89827 B u d g e t T r a n s pa r e n c y I n i t i at i v e Lessons Learned and Recommendations for Local Councils From 2011 to 2013, the World Bank-financed Budget Transparency – Statement of the equipment and buildings acquired during Initiative1 has conducted a number of activities in the North-West and the execution of the related budget; Adamawa Regions to make local council budgets more transparent and – Assets and liabilities management account of the stores accessible to citizens. manager. The pilot project developed and tested a number of tools and activities (2) It shall be approved by the competent supervisory authority to increase the budget transparency of local councils and, in the process, and deposited at the seat of the local authority. to learn lessons about their efficacy. Based on the lessons learned dur- (3) Any resident or taxpayer of the local authority may, at his ing the implementation of the pilot, this brief summarizes recommenda- expense, request communication or obtain all or part of the tions that are relevant to policy makers interested in scaling up efforts at copies of the administrative account and its related documents. increasing budget transparency at the local level. (4) Where there is no response within 10 (ten) days, the applicant may contact the supervisory authority which must respond Context within 72 (seventy-two) hours.” Information on budgets is scarce in Cameroon, as demonstrated by its Acting in the spirit of these laws, the Budget Transparency Initiative score of 10 out of 100 in the Open Budget Index 20122, far below the aver- piloted the following activities in the North-West and Adamawa age score of 31 for countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Regions, chosen for the interest expressed in the project by the respec- However, the decentralization process in Cameroon over the past tive governors. few years provides de jure opportunities for increased budget transpar- ency at the local level: Activities • Section 4, Title IV, Law No. 2004/018 of July 22, 2004: • Budget data were collected of 15 local councils in the North-West – Article 37(1): “Council sessions are public.” Region and 13 in Adamawa. – Article 40(1): “The minutes of sessions, within a deadline of 8 days, are to be posted at the Town Hall or Council building.” • Simplified budgets were populated with the collected data to pres- ent local council budget information to citizens in user-friendly • Title 1, General Dispositions, Article 13, Law No. 2004/017 of July 22, formats. 2004: (2) “Any inhabitant or taxpayer of a regional or local authority may, • Public meetings were held where simplified budgets were read aloud at his expense, request the communication or obtain a com- to civil society organizations, the media, and communities, thus dis- plete or partial copy of the reports of the regional council or seminating budget information widely. Citizens had the opportunity municipal council, the budget, accounts or statutory orders.” to ask mayors and other officials questions, provide feedback, share concerns, and make suggestions. • Section 95, Part V, Chapter II, Law No. 2009/011 of July 10, 2009, relat- ing to the financial regime of regional and local authorities: • Community radio stations were used to mobilize citizens to attend the public meetings and to create opportunities for direct public (1) “The administrative account adopted by the deliberative body interaction between mayors and citizens. This was accomplished shall be backed by the following related documents: with radio broadcasts devoted to budget transparency and account- – Minutes of the meeting; ability, including call-in sessions that allowed citizens to directly – Proceedings on the vote of the administrative account; engage with mayors by asking questions, raising concerns, and mak- – Report of receipts to be collected; ing suggestions.3 – Report of expenses to be settled; • A Citizen Budget was developed as a prototype for the Local Council – Report of expenditure committed but not executed; of Tignère (Adamawa). It provided a six-page template for presenting – Report of the execution of projects; information contained in the administrative accounts of local coun- cils, including a list of Public Investment Budget-funded projects in a clear and appealing way. • A Local Budget Transparency Index was developed and tested in both directly engage with local councils are more likely to contribute to the regions. Local councils were ranked in terms of budget openness budget process and to the affairs of the local council. based on self-reported answers to 15 questions, collected through a 1. In order to ensure that sessions are held in conformity with the questionnaire sent by the governors’ offices to mayors. The results of spirit of Article 37, Law No. 2004/018 (see above), distribute a cir- the first round in Adamawa were shared with eight mayors and with cular to local councils advising municipal administrations to: the media in a public meeting called by the governor, instigating a fruitful discussion about how to improve budget transparency at the • Send announcements about local council sessions—two weeks, local level. one week, and one day prior to meeting—through multiple avenues, including local radio stations, the town crier, village chiefs, notice boards, the Internet, and so on. Key Findings and Initial Results • Share budget documents with councilors at least two weeks The following key findings and initial results are based on field observa- in advance of council meetings; the law requires a minimum of tions made during the pilot implementation: 15 days. Advise councillors to communicate budget content to • Mayors usually assert that they are very transparent, but this claim is their constituents by way of public meetings and/or local radio often disputed by stakeholders. stations. • Relying on local councillors to disseminate budget information after • Produce Citizen Budgets (i.e., simplified versions of the budget) council meetings is often problematic because: (1) they have limited to facilitate the dissemination of final budget information in technical capacity and resources (time); (2) they have a limited under- concise and user-friendly formats. standing or knowledge about their roles and responsibilities; (3) some • Broadcast all local council sessions—live or recorded—on com- do not live among their constituencies; and (4) they are not privy to munity radio stations. budget documents in advance of local council meetings, depriving them of the opportunity to interact with constituents to better rep- • Invite local journalists to attend every local council session. resent their interests. 2. Distribute a circular to the Special Council Support Fund for • At best, budget documents are available upon request and at own Mutual Assistance (FEICOM) and to local council supervisors within cost (as per law). However, often they are not available at all. the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralization (MINATD), advising them to: • Budget records are voluminous documents that are rarely simplified. • Actively monitor the timely production and dissemination of • Budget literacy is generally quite low; many citizens were surprised the minutes of council meetings. to learn that they had the right to know about their local council’s budget, seeing it for the first time at the dissemination meetings. • Include “budget transparency” as a category in FEICOM’s or MINATD’s assessment of the performance of local councils. • According to various stakeholders, citizen participation in local council affairs is generally low. As a result, mobilizing citizens to par- 3. Provide training. ticipate around budget issues is difficult, requiring concerted and • Incorporate the budget issue as well as budget transparency well-planned efforts. principles and tools in the training of new mayors. • No official guidelines on how and when to disseminate budget infor- • Provide training for new local councillors on budget issues and mation—simplified or not—exist at the local council level. budget transparency. • Estimates of local council revenues and expenditures tend to be 4. Set benchmarks for local councils and councillors to foster trans- highly inaccurate. parency and performance. • Increased tax revenues were reported as a direct result of the Budget • Set benchmarks for local council budget transparency (see, Transparency Initiative by at least one local council (cattle tax in for examples, the Open Budget Index or the Local Budget Ngaoundéré III, Adamawa, increased from 0 to 763,000 CFA from 2011 Transparency Index4); compile and publish all results and widely to 2012) disseminate them via the Internet, newspapers, booklets, etc. • Stakeholders reported increased trust and better relations between • Publish records of councillor attendance for each council session. mayors and communities after budget dissemination activities. Notes Recommendations 1. This initiative was generously funded by the Governance Partnership Facility. Drawing lessons from the implemented activities, the following actions 2. http://internationalbudget.org/what-we-do/open-budget-survey/full-report. are proposed to increase the budget transparency of local councils. 3. Approximately 100 radio broadcasts were conducted in the North-West Region Increased transparency provides opportunities for citizens and the state and 40 in Adamawa between July 2011 and December 2012. to increase the accountability of local councils with regard to public 4. More information on this Index can be obtained from the World Bank Office in expenditure. In addition, informed citizens who are given the chance to Cameroon or by writing to Sanjay Agarwal (sagarwal2@worldbank.org). This learning note was prepared by Sanjay Agarwal, Martin Luis Alton, Abel Bove, Victoire Ngounoue, and Vincent Perrot. The authors are grateful to the Governance Partnership Fund, which funded the Budget Transparency Initiative.