Resource information
This report provides practical information on how to be an effective monitor of government earnings and expenditures. It summarises the views and recommendations of recommendations of international budget activists as well as groups monitoring extractive industry revenues.Four important factors are identifies which determine successful civil society involvement in budget and resource extraction issues:Analysis: what should civil society groups be studying and how?Organising and Coalition Building: what are the potential alliances and joint efforts that can give work on these issues more political clout?Media and Public Education: how can groups working on budget and revenue issues move their information beyond the world of a handful of experts and more fully into the public eye?Dealing with Public Officials: how can civil society organisations working on these issues engage public officials to change and influence public policy?Keeping these factors in mind, the report presents key lessons to help guide others to be more effective in their advocacy work:oil, gas, and mineral issues involve powerful international actors and forces and activists have to understand and try to change not only domestic laws but complex private contracts and agreements as wellto make real differences in budget policy, civil society must examine income as well as spending as groups working on mineral extraction issues look for new allies and new expertise about how extractive industry revenues can be effectively invested and monitored, groups working on other budget issues will be important partnersanalytic expertise, new alliances, pooled capacity, ideas, and inspiration - these are all resources that these two groups of activists and organisations have to share with one anotheridentifying strategies to support the safety of local advocates - letting international groups take the lead with the harshest criticisms of government and giving local groups an international profile - will be very important.
