Budgets as if people mattered: democratizing macroeconomic policies

The concept of 'budgets as if people mattered' is inspired by a large number of initiatives that have emerged around the world during the last fifteen years to examine public budgets through a poverty or gender lens. As many of these initiatives are participatory, they are also useful in demonstrating the potential for democratizing decision-making processes and transforming economic frameworks and policies into instruments of people-centred development.

The paper begins by laying out a contextual framework and briefly reviewing progress to date on the commitments made in Copenhagen and Beijing. It then looks at the implications of globalization processes and the East Asian Crisis for rethinking macroeconomic policies. A general discussion of people-centred budgets is followed by a description and analysis of a variety of pro-poor and gender-sensitive budget initiatives.

The paper also addresses the international dimensions of people-centred budgeting.

It concludes with a discussion of lessons learned and suggestions for next steps [author]