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International NGOs assisting the development of human rights budget work |
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Human rights budget work draws on a broad range of knowledge and skills. Most often civil society organizations involved in, or wanting to get involved in, human rights budget work identify organizations and individuals in their own countries that can provide necessary assistance. IBP's Partnership Initiative enables member organizations working at the local or national levels in the same or different countries to learn from and assist each other. At the same time there are international NGOs with various focuses and interests, which have experience and resources that may be of use to local and national organizations doing human rights budget work.
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The International Budget Partnership (IBP) collaborates with civil society organizations in developing countries to analyze, monitor, and influence government budget processes, institutions, and outcomes. To achieve its mission, the IBP, among other things, provides training and technical assistance, as well as financial assistance for civil society budget work. It also acts as a hub of information on civil society budget work, while building international and regional budget networks.
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The Revenue Watch Institute (RWI) promotes the responsible management of oil, gas and mineral resources for the public good. A mainstay of RWI's work is the development of civil society capacity. The organization provides financial and technical training and support in over twenty resource-rich countries. It produces guidebooks and organizes study tours and exchanges, and facilitates regional and international workshops on civil society oversight of the extractive resource value chain. One of the organization’s focuses is on transparency—revenue transparency and expenditure transparency—and it helps CSOs learn how to better monitor both the government’s revenues and its expenditures.
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The Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) has been developing methodologies for assessing a government’s compliance with its economic and social rights obligations, particularly the obligations of “progressive achievement” and “use of maximum available resources.” The Center has made information on its methodologies available on its web site, together with information about methodologies developed by other organizations. Human rights budget work typically happens as part of a broader initiative of monitoring and advocacy related to a specific rights issue. Many of the methodologies discussed by CESR can be understood as complementary to budget work, and help situate budget work within a broader monitoring agenda.
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American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Science and Human Rights Program sponsors a project entitled "On-call" Scientists, which connects scientists interested in volunteering their skills and knowledge with human rights organizations that are in need of scientific expertise. Through “On-call” Scientists, human rights organizations gain access to technical assistance to enhance their work and scientists have the opportunity to contribute to and gain a better understanding of human rights. Scientists “on call” include behavioral, life, physical, and social scientists, as well as engineers, technicians, medical professionals, and public health practitioners.
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Human Rights Impact Resource Centre provides access to a broad range of information and expertise on human rights impact assessment (HRIA). HRIAs measure the impact of policies, programs, projects and interventions on human rights. HRIAs assist in systematically determining whether policies, programs and activities take human rights sufficiently into account. Instruments and tools for an HRIA can potentially be used to measure the impact of government expenditures.
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