Participatory Budgeting Peer Learning Initiative

The World Bank Institute has provided support to strengthen the institutional capacity of two regional centres of excellence:

Centro International de Gestion Urbana (Ecuador) and 
Municipal Development Partnership Eastern and Southern Africa (Zimbabwe)

with the objective to establish “Participatory Budgeting Knowledge Development and Action Support Regional Facilities” in Latin America and Africa regions.

Following its launch in 2006, CIGU and MDPESA have engaged in multiple efforts to development and disseminate knowledge, implement learning activities, provide action support services, and facilitate networking of practitioners in participatory budgeting at the regional level.

Participatory Budgeting in Africa
Participatory Budgeting in Latin America

South-South Cooperation

In March 2008, the Africa-Latin America Mutual Learning Initiative on Participatory Budgeting was launched.

The objective of this initiative is to facilitate and strengthen mutual learning among African and Latin American policy makers and practitioners engaged in efforts to increase transparency, voice, and civil society oversight of public expenditure management.

This initiative builds upon the key lessons and principles from successful South-South programs, such as decentralized cooperation, demand-driven, and development market place approaches. Based on these principles, nine peer-learning proposals were selected covering different aspects of participatory budgeting.

With the support of the Africa and Latin America Regional Facilities, finally, an International Network on Participatory Budgeting was launched in November 2008, creating a common platform for the different regional and national networks to collaborate.

Africa-LAC PB Peer Learning Initiative at MDP-ESA
Africa PB Regional Seminar,  Durban South Africa, March 2008