Budgets - Revenues and Financing in Public Service Provision

This app provides an introduction to public financing and expenditure at the local level. It explains how citizens can gain insight and influence over public spending and revenue generation for basic public services like health, education, water and sanitation; services which the state has an obligation to ensure also reach people living in poverty. The app explains issues such as the budget cycle, different types of taxes and revenue as well as the concepts of tax justice and fiscal decentralisation. Also explored are the dilemmas facing decentralised local governments in the Global South in raising revenue for local expenditure.

The HRBA Governance Resources Series

Is a collection of apps focusing on key governance issues of central importance to ActionAid’s Human Rights Based Approach developed by the AAI Democratic Governance Team. The APP titled Democracy introduces the series and should be studied first. Thereafter, the titles: Accountability, Power, Budgets and Voice can be studied individually. Read together, the titles complement each other and contribute to an overall appreciation of key governance issues at the local level. The series supports frontline staff and partners in their efforts to achieve ActionAid’s strategic promises of improving service delivery for people living in poverty and achieving a fairer distribution of resources to finance public policies aimed at reducing poverty.