Project

Monitoring and Influencing the Central Budget by Civic Empowerment

Grantee: Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation

The project aimed to enhance the capacity of civil society organizations at local level to influence the government budget and expenditure process, with particular emphasis on the social sector. The initiative took place in a governance environment where there is no tradition of using the budget as a means of holding the government accountable, at national or local levels, even in the Parliament. This project represents one component of the grantee’s broader effort to draw public and media attention to the importance of budget-making, while building the capacity of civil society to engage with government on budget matters, thus enhancing public accountability.

The emphasis on the budget for the social sector was particularly relevant as a step towards drawing attention to, and seeking to improve, the situation of vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. Increasingly, the responsibility for administration of the social sector budget, including health and education, as well as social protection, rests with the municipalities. The selection of the Urban Councils and Women’s Assemblies as the focus for strengthening the role of civil society in monitoring the performance of municipal government was a relevant and appropriate choice, given the project objectives.

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Lessons from Project

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The project was less effective in achieving those results which required the building of civil society capacities. The lack of completeness of the grantee’s efforts to build the capacity of the Urban Councils and Women’s Assemblies was rooted in the fact that this aspect of the project was under-budgeted.

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The involvement of the grantee and its partners in initiatives with specific local government units in Turkey stimulated interest on the part of mayors and senior local officials in the ideas promoted by the project, as well as with the leadership of the Urban Councils and Women’s Assemblies. This increased interest contributed to the project’s effectiveness through strengthening links between the municipal executive and the Urban Councils, and, in some cases, closer consultation on budgetary matters.

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Partnership was a real strength of the project:  the Permanent Monitoring Group, where organizational members had worked with each other for some time, over a series of projects, was an excellent institution. The partnerships that the grantee established with local beneficiaries were also strong, and are likely to continue beyond the project.

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The decision to add a gender equality component to the project by providing special training to Women’s Assemblies reflected the recognition of a significant capacity gap in local civil society in Turkey. Working through the Urban Councils and Women’s Assemblies, the project lobbied municipal authorities to establish municipal Equality Commissions as sub-committees of elected municipal councils.. All five pilot municipalities have now either set up, or are planning to set up, Equality Commissions.

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Overall, the project demonstrated a commendable ability to adjust and adapt its plans as circumstances changed and new challenges emerged. However, adding new elements to an already multi-facetted project gave it an open-endedness and lack of completeness, particularly in its efforts to support civil society capacity development.

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