2007/03/02

Social Watch at WSF 2007: Workshop on Alternative budget and Budget monitoring

Tommaso Rondinella
Social Watch

During the World Social Forum held in Nairobi, Social Watch organised a workshop focused on of how to monitor state budgets and how to develop feasible alternatives to them from a civil society point of view. More than 60 people participated to the discussion..

Last Social Watch General Assembly in Sofia made clear that many organisations joining the coalition work on budget in terms of advocacy, elaboration of proposals and lobby. We thought about creating a space at WSF to share different experiences and to compare different structures and strategies. This would have been useful both to networks already working on budget and to the many other organisations that can in this way imagine how such work might function in their countries.

We focused on the themes that are usually addressed (social justice, MDGs, taxation, environmental sustainability, peace, transparency, etc.) and, most of all, on the structures and the skills needed to establish campaigns and watchdogs of this kind.

The main axis of discussion has been, therefore, the needed architecture to develop a credible budget analysis, identifying possible starting points, extension of the networks, required contacts with universities, think tanks, unions and parties, and the different lobby strategies able to intervene in the parliamentary discussion.

Budget campaigns from Benin, Canada, Italy, Philippines and Tanzania were presented.

Furthermore, a representative of Tax justice Network highlighted the most frequent mechanisms of tax evasion produced by the current international financial system. A system characterised by a growing weight of tax heavens and by a tax competition among states imposed by transnational enterprises, mining the progressive rate of most countries’ tax policies.

Under the menace of capital flights towards countries offering better treatments (tax, environmental and labour conditions), governments tend to create tax holidays for big transnational companies shifting the tax burden on poorer people.

The main conclusions emerged by the discussion are first of all related to the importance of bringing the reading of the budget outside the narrow circles of politics, big business or universities. This represents an important democratic role that civil society must have through the “translation”, in a widely understandable language, of the measures contained in the Budget law.

This is particularly true in developing countries where there are no important newspapers doing an in-depth analysis. The case of Benin is particularly relevant in this sense. The Benin Social Watch coalition organises courses of budget literacy for journalists so to let civil society have a clear perception on what is written in the budget law.

Different mechanisms for the elaboration of alternative proposals to national state budgets emerged from the discussions. Each organisation actually has its own way to elaborate proposals. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is a research centre able to develop proposals by itself; Social Watch Benin has created 12 thematic groups each one focusing on a specific subject; the Philippi coalition relies on a set of proposals elaborated at high academic level to fulfil MDGs; Sbilanciamoci! Campaign collect analysis and proposals from a wide group of civil society organisations each one focusing on different themes.

In general we can identify four stages on which civil society can intervene on budget mechanism. The actual writing of the law, before is presented in parliament; the parliamentary discussion and approval; the actual implementation of the measures contained in the law; and the impact assessment of policies. In fact, it is not taken for granted that once the law is approved the Government will effectively implement the measures and even less that the managing will be effective and leading to expected results.

Tommaso Rondinella

Links: Among speakers: Huguette AKPLOGAN DOSSA Social Watch Benin.

http://swbenin.ifrance.com/

Bruno GURTNER, Tax Justice Network.

www.taxjustice.net

Elizabeth LACSON, Freedom from Debt Coalition, Philippines.

www.prrm.org

John FOSTER, Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives.

www.policyalternatives.ca

Tommaso Rondinella. Sbilanciamoci!, Italy www.sbilanciamoci.org

On international activities and to find out handbooks on budget work and tax work for civil society:

http://www.internationalbudget.org/