The Transparency and Accountability Program (TAP)

The Transparency and Accountability Program (TAP) strengthens the capacity of independent monitoring organizations (IMOs) in low- and middle-income countries to promote improvements in social sector public spending and better hold their governments accountable for expenditure decisions and actions. The core of TAP is a competitive small grants program that enables participating IMOs to complete original analytical and advocacy work on a specific topic in public expenditures in their country. The small grants program uses “learning by doing” activities to engage IMOs in budget analysis and to increase IMO interest, capacity, and expertise in social sector budget and implementation issues, emphasizing both immediate and long-term impacts on public expenditure policy and outcomes. TAP provides technical resources and training to support completion of the work and an opportunity for the organizations to share and learn from each other’s findings and methods. In addition, TAP helps IMOs forge concrete partnerships with other development stakeholders engaged in similar work and disseminates the work of the participating IMOs beyond their home countries to enhance their reputations at home and to create examples of good work for IMOs in other countries to emulate. Finally, an integral component of our program is the evaluation of supported IMOs and TAP itself to study the role that IMOs can play in increasing transparency and to provide guidance to stakeholders on how best to support these organizations.

Since its inception in 2006, TAP has supported 19 pieces of analytical and advocacy work by civil society organizations on topics including results-based budgeting initiatives, inefficiencies in the pharmaceutical supply chain in public health centers, and the incidence and causes of teacher absenteeism in primary schools. The work supported by TAP has resulted in products utilized by the public and NGOs to monitor service delivery in education and health as well as changes in education policy to improve the efficiency of public service delivery in Guatemala and Ghana. The first phase of TAP’s work culminated in three publications outlining an analytical framework that countries can use to improve accountability (How to Improve Governance), highlighting how donors and international institutions can support the demand for good governance (Lives in the Balance), and featuring the results, impact, and lessons learned from the first phase of the TAP grants program (Improving Government Performance from the Ground Up). TAP has recently entered its second phase of work, beginning with the awarding of 20 new grants in Asia and Africa for public expenditure tracking and absenteeism studies in health and education (starting June 2009).

Project Publications & Resources

This paper aims to identify themes emerging from practice within, and recent efforts to improve, public financial management (PFM) systems in Africa. Given the themes identified, it also seeks to suggest a perspective on the role non-governmental civil society organizations (CSO) could play in strengthening PFM in the future.

This working paper is based on a review of a sample of Country Procurement Assessment Reports undertaken in twenty-three Sub-Saharan countries. The paper analyzes the procurement systems and seeks to find ways to improve the quality of public expenditures.

Starting with the evidence of weak links between public spending and human development outcomes, this discussion paper takes an extensive look at the theoretical and empirical literature relating public resources allocation and measures of governance, transparency, and accountability.

Independent Monitoring Organizations (IMOs)- policy research and advocacy organizations that pursue transparency and accountability issues- can be key players in improving the collection and expenditure of government revenues. This paper analyzes areas where many IMOs' work could be improved and explores programs that aim to improve IMOs.

Recently there has been a surge of activity among Civil Society Organizations in India.  This paper analyzes this development, including impact, shortcomings and challenges Indian organizations face in the years to come.

This paper reviews recent measures to improve fiscal transparency in Nigeria, highlights the role played by civil society organizations (CSOs), and identifies strategies which CSOs and government officials in various African countries may adopt in order to promote more constructive and transparent dialogue on fiscal management issues.

The objective of this paper is to review about 20 Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys (PETS) and related literature produced since the mid-1990s to identify common problems and lessons learned to improve the quality of public spending in the social sectors via civil society oversight and involvement.

This paper reviews roughly 60 Public Expenditure Reviews (PERs) conducted by the World Bank in virtually all regions of the world, and defines common problems and proposed solutions to improve the impact, quality, and equity of public spending.

This book seeks out, areas in which governments could focus to improve the quality public expenditures. It seeks to identify cross-cutting strengths and weaknesses of public financial management and procurement systems and the characteristics of, and lessons learned from reform programs.

The newest book published as part of the Transparency and Accountability Program, a research project of the Brookings Institution and Results for Development, highlights the need for an analytical framework to utilize in reforms for improving governance.

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Project Details

Main Contact: 
Courtney Tolmie
Duration: 
June, 2006 - November, 2011
Status: 
Active
Staff Associated with Project: 

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