Learning with SPARK was an innovative action learning partnership between the Institute of Development Studies, the Accountability Research Center and the International Budget Partnership (IBP). It aimed to generate knowledge from a significant programme run by the IBP – called SPARK (Strengthening Public Accountability for Results and Knowledge) – through accompanied learning and reflection on actions to increase citizen’s influence on how public money is spent in seven different countries.
In recent years, many development actors have placed a focus on the transparency of public budgets and the inclusivity of financial decision-making across the world. It is hoped that acting on these issues creates opportunities for greater civic participation in governance and public spending and lays the ground for more accountable and responsive government. However there is increasing evidence that transparency alone is not enough to generate citizen action, and that state-led participatory budgeting can too easily be co-opted or restricted to a small range of local decisions or discretionary resources.
In recent years, many development actors have placed a focus on the transparency of public budgets and the inclusivity of financial decision-making across the world. It is hoped that acting on these issues creates opportunities for greater civic participation in governance and public spending and lays the ground for more accountable and responsive government. However there is increasing evidence that transparency alone is not enough to generate citizen action, and that state-led participatory budgeting can too easily be co-opted or restricted to a small range of local decisions or discretionary resources. Supporting grassroots campaigns as an international donor is also complex, with the potential for unexpected results that justify close attention to progress and lessons learnt.
The International Budget Partnership has been at the forefront of learning in the field of fiscal transparency, and in mobilising organised civic groups and communities to scrutinise government budgeting and spending for several years. This contribution to learning continued through a programme that started in 2019 – SPARK. SPARK explored how citizens who are already mobilised around real-life service delivery issues can be supported to link those problems with the aspects of fiscal governance and power dynamics that drive them. It assumed that tackling ongoing causes of exclusion and marginalisation centrally involves the collective agency of marginalised groups themselves. However, to complement this collective action, SPARK also aimed to support building of broader coalitions, navigating complex sets of accountability relationships, and challenging norms and narratives that deprioritise service delivery to the poor and socially excluded.
SPARK initially worked in seven countries to test out this approach: Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Senegal and South Africa. IDS designed the Learning with SPARK programme to maximise the learning from the programme. The programme was centred on action research relationships between lead researchers in each country and SPARK country teams and partners in grassroots groups and campaigns. Country action research leads provided analysis and insights to inform programme strategies. They worked alongside IBP staff and partner organisations as these strategies are delivered to support reflection on what actions contributed to what changes, and what was being learnt through the practice about the barriers to citizen involvement in fiscal governance.
A small international team supported these country researchers and the international IBP team to bring together the learning from across the different countries, as well as providing inputs and updates from the wider field of study to stimulate and inform country-level actions. This included thorough review of programme evidence to support re-strategising and re-prioritisation, and playing a ‘critical friend’ role in how the programme conceptualised pathways to positive change for those marginalised and excluded through public finance actions. Whilst much of the material of Learning with SPARK was directed internally at those taking action, it also lead to published insights such as a recent paper on how advocates can distinguish whether accountability-claiming efforts are gaining traction.
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