Tax for Development: Budget Accountability and Oil Development in Uganda
Participatory Budget Clubs monitor the delivery of health and education services to communities, working with local government to address problems in staffing and infrastructure and holding officials accountable for resource allocation and spending.
Oxfam’s tax justice program has been working with communities and partners to improve accountability in public financial management—in effect, promoting good “budget hygiene” —before major oil revenues start to flow. The program aims to strengthen civil society and citizens’ participation in promoting transparent management of public finance, breaking down exclusionary spaces at both national and sub-national levels to include citizen participation in decisions concerning Uganda’s fiscal policy. At the community level, the program worked through local activists who came together in Participatory Budget Clubs (PBCs) to monitor local education and health services in primary schools and health clinics.