Introduction

The Public Budgeting App is a web-based application with mobile versions (iOS, Android) designed for budget process management and documentation. The App is specifically designed to facilitate the management of the budget process using a digitalized budget calendar and an alert system expected to promote timeliness and transparency in conducting activities around the various stages of the budget cycle.

The Public Budgeting App will help government budget offices at the Federal, State and Local Government levels to manage their budget process in adherence to a generic budget calendar, get notification on when an activity should be undertaken, and serve as a repository for official budget documents and promote information sharing on budgeting activities and products for informed engagement by the citizens.

The Benefit of the Public Budgeting App

The Public Budgeting App will:

• Streamline the budget process and promote timeliness;
• Help government officials manage their budget calendars;
• Facilitate improved stakeholders’ engagement;
• Promote effective documentation of budget activities and outputs; and
• Enhance citizens’ access to budget information and documents.

In addition, the App:

• Holds Generic ‘Key Reference Documents’ which are linked to related budget cycle stages. These documents include guidelines, processes and tools that can be used as reference for, and to support each stage of the budget cycle.
• Holds a ‘Generic Budget Calendar’ and details of the budget stages, which can be adapted by each specific government to create a ‘Specific Government’ Budget Calendar.
• Holds ’Specific Government’ Budget Documents which relate to, and are linked to the ‘Specific Government’ Budget Calendar.
• Enables interested users to register with the App and access all generic calendars, documents and related information, as well as specific information of Governments to which they are registered.
• Notify registered users about activities being carried out by government at various levels at each stage of the budget cycle, providing appropriate links, when amendments to budget calendars are made and new documents or events are added.

How the App works

The Public Budgeting App is deployed in two distinct platforms, namely, the Admin Portal and the Public Portal. Under these two platforms, three levels of users are envisioned which include:

• a) The Application Manager: This role is expected to be undertaken initially by the NGF and the PERL programme. The App manager is the overall App Administrator, responsible for creation of state administrators, maintenance of the App and ensuring the smooth operation of the App, including
• b) Specific Government Users: these will be officials representing each government (Federal, State and Local Governments) using to the App and will comprise two levels – (i) a designated Specific Government System Administrator and (ii) designated ‘owners’ who will be responsible for uploading and linking documents.
• c) Public Users (accessing through: https://www.publicbudgetng.org/) will be interested individuals who have registered with the App and will be able to access both generic and specific government documents, to which they have registered. Public users will also receive alerts when changes are made to a budget calendar or when new budget documents are ‘added’ to the App.

Who should use this App?

The anticipated target audiences for the Public Budgeting App are:

• Government Officials in the Ministries of Budget and Planning;
• Public Financial Management Policy practitioners and researchers;
• Civil Society Organizations and citizens who have interest in the budget and budgeting process; and
• Development partners that work on PFM.

The Potential of the Public Budgeting App to contribute to improved Service Delivery

The budget is a tool for allocating resources for the provision of public goods and services. The budget is most useful if it is timely, realistic, transparent and allows citizens participation. In addition, the budget should help to achieve the broad objectives of a sound public financial management system which are: ensuring fiscal discipline, allocation of resources to priorities, and efficient service delivery. The Public Budgeting App aims to help the states to achieve these objectives towards improving service delivery to citizens.

The scope of the App

The App does not provide a platform for feedback to the citizens on the right or wrong public financial management processes and systems; it only serves to notify and inform, not to interact with general public users. If a public user requires engagement with a state on its budget based on the information provided on the App, such engagement can be face to face or through any other interactive platform provided by the state.

The App is not a tool for project implementation, monitoring and feedback by citizens or CSOs. It is principally designed to help officials of government with budget management responsibilities to better manage the process and provide information on the state’s budget activities to the public.