Making the budget work for education: experiences, achievements and lessons learned from civil society budget work

Budgets can be complex documents. Many people feel intimidated by budget work, assuming that it requires very technical skills. But budget work can be straightforward. Using basic arithmetic, civil society can use budget information to talk in powerful ways about how public resources are used for education. This guide provides civil society organisations (CSOs) in the education sector with the basic information they need to get started on budget work. Using background information, budget exercises and short illustrative case studies, It introduces core concepts relating to budgets, and discusses ways of analysing them. It also demonstrates how budget work can inform strategic advocacy messages, and bring about change in the education sector. At the end of the guide there is a dictionary of economic and budget terminology and a list of useful reference materials where you can find out more about budget work.