The Global Partnership for Education recently published the Guidelines for the Monitoring of National Education Budgets. The guidelines were developed to equip local education stakeholders with foundational knowledge on budget processes, and to enable members of local education groups (LEGs) to better engage in policy dialogue about government spending on education monitoring.
The guidelines provide practical suggestions for different stakeholders on how to advocate for and monitor budget development and expenditure management processes within the education sector, structured around the stages of the budget cycle.
The initial chapters of the guidelines offer key technical background, covering broad financial concepts such as expenditure and revenue, and progressing into more specialized topics such as budget structures and classification systems.
These guidelines were developed through a consultative process involving representatives from GPE partner developing countries, development partners, education finance experts, civil society organizations and research organizations. In addition, a peer review group was established, representing a cross-section of education stakeholders and members of the partnership.