Digital Commons Network^™

Freeing Funds To Meet Priorities And Needs: Sikika’S Campaign To Curb Unnecessary Expenditure In Tanzania, Peter Bofin, International Budget Partnership

International Budget Partnership

In 2008 the Tanzanian Prime Minister, Mizengo Pinda, ordered government ministries to reduce unnecessary expenditure on workshops, allowances, seminars, and luxury vehicles. While populist commitments by leaders are not unusual in Tanzania, this particular one seemed to be a direct response to Sikika’s media and advocacy campaign. This case study shows that a focus on media outreach and raising public awareness may not be enough to bring about changes in contexts where budget allocation processes are closed and there are strong internal pressures to maintain the widespread patronage and rents that can be drawn from recurrent expenditures in the budget. …

Evidence For Change: The Case Of Subsidios Al Campo In Mexico, Guillermo M. Cejudo, International Budget Partnership

International Budget Partnership

The Subsidios al Campo campaign used Mexico’s freedom of information laws to obtain official data on the recipients of agricultural subsidies, and then published the data online. Its analysis brought a large amount of new information into the public domain, and managed to shift the debate about agricultural subsidies from a focus on their overall size to a discussion of how equitably they were being distributed, challenging a powerful agricultural industry in the process. The Mexican Ministry of Agriculture reacted by reforming the system to ensure that subsidies were flowing only to those that needed them.

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