Monitoring Government spending on the MDGs: www.governmentspendingwatch.org, featuring interview with Patrice Sanon

Oxfam and Development Finance International have launched the website “Government Spending Watch' www.governmentspendingwatch.org, which looks into how developing countries are - or are not - spending to achieve the MDGs.

With rapid progress being made within certain countries, the site explores how the majority of countries are spending much less than they have pledged, or what is needed to meet the MDGs in the twenty months to go before the MDG deadline.

The data shows how much 52 low- and lower-middle-income countries are spending on MDG-related initiatives.

This is the first chance for ordinary citizens in countries from Armenia to Zambia to see whether their governments are keeping their promises and spending the amounts needed to fight poverty and reach the MDGs. 

• The aim is to promote transparency and accountability and give local civil society the tools to challenge government assertions and plans for spending on sustainable development.
• It shows that data differs widely among countries both in terms of quantity and quality
• While developing countries overall have increased spending on MDG issues, this is not the case in Africa, where the trend is downwards.

At the European Dev Days 2013, the "Progress at Risk" lab session focused on government spending towards achieving the MDGs.  You can listen to the podcast here.

'This tool is very important and we hope to do a lot with it,’ said Patrice Sanon, Founder and Executive Director, ODSAD FASO, Burkina Faso, who was a panellist at the session. 

The Burkina Faso government is one of Africa’s most open when it comes to giving NGOs access to information, but even there it is difficult to find out what is really going on. Sanon cited the example of budget spending on health, which the Government Spending Watch says is much lower than the government states.

Too often civil society organisations – in Burkina Faso and elsewhere – are only consulted on budgetary issues once decisions have been taken, and that is too late, Sanon said.

The new analytical tool will allow civil society to play a more proactive role in budget issues and produce alternative financial analyses to counter those offered by the government.

Watch his full interview with capacity4dev.eu below (in FR):