The Vaka Pasifika project is entering its final phase, with a primary focus on enhancing civil society participation in Fiji’s budget process through collaborative efforts among multiple stakeholders. Sponsored by the European Union and executed in partnership with the UNDP Pacific Office and the Pacific Island Association for NGOs (PIANGO), this initiative is designed to promote accountability and transparency within Fiji’s financial governance.
Local organizations, such as the Fiji Council of Social Services (FCOSS), play a vital role in facilitating civil society’s engagement in budget oversight, collaborating closely with Parliament, the Ministry of Finance, and Central Planning authorities. This extensive collaboration aims to empower institutions that ensure accountability in budgetary matters.
Initiated in 2019, the project is now in its second phase, working toward the finalization and enhancement of the roles that civil society plays in budgeting processes. Emeline Siale Ilolahia, Executive Director of PIANGO, highlighted that the purpose of this policy dialogue is to unite diverse stakeholders to cultivate a shared understanding of Fiji’s budget and national priorities. She stressed the importance of collective engagement over isolated institutional efforts.
The focus is on articulating both current and future roles in budget oversight, with the project serving as a platform for experience sharing and joint planning. Participants recognize that establishing budget priorities necessitates input from various organizations and institutions.
The dialogue, structured over two days, is designed to foster comprehension, share successes, and plan for future engagement concerning Fiji’s budget and its policy implications. A flexible agenda allows for participant-led discussions and knowledge sharing, with an emphasis on adjusting the agenda based on feedback and emerging priorities.
An essential insight emerging from the project is the need for budget allocations to accurately reflect policy commitments to ensure effective implementation. Siale pointed out a significant gap between policy declarations and budget allocations, stressing that civil society often highlights essential policy priorities without seeing corresponding budget resources. This highlights the critical need to track how national plans translate into concrete budget commitments.
The linkage between policy and budget is underscored as crucial for ensuring that policies lead to tangible actions, prompting a focus on aligning advocacy efforts with budget processes to enhance their impact. The sharing of success stories has been emphasized as a way to inform and refine future efforts, encouraging participants to leverage past experiences in shaping their strategies for better resource alignment.
The dialogue scheduled for February 16-17 aspires to create a more structured and timely engagement platform for civil society in budget processes, enabling their contributions to budget oversight to be more impactful. With a vision of a future where civil society and government collaborate more effectively on budget issues, the Vaka Pasifika project (2022-2026) builds upon the achievements of the previous “Strengthening Public Finance Management and Governance in the Pacific” (PFM) project, which ran from 2018 to 2022. This collaborative effort seeks to foster a transparent, accountable, and proactive approach to budgeting that benefits all stakeholders involved.
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