Oversight Institutions
We work with legislatures and supreme audit institutions to help them exercise real scrutiny over how budgets are spent, not just approved. In Senegal, this has turned research on procurement bottlenecks into a 22-point improvement in sanitation budget execution, and civil society evidence into formal tax reform.
Advocating for Reforms Through Partnerships
We broker relationships between excluded communities, government counterparts, and regional institutions—including WAEMU, the African Development Bank, and the West African Tax Administration Forum—to advance public financial management reforms that connect country-level learning with regional norms and standards.
Our In-Country Work in Senegal
Our work in Senegal is organized around five thematic areas where budget gaps have the most direct consequences for people’s lives. In each sector, we work through grassroots coalitions — connecting frontline community groups with civil society organizations, journalists, government counterparts, and oversight institutions to close the gap between government commitments and what communities actually receive.
In Senegal's informal urban settlements, floods destroy homes, contaminate water sources and expose residents to disease, but the budgets meant to address these problems are consistently underspent. IBP has worked since 2019 with partners to generate community evidence, hold government to account for sanitation commitments and push for improved flood infrastructure. This has expanded into the fight to protect the Falémé River from pollution caused by natural resources exploitation and into wider advocacy on climate resilience in the Sahel.
- 3 million residents of informal settlements in Senegal gained access to improved flood prevention and sanitation services, supported by stronger community-led advocacy and public action.
- The "Mbolo moy doole" (Power in Numbers) collective brought together 25,000 informal settlement residents, trained 1,000 community volunteers across Dakar and three regions, and secured an official partnership with Senegal's National Sanitation Office to advance WASH and flood prevention.
- Community evidence influenced national policy and public spending, contributing to a 22-point increase in sanitation budget execution (from 72% to 94% between 2021 and 2024) and the inclusion of women and informal settlement communities' WASH priorities in Senegal's Transformation Agenda 2050.
Our health work in Senegal has evolved in two distinct phases. From 2019 onward, IBP worked with the Fédération Sénégalaise des Associations de Personnes Handicapées (FSAPH) and Réseaux Départementaux des Bajenu Gox (R.D.B.G), among other partners, to ensure that people with disabilities were not left out of government health and social protection programs.
- Bajenu Gox frontline women health workers and community organizations were integrated into health planning and data systems across seven regions of Senegal, contributing to improved health services for 350,000 women and girls through expanded facilities and increased local investment in primary healthcare.
- We advanced more inclusive and accountable health governance by supporting the inclusion of 800,000 people with disabilities in COVID-19 budgeting and decision-making, helping 100,000 people with disabilities access emergency food and utility assistance.
- Our advocacy helped drive lasting health system reforms, including the release of previously undisbursed 2024 health endowment funds (30% of local health budgets) in three Guédiawaye municipalities released, launch of a new digital public procurement platform, improvements to Senegal's Public Health Code to better serve women and girls, and a strengthened Universal Health Coverage strategy that reduced costs and expanded access to care.
We work with local education officials, local authorities, and national leaders to identify and fix the systemic bottlenecks that prevent education funds from reaching classrooms and improving learning in Senegal. Through high-level advocacy and technical budget analysis, IBP helps shift government focus from spending money to ensuring that expenditures actually improve the quality of education.
- Dedicated funding for teacher training to sustain Senegal's new bilingual education model secured under the 2026 national budget
In Senegal, IBP strengthens connections among civil society, government, the private sector, academics, and women's and youth organizations to advocate for greater equity in the tax system — from digital taxation and local taxation to tax expenditures and gender-responsive fiscal policy.
- First multi-stakeholder tax equity platform established in Senegal
- Gender considerations embedded into Senegal's General Tax Code
- First West Africa Tax Summit co-organized across Francophone West Africa
- Motorbike taxi operators brought into tax compliance under a new tax enabling municipalities to provide insurance coverage; government requested IBP partners' support in designing the reform's implementation
In Senegal, IBP assesses spending patterns in immunization, reproductive health and sanitation, investigating why approved budgets go unspent and working with civil society to close the gap between government commitments and the services communities receive.
- Vendor validation delays formally recognized and addressed through national dialogues, driving sanitation budget execution from 72% to 94% (+22 points)
Our Work in the Region
Alongside our deep in-country work in Senegal, IBP Afrique Francophone runs a portfolio of regional and multi-country programs — bringing capacity building, Open Budget Survey support and accountability advocacy across the Francophone Africa belt.
The Francophone Africa Network connects civil society budget organizations across nine countries to share knowledge, coordinate on OBS advocacy, and build collective capacity for budget analysis and reform. It is the largest network of budget-focused civil society organizations in Francophone Africa.
- Network launched connecting OBS partners across Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, DRC, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, and Senegal
- $270K disbursed in more than 10 grants to support budget advocacy across the network
- First West Africa Tax Summit co-organized across Francophone West Africa and the First West African Forum on Francophone Public Finance
- 50 sectoral civil society groups trained on budget analysis and advocacy
- 15 multi-stakeholder high-level dialogues were held on budget accountability
- 10 countries integrated OBS 2023 recommendations in their key PFM reforms
- Benin went from near-total opacity in 2012 to one of the top 10 budget transparency performers in the OBS 2025
Through EU-funded capacity and advocacy work we have built the capacity of civic groups in Francophone Africa to analyze budgets and advocate for reform since 2020. The third phase of this capacity work is helping groups to assess bottlenecks in the public finance system, such as procurement irregularities, that prevent effective implementation in key social sectors.
- Capacity support provided in Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Madagascar, Niger, and Togo (2020–2022)
- Cameroon, Madagascar, Benin enter phase three of the capacity and advocacy work in 2026
Rising public debt is crowding out spending on health, education, and essential services across Francophone Africa, yet the decisions behind borrowing are rarely subject to meaningful oversight. IBP's Debt Accountability Initiative examines whether governments disclose sufficient information about borrowing, whether oversight institutions exercise genuine scrutiny, and whether civil society has the tools to hold governments accountable for debt incurred in their name.
- OBS Debt Accountability Module piloted in Senegal, Benin, and Cameroon as part of a global pilot
- Public debt transparency research conducted in Benin; findings shared at the IMF and at a Development Finance International roundtable
PACT BUDGÉTAIRE is an EU-supported program launched in 2025 with IBP's country partner Social Justice to strengthen budget transparency in Côte d'Ivoire. The program improves government disclosure practices, builds civil society's capacity to analyze and engage with budgets, and strengthens the budget oversight functions of the National Assembly and the Supreme Audit Institution.
- 2018: IBP implemented the Open Budget Survey in Côte d'Ivoire
- 2021–2024: Two phases of COAB trained over 60 civil society organizations in budget reading, analysis, and advocacy
- 2022: IBP supported the creation of COST BUDGET (Coalition des Organisations de la Société civile qui Travaillent sur le Budget), the country's first civil society coalition focused on budget accountability
The Programme d'Appui à la Performance des Finances Publiques (PAP-FP) works across four strategic areas: improving the quality of public spending, optimizing resource mobilization, strengthening public finance oversight and promoting fiscal citizenship. Our objective is to translate national efforts toward budgetary performance into concrete and tangible results for citizens, who are the primary beneficiaries and the first to judge public action.
Building IBP Afrique Francophone: A Timeline
2018
Francophone Africa Network is born
IBP launches the Francophone Africa Network, connecting Open Budget Survey partners across nine countries (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, and Senegal) to share knowledge and tackle shared budget challenges.
2019
IBP Senegal country office is established
IBP’s Dakar office is formally established as a country office. Work begins with social movements and coalitions of historically excluded communities.
IBP worked with the Senegalese Association of People with Disabilities (FSAPH) to ensure that government benefits reach people with disabilities.
2020
COVID-19 response advocacy bears fruit | EU-funded programming takes root
IBP works with FSAPH, representing 800,000 people with disabilities in Senegal, to ensure they are included in COVID-19 government relief programs and budgets.
The first phase of our multi-country capacity strengthening program launches across five Francophone countries: Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Madagascar, Niger, and Togo.
2021-2022
Budget Credibility research begins | Tax Equity Initiative launches
IBP brokers new relationships between government officials and partners UrbaSEN and Senegalese Residents Association (FSH) on flood resilience in Dakar’s informal settlements, using social audits and drone footage to give officials unique community data insights.
IBP launches its Tax Equity Initiative, with Senegal and Nigeria as pilot countries.
2023
Tax equity lessons | IBP staff convenes in Senegal
IBP establishes the first multi-stakeholder tax equity platform in Senegal, with lessons shared at the Addis Tax Initiative, the African Tax Administration Forum, and ECOWAS forums.
IBP signs new agreements with a sanitation-focused journalist network.
IBP holds its annual staff retreat in Senegal.
2024
WASH and health spotlight | 1st West Africa Tax Summit
IBP supports Bajenu Gox networks of frontline women health workers to generate community health data across 7 regions.
The first West Africa Tax Summit is co-organized across Francophone West Africa.
2025
PACT BUDGÉTAIRE launches | 1st West African Forum co-hosted | OBS Debt Module piloted across 3 countries
IBP and partner Social Justice launch PACT BUDGÉTAIRE in Côte d’Ivoire.
IBP co-hosts the inaugural West African Forum on Francophone Public Finance in Burkina Faso.
2025-2026
OBS Debt findings fuel the #SunuDette campaign
IBP pilots the Debt Accountability Module of the Open Budget Survey in Senegal, Benin, and Cameroon. The findings from the OBS Debt Accountability Module fuel the #SunuDette public campaign, bringing together civil society organizations, journalists, and parliamentarians to push for stronger oversight of borrowing decisions in Senegal.
2026
IBP Senegal becomes IBP Afrique Francophone
Years of regional work earn their name. IBP’s programs had long outgrown a single country, with work running across the Francophone Africa belt, a growing network of civil society partners, and shared accountability challenges that no one country could address alone. IBP Afrique Francophone reflects not just where IBP works, but how: across borders, through shared frameworks, and toward a common goal.
Our Network
Fédération Sénégalaise des Associations de Personnes Handicapées (FSAPH)
