Human rights budget work is young. It is currently called by different names, including “human rights budgeting,” “budgeting or budget work from a rights perspective,” or “budget analysis and ESC rights.” Organizations are adopting diverse approaches as they take on the work, depending upon the issues they are addressing, their own goals and capacities, and the political environments within which they work.

• Many groups are concentrating on the national budget, seeking to influence national ministries or departments, as well as legislators who have the responsibility to approve the national budget. Other groups are focusing on state/provincial budgets or local government.

• Some groups’ strength is in analyzing a wide range of budget documents, while others emphasize monitoring of government expenditures through involving communities in demanding accountability for misuse of funds.

• A large number of groups develop “citizens’ budgets,” which explain to ordinary people in simple, accessible terms what the government is doing with their money.

Groups doing human rights budget work have a number of different focuses.  These include:

• Transparency in government budgets and budget processes

• Participatory budgeting

• Government budgets related to specific rights

• Gender budgets

• Child rights and budgets

• Macroeconomic policies and economic and social rights

• "Frontloading" human rights into budgets

For more information on work being done in any of these areas as well as relevant resources related to them, click on the menu to the left.