WISH2ACTION aims to expand access to family planning and integrated sexual and reproductive health and rights (FP/SRHR) for women, men and young people across Africa and Asia. Central to this ambition is that, by the end of the programme, the government in each supported country is fully committed to and has leadership of the SRHR agenda, ensuring the programme has a catalytic and lasting impact. This includes strengthening accountability for public investment in FP/SRHR so that sufficient funding is available and that scarce funds are channelled to where they are needed most. A key approach to achieving this is to establish systems and processes for routine budget monitoring and tracking. This enables governments and civil society organizations to assess the extent to which budgets are being implemented as planned and gives them the data needed to take timely action when they are not.

Working across a wide range of countries, at both national and sub-national level, and with government and civil society partners, the WISH2ACTION programme has gained rich insights into how to establish and institutionalise budget monitoring and tracking to strengthen accountability for public investment in FP/SRHR. This technical brief brings four key lessons learned on budget monitoring and tracking (BMT) from six WISH countries: Malawi, Madagascar, Pakistan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia:

1. The BMT process contributes to strengthened demand for and use of data for decision-making among government officials.
2. Engaging CSOs as partners in the budget monitoring and advocacy process, is the key to sustainability in accountability.
3. Where possible, it is useful to undertake multi-level budget monitoring and tracking.
4. Embedding the BMT process into government structures is critical to ensuring ownership and routine use of the data.

View the full technical brief here.