Human rights work and budget work can complement each other in a powerful way. The central assumption in budget work is that there are insufficient resources available to meet all existing needs. Budget analysis can help to lay bare the choices confronting a country. Budget work forces one to concentrate on what the priorities should be in allocating a nation’s resources, while human rights standards are critical in identifying those priorities.

Budget work can assess the adequacy, quality and congruency of budgets and expenditures relative to the government’s international or local rights commitments. Governments fulfill their rights commitments in part through raising, allocating and spending money. Budget analysis can help determine if the government is allocating its resources and spending them in line with its promises.

Budget work is central in costing out the implications of policy choices. A human rights analysis can point to certain policy choices, and budget work can provide information about the financial cost of those choices.

Budget work can also identify sources of (new and reprioritized) policy funding. If a group advocates different spending priorities to better guarantee human rights, budget work can identify where the government may be able to get the necessary funding.