Group Launches COVID-19 Transparency, Accountability Initiative for Tracking Public Funds

A non governmental organisations, BudgIT Foundation and Connected Development, CODE, championing the advocacy for openness, transparency and
accountability in public finance in Africa, have launched the COVID-19 Transparency and Accountability Project, CTAP, an initiative that seeks to promote accountability and transparency through the tracking of COVID-19 intervention funds across 7 African countries.

In a press statement signed by Iyanu Fatoba, Communications Associate, BudgIT and Kevwe Oghide, Director of Communication pledging to stay alert over use this public funds have been deployed.

They said these organizations will be leveraging their Tracka and Follow The Money platforms, as well as international chapters in other six focus African countries to activate a Pan-African tracking system for all COVID-19 funds
received and donated to these countries.

The Director of BudgIT Oluseun Onigbinde making the assertion stated that the group will continue to track funds meant to fight the covid-19 challenge instead of allowing it to disappear into private pockets.

His words: ” Retrospectively, our experience with tracking COVID19 funds has shown a deeply rooted systemic
profiteering culture, especially in an environment that lacks accountability and civic engagement.”

“We also observed that there is an
increasing mistrust from citizens on the delivery of palliative care in Nigeria, Kenya and Liberia due to
representatives who abuse the process and the absence of comprehensive citizen data” he added.

CODE’s Founder and Chief Executive, Hamzat Lawal, in his remarks noted that “as nations of the world tackle the
plague of coronavirus, with funding for African countries amassing in millions of dollars, it has become
expedient to block financial leakages and ensure funds do not end up in personal pockets.”

“With CTAP, BudgIT and CODE will advocate for accountability, transparency, and open governance
while strengthening civic awareness and ensuring that targeted governments use COVID-19
intervention funds effectively.

” The project will address the threat of lack of accountability and the effects of COVID-19 on socio-economic development”.

The group said the response to pandemics should prioritize the participation of citizens, including needs
assessments and provision of palliatives, procurement and delivery of items, thus, the primary aim of this project will be to drive citizens’ engagement as well as innovative capabilities of tech tools to
develop an interactive portal on data relevant to COVID-19, and use these data to enable collaboration between citizen fact-checking programs and public institutions.

It said further that beyond the engagement sessions with focus on non-profits and frontline leaders, the project will visualize and disseminate the contribution of stakeholders to the COVID-19 Relief Fund and other
related programs.

” More importantly, requests of citizens in vulnerable areas will be itemized while
both organizations’ sms-to-web platform will be leveraged to deliver relevant data to the government
and other stakeholders based on citizens’ requests. The project will also curate stories of COVID-19
case management, palliative measures and its impact on the citizens”.

” BudgIT and CODE are committed to working with relevant partners to understand the current
transparency and accountability frameworks in focus countries; and devise strategies that combine
citizen tracking and advocacy for reforms.

” Both organizations will promote collaboration and learning
among local partners so they can be more effective and share lessons about accessing data, mobilizing citizens, and engaging governments”, it said.

” Our plan is to strengthen existing tools and build new ones where necessary. These tools must match citizens’ needs in the current emergency response and use this platform as a means to drive accountability on the importance of optimising public resources in an emergency situation”, it noted.

This project will be supported by the Global Integrity who will design a learning framework that allows for
rapid scale while initial funding is provided by Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and Skoll Foundation.