The Network for Integrity in Reconstruction encouraged South Sudan’s civil society organizations to be vigilant and promote open contracting and procurement in the country.
Programme Director Claire Schouten told CRN on Tuesday that supporting the auditing process with social audit did not only mean tracking finances, but ensuring that development projects met the needs of the people.She explained that development projects could only be known when the people expressed their needs and voiced their concerns as part of a collaborative process where they could share their needs and expectations.
Ms Schouten called on the civil society organizations to work together to access to budget information, understand it, and contribute to public resource management.
She added that management has to include local associations so that they manage budgets at local level and to track how medicines are delivered at a health centre.
Ms Schouten said everyone must have a role to play in tracking how resources are spent at all the localities of South Sudan.
Ms Schouten was speaking at the sideline of an economic planning and budgeting workshop in Juba.