Last week, from 3 to 5 July 2024, the Enhancing Participatory Democracy Partnership Programme (EPDN)* conducted a three-day training on participatory budgeting at Thuringer Hof in Windhoek. The training brought together representatives from civil society umbrella organisations, aiming to enhance their capacity to engage in Namibia's national budget process.

The training was facilitated by Fanuel Hiiko, Deputy Director: Strategy and Performance Management Coordination at UNAM, who shared knowledge from his experience in public expenditure analysis and management.

Participants delved into various aspects of participatory budgeting, gaining a deeper understanding of the national development and operational budget and the budget cycle of Namibia. They also learned about the principles of participatory budgeting and the role of different stakeholders, including ministries, local authoritieas, communities and parliament.

One of the key highlights of the training was the development of individual action plans for each umbrella organisation. These plans will be mentored by EPDN and the trainer, ensuring continuous support and follow-up. The training also emphasized the importance of collaboration within the civil society sector, providing a platform for participants to strengthen their networks and share best practices.

Christine Leiser, EPDN Team Leader, notes that participatory budgeting gives citizens the opportunity to learn about government practices and to come together to deliberate, discuss and substantively affect budget allocations. This training is a step towards empowering our civil society organisations to play a more active role in the policy process of Namibia.

The training was part of a broader capacity-development plan initiated by EPDN, following a policy engagement needs assessment of the participating CSO umbrella organisations. 

For more information on future training sessions and the ongoing work of EPDN, please visit their website: https://www.epdn.org/ or https://www.civic264.org.na/info-for-csos/enhancing-participatory-democracy-epdn

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*EPDN offers support to enhance the oversight capacities of parliament and to strengthening civil society organizations' abilities to collaborate with parliament in this regard. Additionally, the EU funded technical assistance programme of the Government of Namibia is to help bolster the civil society sector's capacity to engage effectively with government at all levels of Namibia's governance system in policy development, implementation and monitoring.

In addition to the ongoing technical assistance to Parliament, in 2023 EPDN invited 15 CSO umbrella organizations (listed on Civic+264 ’s website) to participate in a policy engagement needs assessment, which led to the development of a capacity-development plan. This plan includes a series of training sessions for these umbrella organizations.

The decision to provide training to umbrellas is based on the belief that these organizations play a capacity-building role with their members. Indeed, all umbrella organizations that participated in the needs assessment identified this as one of their functions. Therefore, these umbrella organizations are invited to benefit from the offered trainings and subsequently encouraged to share acquired skills and knowledge with their member organisations.

To this end, and as part of the training cycle methodology, each session results in an action plan for each umbrella organization, which EPDN and the respective trainers then mentor. EPDN also believes that learning and acquiring new skills together can help strengthen bonds and collaboration within the sector and the participating networks. It offers space to get to know each other better with each training attended.

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Click on the following links to download the training resources: -

1. CIVIL SOCIETY AND PARTICIPATORY BUDGETING BY FANUEL HIIKO ENHANCING PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY IN NAMIBIA PROGRAMME (EPDN): https://www.civic264.org.na/images/pdf/2024/7/Civil_Society_Participatory_Budgeting_Training_Handout.pdf
2. Republic of Namibia. GOVERNMENT’S ACCOUNTABILITY REPORT FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR 2020/21: https://www.civic264.org.na/images/pdf/2024/7/Accountability-report-November-2021.pdf
3. Republic of Namibia, Office of the President: National Planning Commission. DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES MEDIUM-TERM EXPENDITURE FRAMEWORK 2024/25 – 2026/27: https://www.civic264.org.na/images/pdf/2024/7/DEVELOPMENT_BUDGET_BOOK_2024-25_-_2026-27_MTEF_compressed.pdf
4. Republic of Namibia, Ministry of Finance & Public Enterprises. ESTIMATES OF REVENUE, INCOME AND EXPENDITURE 2024/2025-2026/2027: https://www.civic264.org.na/images/pdf/2024/7/Estimate_of_revenue_Namibia_2024-27.pdf
5. Republic of Namibia, Ministry of Finance & Public Enterprises. FISCAL STRATEGY FOR THE MEDIUM TERM EXPENDITURE FRAMEWORK FY2024/25 TO FY2026/27: https://www.civic264.org.na/images/pdf/2024/7/Fiscal_Strategy_Namibia_2024-25.pdf
6. Republic of Namibia, Ministry of Finance & Public Enterprises. MEDIUM – TERM EXPENDITURE FRAMEWORK 2024/25 - 2026/27: https://www.civic264.org.na/images/pdf/2024/7/Medium_Term_Expenditure_Framework_Namibia_2024-25.pdf
7. OPEN BUDGET SURVEY 2023, Namibia: https://www.civic264.org.na/images/pdf/2024/7/open-budget-survey-namibia-2023-en.pdf
8. Change From Within, A Guide to Running Participatory Budgeting in Your Organization, PART 1: Advocating & Planning for PB: https://www.civic264.org.na/images/pdf/2024/7/PB_within_an_organisation_part1.pdf
9. Change From Within, A Guide to Running Participatory Budgeting in Your Organization, PART 2: Implementing PB: https://www.civic264.org.na/images/pdf/2024/7/PB_within_an_organisation_part2.pdf
10. A Guide to Participatory Budgeting in Schools: https://www.civic264.org.na/images/pdf/2024/7/PBP_PB_Schools_Guide_5_24_18.pdf
11. PARTICIPATORY BUDGETING: Next Generation Democracy - How innovative leaders are reaching more people, bridging community divides & making government work: https://www.civic264.org.na/images/pdf/2024/7/PBP_whitepaper_2016.9.20.pdf
12. PROCUREMENT TRACKER NAMIBIA - Data deficits undermine governance & oversight: https://www.civic264.org.na/images/pdf/2024/7/Procurement_governance_and_data_deficit_Namibia_IPPR.pdf
13. THE PARLIAMENTARIAN’S HANDBOOK: NATIONAL BUDGETING PROCESS IN NAMIBIA: https://www.civic264.org.na/images/pdf/2024/7/The_parliaments_handbook_national_budgeting_process_Namibia.pdf