Government budgets both reflect and set priorities. They also make the difference between whether or not a program or policy can be successfully implemented and sustained. This makes domestic financing a critical issue for public health advocates. However, budget advocacy also requires a specialized set of knowledge and relationships. A new e-learning course developed by the Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI) in collaboration with SEND Ghana provides advocates with tools and information to help advance the field.
How does your government decide what to spend money on? How can civil society advocates know if government resources are being spent appropriately? How can the national budget drive policy change? The Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI), in collaboration with our partner SEND Ghana, recently launched the latest of our e-learning offerings for civil society advocates who want answers to these questions. National Budget Basics is designed for civil society advocates who want to learn about government budgets and how they can be a powerful tool for driving policy change.
The National Budget Basics course introduces learners to the processes governments use to create annual national budgets. Depending on the country and level of government where one is working, the process of researching and developing a government budget can vary greatly. In recognition of this diversity, the National Budget Basics course focuses on broad concepts for budget analysis that apply to many governments around the world.
This online self-paced course takes learners through the budget process and timelines. It provides guidance on identifying common problems and bottlenecks, how to monitor and track budget allocations and expenditure, and shares insights into when decisions are made, opportunities for civil society engagement and government-based accountability processes. Learners will simultaneously assess their knowledge of the budget process and learn how to calculate growth rate and inflation rate, real values, shares, averages and unit costs.
This course includes an in-depth case study of the national budget development process for an epidemic preparedness budget in Ghana, providing real-life examples from SEND Ghana’s experience. It also draws on successful budget advocacy campaigns conducted by GHAI with local partners to prevent epidemics, expand childhood immunizations, prevent child drowning, impalement tobacco control policies, sustain maternal and reproductive health programming, fund hypertension screening and treatment, and implement tobacco control programs.
The National Budget Basics course is available on GHAI’s e-learning platform. For technical support, contact carevalo@advocacyincubator.org