The BudgIT Foundation, Africa’s leading civic-tech organisation and public finance think-tank, is marking its 15th anniversary, celebrating fifteen years of simplifying public budgets, tracking government spending, and empowering citizens across Africa and beyond to demand transparency and accountability.
Since its founding, BudgIT has evolved from a small Nigerian initiative headquartered in Lagos into a continental civic-tech leader, now operating in five West African countries: Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Senegal, and Ghana, and with a U.S. office in Washington, D.C., coordinating international work. With support from more than 18 donors over the years, the organisation has developed widely used civic technology tools, including Tracka, GovSpend, Live Results, Me.Budgit.org, Open States, Kwerty, PHC Tracka, State of States, and the Federal Government Budget Dashboard.
Across its focus countries, BudgIT has simplified public budgets and made public finance information more accessible to citizens, reaching more than 22 million people, particularly young people and local communities. Its strong digital presence has also helped build one of the largest social media communities among Nigerian non-profits, with more than 300,000 followers and over 20 million annual impressions on governance-related content.
BudgIT has also played a key role in strengthening Nigeria’s open-government network, supporting a coalition of 150 local non-profits working to advance the Open Government Partnership in Nigeria and maintaining dialogue with the government on budgets, procurement, and audits. Through Civic Hive, its innovation unit, BudgIT has incubated 12 civic startups, including the Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative (PLSI), PROMAD Nigeria, and Citizen’s Gavel, the latter of which has expanded access to justice for over 12,000 underserved people. Its advocacy has contributed to public finance reforms, including the removal of 270 padded budget projects worth N175 billion.
Beyond its direct programs, BudgIT has empowered civic organisations across Africa, disbursing over $3 million in subgrants on behalf of USAID, the Skoll Foundation, and the Hilton Foundation.
Subnational Reform and Accountability
BudgIT has significantly advanced subnational fiscal transparency and accountability in Nigeria. It has published ten editions of the State of States Fiscal Report, the country’s foremost assessment of state fiscal viability, offering valuable insights to development partners, credit rating agencies, policymakers and citizens. With World Bank support, BudgIT increased the number of states publishing their budgets from three in 2014 to all 36, creating Nigeria’s largest archive of subnational fiscal data. To further promote transparency and competition, BudgIT launched the States Fiscal Transparency League Table (SFTL), which encourages state governments to improve disclosure. It also initiated X-Spaces public dialogues with stakeholders in all 36 states, providing platforms to share critical fiscal and development insights and strengthen public engagement in subnational governance.
Service Delivery for Underserved Communities
BudgIT has played a key role in improving service delivery and increasing citizen participation in underserved communities in Nigeria. Through community monitoring, BudgIT tracked over 19,644 projects valued at N8.5 trillion ($5.8 billion) in 7,589 communities and organised more than 7,612 town hall meetings nationwide. These initiatives led to the completion of over 11,800 projects worth N3.5 trillion ($2.3 billion) in health, education, and infrastructure, benefiting more than 11.5 million Nigerians.
In addition to project monitoring, BudgIT has provided accessible budget information to over 22 million Nigerians, both online and offline, empowering citizens to engage more actively in governance. In July 2023, BudgIT launched the PHC Accountability Tracker (PAT) portal, which collected feedback from 20,677 citizens, including 15,467 patients and 5,210 concerned individuals, across 75 health facilities in five states. This feedback resulted in 232 community engagements and 132 impact actions, leading to improvements in service delivery at 75 primary healthcare centres serving about 11,500 citizens. As a result, institutions resolved 132 reported issues and 170 critical issues.
BudgIT has further enhanced community participation in healthcare through ActivBudgIT by activating Ward Development Committees in 72 of 75 targeted primary healthcare centres and supporting 20 Community-Based Organisations, including 12 led or owned by women. To encourage engagement and acknowledge contributions to healthcare delivery, BudgIT recognised 80 health workers and 20 community members with behavioural rewards and awards at a ceremony in the five implementing states.
Fighting Corruption, Optimising Public Resources
BudgIT continues to combat corruption, promote fiscal accountability, and optimise the use of public resources across Africa. During the COVID-19 pandemic, BudgIT led a Pan-African resource-tracking project that aggregated over $12 billion in aid and monitored corruption-related cases in Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Kenya, and Senegal. To enhance public scrutiny of government spending, BudgIT developed GovSpend, a platform that aggregates government expenditure data. GovSpend has supported over 60 media reports highlighting more than N250 billion in potentially wasteful spending. BudgIT also established the Media Fellowship to build journalists’ capacity to investigate and report on fiscal accountability and partnered with Nigeria’s anti-corruption agencies, the ICPC and EFCC, on a N220 billion petition that led to the recovery of ambulances and other public property.
Through the OpenNASS campaign in 2017, BudgIT successfully advocated for greater transparency in Nigeria’s legislative finances, making the National Assembly’s budget publicly accessible after more than seven years of limited disclosure. BudgIT has complemented its accountability initiatives by investing in active citizenship and civic leadership. In 2016, it established 4,521 Community Champions to lead project monitoring and evaluation in their communities. In 2024, the Student Union Leaders Fellowship graduated 32 fellows from southeastern and southwestern Nigeria in its first cohort. Also in 2024, the Creative ChangeMakers Fellowship trained 18 emerging creatives to promote civic participation through social media. BudgIT also hosted four editions of the Active Citizens Awards and Festival, recognising 24 individuals and initiatives contributing to civic-driven governance. [1]
Strengthening Fiscal Governance and Institutions
BudgIT has contributed to strengthening fiscal governance and institutional reform in Nigeria through policy engagement, technical support, and civic-tech interventions. The organisation provided pro bono consulting to the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee in 2024 to support the rewriting of Nigeria’s tax code and also supported government analysis of the Cost of Governance, contributing to the development of a framework for institutional reform. We have led civic-tech engagement with the Ministry of Communication, Innovation and Digital Economy, including support for 45 civil society and media organisations to strengthen their capacity in governance, data analysis, and policy engagement. In the extractive sector, BudgIT has visualised ten years of NEITI reports to make information on abuse and corruption more accessible and has held four annual engagements with NNPC to address transparency and accountability concerns.
Expanding Impact Across Africa and Beyond
BudgIT has expanded its impact in Africa by promoting fiscal transparency, citizen engagement, and accountability. The Pan-African COVID-19 Resource Accountability Project tracked resource use in nine countries and, in partnership with the Open Government Partnership, produced health-sector accountability and vaccine equity reports for Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. In Ghana, BudgIT conducted four simplified budget analyses, reaching over 1.5 million citizens both online and offline. It hosted radio discussions on STAR FM for more than 300,000 listeners, produced explanatory videos for over 500,000 viewers, launched Youth Clubs at three universities, and trained 30 civil society organisations.
In Sierra Leone, BudgIT completed four simplified budget analyses, engaging about 800,000 citizens. Radio discussions on Epic Radio reached over 120,000 people, and 12 community meetings in Freetown, Bo, and Kabala brought together 1,500 citizens. The organisation also launched Youth Clubs at two universities and partnered with the Ministry of Justice and the Anti-Corruption Commission. In Liberia, BudgIT conducted four simplified budget analyses, reaching 850,000 citizens, and organised 15 community meetings with over 900 participants across six counties. It trained 60 CSOs, developed a website for the Legislative Budget Office, and joined the Fiscal Transparency Advisory Group. In Senegal, BudgIT produced three simplified budget analyses in English and French, reaching 700,000 citizens. It launched Youth Clubs at three universities, hosted radio discussions for over 100,000 people, produced videos in French and Wolof for more than 500,000 viewers, and trained 30 CSOs.
Beyond Africa, BudgIT has extended its fiscal education work to the United States by delivering two simplified budgets for the City of Chicago, developing a Fiscal Education Module for the State of Maryland, and supporting Nigeria’s participation in the International Anti-Corruption Conference and the World Bank Anti-Corruption Forum in Washington, D.C.
Fifteen years ago, BudgIT set out to make Africa’s public budgets accessible to everyday citizens. Today, this mission has become a movement spanning five countries, reaching tens of millions of people and recovering billions of naira for public use. As we mark this milestone for the next month, we celebrate our progress, reaffirm our commitment to building more transparent, accountable governments across Africa, and restate that the power of citizen action is the critical force for change.
During the anniversary month, BudgIT will host reflections, community engagements, and public conversations, culminating in celebrations on 13 September 2026, its 15th anniversary.
Signed by,
Vahyala Kwaga
Country Director, BudgIT Nigeria
Is it possible to to note the years that these initiatives were carried out?