Introduction
In a world where democracy is under strain and inequality is on the rise, how governments raise and spend public resources is more than a technical matter – it is a political act. One with real consequences for inclusion, equity and public trust.
To help advance accountability and equity in fiscal policymaking, a new action research project – Strengthening Fiscal Ecosystems for Accountability and Equity – has launched. Led by the Trust, Accountability, and Inclusion (TAI) Collaborative in partnership with researchers in Brazil, Indonesia, and South Africa, the initiative is supported by the Gates Foundation, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, and the Ford Foundation.
The project aspires to build a global coalition of governments, oversight institutions, civil society, donors, and international institutions committed to testing systemic, collaborative fiscal governance models that promote accountability and equity.
The Context
Demands for fair and accountable fiscal policies are surging. In a dramatic standoff to curb executive overreach and reassert parliamentary power, in late 2024 the South Korean parliament slashed the president’s budget proposal, sparking a national crisis and his eventual ousting. South Africa’s 2025 budget faced an unprecedented delay as opposition parties resisted proposed hikes to regressive Value Added Taxes. In Indonesia, the “Dark Indonesia” campaign mobilized against $19 billion in budget cuts for education and social protection. Meanwhile, Brazil’s 2022 outcry over “secret budget” allocations to members of Congress resulted in Supreme Court action.
These examples illustrate the difficult fiscal choices that governments face, and their failure to prioritize transparency, accountability, and equity. In response, different stakeholders are testing new strategies to influence these decisions. But they still struggle to be heard, as powerful elites maintain oversize influence on governments’ fiscal decisions.
This raises a pressing question at a moment of crisis: What strategies can actors inside and outside government use to strengthen fiscal systems and shift decision making in favour of greater accountability and equity?
Defending democracy and equity
Two powerful trends are converging. Democratic regression is squeezing civic space, weakening legislatures, undermining Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI), and centralizing power in a select group of actors at the center of government.
Simultaneously, public finances are under immense strain – squeezed between declining tax revenues and aid flows, and burgeoning debt repayments and expenditure needs. As a result, governments face tough fiscal choices.
It is possible for governments to tackle both democracy and equity at the same time by aligning budgetary choices with collective needs. But this will require broad, powerful coalitions of state and non-state actors to bolster government political commitment to manage trade-offs in the broader public interest.
Progress or gridlock?
Historically, budgeting has been dominated by increasingly centralized and powerful finance ministries operating behind closed doors and deals struck in corridors, with limited public input and discussion.
The world has now changed. Today, fiscal transparency is more widely valued and practiced. Civil society groups and the media are more engaged on budget matters. SAIs are asserting themselves. Legislatures too are showing signs of critical engagement, as noted above.
Despite these gains, systemic shifts in fiscal accountability and equity remain elusive. The disclosure of budget information still falls short in critical regions and sectors, and formal opportunities for civil society engagement are minimal. SAIs struggle with inadequate resources and compromised independence, while legislative scrutiny is undermined by political incentives and technical constraints. Meanwhile, vested interests retain disproportionate power.
In short, fiscal accountability mechanisms seem stuck. Inequality is entrenched, oversight is inconsistent, and meaningful inclusive governance remains out of reach.
This is partly because reforms often ignore a critical factor: power. Transparency and capacity building alone are insufficient to shift unequal systems. No treasury or corporation is eager to give up power voluntarily and no single oversight institution or reformer in government is strong enough to shift the balance alone.
But what happens when accountability actors join forces?
Towards an ecosystem approach
Experience shows that improving accountability and promoting equity in fiscal policy often depends on networks of state and non-state institutions and stakeholders - ministries, legislatures, SAIs, civil society, faith and social movements, media, courts, universities and often international institutions. These networks operate as a dynamic, interconnected ecosystem based on relationships and incentives. As such, fiscal decisions reflect the balance of power amongst actors within and outside of government. Shifting budget outcomes, therefore, requires leveraging this ecosystem of actors in the budget process.
An ecosystem approach to fiscal governance stems from three core propositions:
Proposition 1: Inclusive budget processes strengthen accountability and equity.
An ecosystem lens recognizes the growing diversity of state and non-state actors involved in public finance. It seeks to understand the role that each of them can play in promoting accountability and equity and posits that the more inclusive a budget process is designed to be, the more likely it will be that fiscal decisions will be formulated and implemented in the public interest.
Proposition 2: An ecosystem approach focuses on relationships, not just actors. The heart of an ecosystem approach lies in understanding the formal and informal relationships between different actors, their interdependence, and the political dynamics that drive them. While budget processes remain contested spaces, an ecosystems perspective encourages strategic collaboration to advance shared policy goals.
Proposition 3: Context-specific combinations of institutions and incentives shape accountability. An ecosystem perspective does not constitute a formulaic approach with a set of principles and rules to be applied across countries. Instead, it attempts to offer a flexible framework for identifying entry points for reform, building alliances, aligning strategies, and challenging entrenched power in ways that can reflect each country’s unique political and institutional realities.
It is very early days, but there are already several cases showing that these propositions are already being tested in practice. Traditionally insular SAIs are increasingly working with the public to select audit sites, with CSOs to track COVID spending, and with the media to amplify audit findings, while using the judicial process as necessary to safeguard their independence. Similarly, broad partnerships between community organizations and expert NGOs are working with local governments, auditors and the media to unblock service delivery for millions of informal dwellers, fisher people, women farmers and other undeserved communities.
Finance ministries too are testing broader partnerships. In India, the MoF, line departments, auditors and communities collaborate to monitor the massive National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, including through social auditing. In several countries, governments are opening spaces for citizens to co-create public information portals.
More broadly, spaces for citizen participation in budgets may be starting to expand, including in The Gambia, Dominican Republic, Kenya, Montenegro, and New Zealand. Meanwhile, professional associations like the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) and the International Consortium of Governmental Financial Management (ICGFM) are working across countries to support these innovations.
These examples may reflect an emerging ecosystem approach with fiscal planning, oversight, and delivery conceived as a collective responsibility. Such a shift is congruent with the growing complexity of public finance systems and harnesses the expanding set of actors involved in fiscal decision-making. It recognizes that accountability depends not just on strong institutions, but on the relationships that connect them and on the strategies that can shift the balance of power between them.
Looking ahead, applying such an ecosystem approach might suggests three shifts:
A focus on systems reforms, not institutional silos. Rather than focussing solely on improving individual institutions in isolation, there may be value in strengthening the relationships and accountability mechanisms that connect them.
Applying deep political economy analysis. Gaining insight into how institutions interact, where power resides, and what incentives drive behaviour, might provide a clearer picture of the path to systemic reform.
Reframing the objectives of public finance. Expanding the goals of public finance to include equity, inclusion, and sustainability – alongside fiscal discipline and efficiency – may open new possibilities for more inclusive processes and outcomes.
Testing the ecosystem proposition
The Strengthening Fiscal Ecosystems for Accountability and Equity project is intended to assist finance ministries, oversight institutions, civic actors, and international institutions to test new collaborative strategies to strengthen fiscal accountability and equity. The project has two core objectives:
Research: Expand evidence and understanding of how fiscal ecosystems work in practice, and how they could better promote accountability and equity.
The project is undertaking new research to map fiscal ecosystems in Brazil, Indonesia, and South Africa. Each country research team will use a political economy lens to answer the following questions:
How have fiscal ecosystems, institutions, and practices evolved?
How does the fiscal ecosystem function in theory and in practice?
What reform strategies have been tried and what are the results?
What are the “green shoots” that point to promising change?
Dialogue: Convene key actors to foster and test collaborative strategies for more inclusive and accountable budgeting.
In September 2025, a global convening will bring together a high-level multi-stakeholder group – from executives, parliaments, SAIs, civil society, media, and international organizations and donors – to explore how to apply an ecosystem approach in practice.
Co-convened in collaboration with Reos partners – global experts in systems change – the dialogue will aim to:
Develop a shared vision of collaborative fiscal accountability.
Identify concrete strategies tailored to national contexts.
Build an international community of practice and institutional commitment to test and refine the approach.
This convening will mark the start of a global learning coalition committed to innovation, grounded in data and focused on impact.
Why it matters for all of us
This project is about renewing democracy. Because how a government raises and spends money reflects its true priorities. It determines who gets schools and clinics, who bears the tax burden, and who gets left behind.
Over the coming months, we’ll share insights, stories and tools. Join us in rethinking fiscal governance as a collective, transformative effort aimed at strengthening accountability and promoting equity.
This is more than research. It is a call to action.