Why is the CSOs budget roadmap important? It is going to increase awareness to the upcoming 2018/19 budget; number two, it is going to promote openness and transparency in the budgeting process and number three, it is going to enable citizens to have their input in the budget process, these are the three major elements.

What are the key areas that you are focusing on in this roadmap?There are four areas which we are interested in. One, we want to push for the expansion of the tax revenue base, this will enable government to have enough resources to deliver services. Second, we want to look at equitable salary structure and enumeration of civil servants. We will be pushing for establishment of the salary review commission. Third, we want to look at alternative ways in which we can revamp our economy and make it more inclusive. Finally, we will advocate for adequate public financing for social sectors where the poor women and men and other marginalized groups deliver their livelihoods.

Do you think CSBAG is making a significant contribution towards improving policy implementation? That is for the citizens to tell us but what we know is that 52 percent of our views are taken up by the government.

How do you think this roadmap is going to help improve our budget performance? It is going to improve budgeting tremendously. When citizens are part of the process, it means that the budget priorities will reflect their needs. It means that the budget outcomes will be owned by the citizens. We strongly feel that if engage effectively corruption will be harder to sustain.

When are you starting on the roadmap? We launched on 26th July and we are planning to do so in 20 regional workshops across the country. We shall also work around the government budget processes. For example, we will also soon organise regional budget consultative meetings that will feed into the government budget cycle. These consultative meetings are very important because they provide citizens with opportunities to input into the budgeting process.

What are some of those tangible achievements that you can point at in the CSO Budget advocacy calendar year? CSOs have made a number tangible achievements including; funding for the Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) project in the gender unit, Allocation of UG Shs 5bn start-up capital for the National Health Insurance Scheme, Operationalization of the Tree fund and allocation of extra funding for SAGE among others.

What are some of the greatest challenges that CSOs are facing in their Budget Advocacy work today?Today, CSOs face a major challenge of access to vital budget information, for example accessing treasury memorandum reports from Parliament, Loan appraisal reports are among the reports not yet accessible to the public.

What is Ministry of Finance doing to ensure that Performance based budgeting, delivers the kind of results that you would want to see?First of all, we need to make sure that the planning process takes into account principles of performance budgeting because if you don’t do it right from the planning process, when it comes to implementation, you cannot get it.

Secondly when it comes to planning of course planning means a number of things. One is that you need to make sure that you target two indicators at all levels of activity. When it comes to implementation, then you make sure the monitoring of those indicators is effective.

How would you advise CSOs to ensure effective contribution towards budget implementation? They should participate in all the consultative processes. They should participate in sector working groups because a lot of plans and budgeting happens within the sectors and then once you have participated in the consultation and planning and budgeting, then you also participate in the monitoring. Once you do that, you would have made your contribution.

What are the likely key priorities for government in the upcoming FY 2018/19 budget?I don’t want to preempt because we are in the process of preparing the budget strategy for the FY2018/19 but I want to say that we will probably continue with infrastructure development (roads), human capital development, water and social services among others. In addition, because we have not achieved everything we are going to focus on efficiency in budget implementation.

Are we seeing the FY2018/19 budget increasing from the current Sh28.9trillion for the FY2017/18?At worst, it will remain the same but if we are saying that the economy is growing, which it is, and then there might be some increment in the budget for 2018/19.

Our public debt has continued to grow over the years, what is the ministry doing to reduce this debt?Among others, we have agreed that we prioritise concessional loans. We are also making sure that for the loans that we acquire, we fast track implementation so that the benefits from these loans are achieved much earlier in order for us to be able to pay back.

Making the Budget Process Open and Inclusive

CSO Budget Advocacy Road Map July 2017- June 2018

Members of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) attending a Budget advocacy event. The Budget advocacy road map for FY 2018/19 will be key in guiding the CSOs' contributions towards better resource allocation by government.

Julius Mukunda Executive Director

CSBAG

Ishmael Magona Acting Director Budget

Ministry of Finance

Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group (CSBAG); Plot 11, Vubya Close, Ntinda, Nakawa-Stretcher Road P.O. Box 660, Ntinda; Fixed Line: +256 755202154; Web: www.csbag.org Email: csbag@csbag.org

Stage/Activity Government budget process CSO budget advocacy action CSO Timeframe

Evaluation of the FY 2016/17

Publishing of Annual Budget Performance Report and Annual Government Performance Report FY 2016/17

Publishing CSO Annual budget performance review for FY 2016/17

15th September 2017

Publishing of OAG report FY 2016/17

Analysis and popularizing of Office of the Auditor General report FY 2016/17

30th September 2017

Annual Sector Review Meetings

Present CSO positions at the Government Annual Sector Reviews

30th September 2017

Organise parallel CSO sessions assessing Sector FY 2016/17 performance

August -November 2017

Execution/Implementation of FY 2018/19

Quarterly release of FY p2017/18 funds by Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development

Produce Quarterly budget CSO performance monitoring report September and December 2017

Compile and share regional budget releases for Regional Budget Coalitions

Every quarter

Develop Regional Budget guides 8th September 2017

Preparation stage FY 2018/19

Local Government budget consultation on FY 2018/19 among all Local Governments and Municipalities by Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development

Developing and present CSO local government position papers at the Local Government Budget Consultative Workshops

1st August - September 2017

Mobilise CSOs to participate in the Local Government Budget Consultative workshops

August/ September 2017

National Budget Conference on FY 2018/19 for all Ministries Department and Agencies and Local Governments organised by Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development

Present CSO position on the National Budget Strategy FY 2018/19

September 2017

Mobilise CSOs to attend the National Budget Conference FY 2018/19

1st – 4th September 2017

District Budget Conferences organised by respective districts

Sub national CSOs present CSO perspectives at district budget conferences

October/September 2017

Sector Working Group Meetings

Develop CSO positions on sector issues including grant guidelines

By 30th November 2017

N/A Review the CSBAG CSO budget advocacy roadmap December 2017

Approval Stage FY 2018/19

Approval of National Budget Framework Paper FY 2018/19 to Parliament of Uganda [Section 9(8)]

Organise CSO Thematic Working Group meetings January 2018Hold National and Local CSO retreat to analyse the National Budget Framework Paper FY 2018/19 and develop Vol. 4 Every Shilling Counts

January 2018

Present CSO Sector specific budget position papers to Parliamentary Committees

January -February 2018

Organise CSO Regional pre-budget dialogues February 2018Organise the National CSO Pre-Budget dialogue March 2018Popularise Government budget proposals FY 2018/19 January – May 2018Participate in Inter-ministerial Budget consultations March 2018

Presentation of the Ministerial Policy Statement to Parliament of Uganda FY 2018/19 [Section 13 (13)]

Review of CSO alternative budget proposals uptake on the National Budget Framework Paper FY 2018/19

March 2018

Hold CSO Thematic Working Group meetings March – April 2018Hold National and Local CSO retreat to analyse the Ministerial Policy Statements FY 2018/19

April 2018

Present CSO Sector specific budget position papers to Parliamentary Committees on the Ministerial Policy Statements FY 2018/19

April 2018

Produce the CSO Alternative budget FY 2018/19 May 2018Review of Tax (Amendment) Bills, 2018 April 2018Annual CSO compliance campaign on the Certificate of Gender and Equity Compliance

April 2018

Annual CSO compliance campaign on the NDP II Certificate April 2018Approval of Annual Budget FY 2018/19 [Section 14(1]

Policy engagement with Parliamentary Budget and Finance Committees

May 2018

Presentation of the budget speech FY 2018/19 to Parliament of Uganda

Organise Regional Budget listening events June 2018Organise CSO -public listening events of the National Budget Speech FY 2018/19

June 2018

Organise CSO Budget Digests at National and Regional Level June 2018

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