Budget Transparency in Afghanistan: A Pathway to Building Public Trust in the State

This paper discusses major improvements in government budget transparency and public engagement in Afghanistan, presenting an analysis of the roles of the following actors in the trend toward more open budgeting: 1) the International Budget Partnership (IBP), foreign donors, civil society organizations (CSOs), and the media; 2) the government; and 3) the legislature. The paper discusses background information going back to 2001; however, the empirical analysis focuses on the period from 2008 to 2011. While it is necessary to recognize the contribution of various actors – pressure from donors, limited but effective CSO and media anti-corruption campaigns, the commitment of the leadership of the Ministry of Finance, and the availability of international technical assistance – the IBP’s contribution was uniquely valuable because it allowed progress on budget transparency in Afghanistan to be monitored. In 2008, using its Open Budget Survey and the associated Open Budget Index (OBI), the IBP established a baseline from which progress in budget transparency could be measured.