Resources

This handbook is a guide for ordinary people to understand what is going on in their local economy so that they can be involved in decision-making. The handbook is responding to a need of residents involved in local decision-making to feel comfortable about decisions relating to the local economy. Based on work with communities in the UK, the handbook addresses local involvement in community economic decisions and looks at how local businesses can link to outside investment or strong skill bases that can benefit the wider community. The handbook is divided into four main sections: introduction; theory: understanding the local economy; preparing: a step-by-step guide to plugging the leaks; and action: co-ordinating the program, information gathering, raising awareness and ready to go. The handbook concludes with detailed appendixes about the case studies as well as some worksheets, surveys and ideas.

This document is the summary for a 36 country-wide study evaluating public access to budget information from the perspective of civil society organisations. The International Budget Project (IBP) developed an open budget questionnaire as a measurement tool that was then completed by civil society researchers in different countries in 2004. The main results include that documents relating to the executive's budget proposed expenditure are routinely released to the public and typically contain significant amounts of information; fewer countries report positive practices in reports that monitor the budget while it is being implemented and/or completed; and very few of the countries surveyed had efforts to facilitate public discourse and understanding of the budget. Likewise, the study found that official avenues for legislative and public input into the budget process tend to be lacking. The study goes on to identify a number of concrete steps that countries can take to improve their budget systems, such as encouraging public and legislative involvement, as well as providing non-technical summaries of the budget to make it accessible to a wider audience. Overall, the information in the report aims to contribute to ongoing efforts to enhance budget transparency and help countries assess and improve their budget systems.

In a detailed report about the Partnership for Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (PALS) in Zambia, implemented by CARE International, the authors look at applying participatory learning and action techniques in working with young people. In the context of the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, the report looks at how the PALS program is a creative response to address the reproductive health needs of young people. The report is structured into 6 main areas: introducing the Zambian experience; the key principles and challenges of participatory learning and action (PLA); preparing for PLA and practical tips for the field; PLA methods and describing the tools; documentation and reporting; and finally tying the report together by describing how to use PLA to create an adolescent reproductive health intervention.

This article argues that there are both practical and principled reasons for improving the standards of ægood governanceÆ within international organisations. The author argues that if the IMF and the World Bank are to achieve the same standards of good governance that they have defined for borrowing members, reform of the constitutional rules, decision-making procedures and practices within both institutions is required. The article argues for change in the voting structure, respective roles played by the Executive Board, consensus decision-making, nongovernmental organisations, and the staff, management and research in both organisations. The author suggests that ôwhile both the IMF and World Bank often write of the necessity of including stakeholders in the initiation and design of programs and policies, neither institution has adequately included all present-day stakeholders in its own governance.ö In conclusion the author also makes links with increased participation within member countries as well as an increased recognition and value of ælocal knowledgeÆ by the two institutions.