With the People’s Budget Coalition and the National Democratic Institute (NDI), we launched the Young Budget Leaders Program (YBLP) with our common dream for the budget advocacy — to have a next generation of leaders in civil society trained and empowered to engage the public democratic processes for the budgets that their communities deserve.

One of the main objectives of YBLP was to create a blueprint of the budget process based on real sectoral experiences that advocacy movements can use for deeper democratic participation in the future. Together with the 9 YBLP fellows, we co-designed a guidebook called Budget Natin: A Guidebook for Engaging The Philippine Budget Cycle which documents the learnings from the budget advocacy training and from our organizers who shared their own personal experiences fighting for their sectors' own budget.

At its core, the guidebook uses simplified language to explain how public budgeting works in both local and national government. We hope the learnings in this guidebook are useful to new budget advocates wanting to learn about the advocacy but are hesitant due to high-level jargons on publicly available documents.

what’s inside:

  1. Modules conducted by and with budget advocates through the Young Budget Leaders Program:

    • Why should I engage in the public budget?

    • How does the budget work at my local government?

    • How might I engage the national budget?

    • How can I understand the numbers in the budget?

    • How might I use my research to advocate for the budget?

    • How can I continue my budget work with other people?

  2. Policy papers and case studies from:

    • Institute for Leadership and Democracy (iLEAD)

    • Move As One Coalition

    • People’s Budget Coalition

    • WeSolve Foundation

 
 
“sobrang laki rin ng halaga na natutunan ko ang proseso ng budget cycle ng pilipinas dahil mas naintindihan ko kung papaano maisusulong ang pondo na desurv ng sector namin.”
— Suwaidi A. Ebrahim, YBLP 1 Fellow
Translation: "Learning our budget cycle was also very important because I understood better how we could fight for the funding that our sectors deserve."
 
 

This publication was funded by the National Democratic Institute. The National Democratic Institute (NDI) is a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization working to support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide through citizen participation, openness and accountability in government. NDI and its local partners work to promote openness and accountability in government by building political and civic organizations, safeguarding elections, and promoting citizen participation. The Institute brings together individuals and groups to share ideas, knowledge, experiences and expertise that can be adapted to the needs of individual countries. Learn more about NDI here.

For other inquiries regarding Budget Natin: A Guidebook for Engaging the Philippine Budget Cycle, you may get in touch with Reycel Hyacenth Nacario Bendaña through hya@wesolve.ph or Riz Supreme Balgos Comia through riz@wesolve.ph