BudgIT Sierra Leone is a civic organization that applies technology to intersect citizen engagement with institutional improvement to facilitate societal change. A pioneer in the field of social advocacy melded with technology, BudgIT uses an array of tech tools to simplify government budgets and public spending matters for citizens, with the primary aim of raising the standard of transparency and accountability in government. In doing this, we partner with civil society, public institutions, and the media, chiefly in fiscal analysis, civic technology, and data representation.

The BudgIT Youth Club or Youth Participatory Forum was borne out of the desire to harness young people’s voices to demand inclusion in the national budget-making process. Through our budget access initiative, we aim to engage citizens, especially youths and women, on the provisions of the National Budget. This initiative aims to empower young people in Sierra Leone to demand efficient service delivery and public fund utilization and ensure that their community’s needs are considered during the budgeting process. BudgIT Sierra Leone will do this by helping them comprehend the fundamentals of public finance management.

The launch was quite engaging and the discussions very fruitful. Brima Sesay BudgIT Sierra Leone country Lead welcomed students and participants in the event. In his welcome address, he gave an overview of the establishment and operation of BudgIT Sierra Leone and briefly explained to students the purpose of the BudgIT Youth Club initiative. He mentioned that as an organization that is keen on ensuring transparency and accountability in public financial management, BudgIT is poised to enlist students to be part of the bandwagon advocating for institutional improvement to facilitate societal change that will enhance transformative development. He explained that BudgIT Operation encompasses the following thematic areas:

1. Budget Access- national budget simplification and dissemination
2. Natural Resource and Climate Governance
3. Institutional Support
4. Tracka
5. Health Accountability to Enhance Health System Strengthening

In his keynote address, Brima Sesay narrated that Youth empowerment is the process of involving the youth and the young population in the decision-making and development process of a country. BudgIT believes that youths have a voice and a power that a community should listen to as such, we at BudgIT want to create an avenue through which youths can recognize their power and enhance their voices. He emphasized that youth empowerment is characterized by efforts toward education, skills training, community development programs and support services. He also said that youth empowerment can be shown by enhancing and strengthening youths’ capabilities and their role in society. He explained that the youths have an innate power within them that is capable of making this world a much better place and BudgIT wants to help them through this process. He explains that BudgIT intends to do this by helping youths recognize their powers and strengthen them more thereby igniting the flame of their power towards the development of our society through engagement with policymakers and the public.

Brima Sesay informed students that BudgIT is very much concerned about issues of Development and always calls government attention to address Policy Failures. He mentioned to students that the problem of development in Sierra Leone is not the lack of good policies but the weak implementation of government policies which provide the incentive for public policy failures. He maintained that BudgIT will work with selected tertiary-level students who are passionate about promoting good governance, transparency, and accountability to ensure equal representation across academic backgrounds and encourage women’s participation.

In his discussion with students, Brima Sesay explained that the key objective of the Youth Participatory Forum (YPF), also known as the BudgIT Youth Club is to empower young Sierra Leoneans to become active and informed citizens through education, youth activism, anti-corruption campaigns and budget literacy to foster community development, capacity building and stakeholder engagement.

Daniel Conteh the Research Programs officer gave a brief analysis of the 2024 National Budget and the significance of citizens understanding their national Budget. In his presentation he stated that the total budget allocation for fiscal year 2024 is NLe23.5 billion, with projected revenue of NLe20.9 billion, resulting in an NLe2.6 billion deficit. He informed students that while the budget priorities appear excellent on paper, they lack specificity and clarity about how the government will achieve them which throws a spotlight on the government’s lack of budget openness. He asserted that to restore macroeconomic growth, strengthen Sierra Leone, and improve Sierra Leoneans’ lives, he mentioned that the government must first embrace transparency and accountability, and address underlying issues such as public sector inefficiency and corruption which may result in unsustainable costs before expanding its social safety net programs.

At the close of the session, an Interim Executive was elected to coordinate BudgIT Youth Club activities at Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone.

It was quite glaring that young people are ready to advocate for good governance and demand for transparency and accountability in Public Financial Management.