The government officials and civil society representatives from Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan are meeting in Kathmandu from Monday to share their experiences on public participation and accountability in the budget process.

The forum is organised by World Bank Institute (WBI), the Programme for Accountability in Nepal (PRAN) and the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability-South Asia (ANSA-SAR). “The WB has embarked on an ambitious Openness Agenda. Transparency, accountability and citizen participation are all central to this citizen- oriented approach,” WB quoted its country manager Tahseen Sayed as saying.

“The WB realises that one of the best things that can be provided to the beneficiaries of development interventions is easy-to-use data and access to information from across the globe.  We now clearly understand that open access to data and information empowers citizen, advocacy groups and their governments and their policy makers, to make better-informed judgments.  It allows governments and citizens to monitor implementation progress and track development results more accurately,” she said.

The forum will provide participants with an overview of social accountability approaches and relevant tools for independent budget analysis, expenditure tracking, budget demystification and dissemination, procurement monitoring, and monitoring of service delivery.

The forum intends to serve as a kick off for devising country level action agenda on greater budget accountability at national and local level. Nepalnews.com