Just and Democratic Local Governance: Budgets - Revenues and Financing in Public Service Provision

This handbook was produced by the ActionAid´s International Governance Team as part of the ELBAG (Economic Literacy & Budget Accountability in Governance) Handbook Series. The series focuses on the local level and seeks to support practitioners in their efforts to achieve ActionAid’s strategic promises of improving service delivery for poor people and achieving a fairer distribution of resources to finance public policies aimed at reducing poverty.
This handbook begins with information about budgets, and continues with different types of revenue and taxes at the local level. The theme of Tax Justice is introduced and the handbook explains decentralization and the dilemma local government has in terms of limited independent space for planning and implementation. The handbook is intended for field workers and civil society organisations at the local level. While the political context is different in every country, ActionAid hopes that activists can use this handbook as an inspiration to engaging in local budget work using the tools provided to analyse budgets and understand political economy at the local level.
After an explanation of Human Rights as the basis for ActionAid´s work and a discussion about public service financing in terms of justice and equity, the handbook provides the following chapters:

• The Budget Cycle – what is really happening?
• Revenue and Taxes – the key to self-sufficiency?
• Fiscal Decentralisation – a just distribution of resources?
• ELBAG: Putting it into Practice – empowerment, campaign, solidarity
• Local Revenue Justice – five analytical tools.

Other titles in the ELBAG series include "Democracy – Justice and Accountability at the Local Level"; "Voice – Representation and Peoples´ Democracy"; "Power – Elite Capture and Hidden Influence"; and "Budgets – Revenues and Financing Public Service Provision". (See Related Summaries at the bottom of the page for other handbooks in the ELBAG series which are available on the Soul Beat Africa website).