Budgeting for the Military Sector in Africa

Project rationale:

The overall objective of this project was two-fold:

• to examine the defence planning and budgeting process for decisions and institutionalized mechanisms for controlling, monitoring and auditing military expenditure in a number of African countries;

• to build capacity among both the local participants in this process and to increase the capability of local researchers to undertake studies on defence management issues.

The research element of the project was based on the view that it is more important to know whether the process of military budgeting is in conformity with best practices than to know whether the level of military expenditure is conforming to a specific limit such as its share of GDP. The overarching principle of the project was that the military sector should not be treated differently from any other part of the public sector as regards its conformity with best practices.

The capacity building element of the project was based on the view that a fundamental way to ensure implementation and sustainability of sound military budgeting principles and practices is to ensure local ownership of the reform process so that it is not seen by the reforming state as an outside imposition and to improve conditions for debates on these issues in the local research community and media. 

Content:

The project examined the decision-making process for defence budgeting in eight African countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and South Africa. The research was coordinated and conducted as case studies by researchers in the region. It examined both the de jure and de facto process, assessing whether best practices were adhered to in the defence planning, programming and budgeting process and developed a number of recommendations as to how these processes could be improved.

The projected culminated in a dissemination process in the form of two major seminars, one in Addis Ababa, organized in cooperation with the African Union, and one in Abuja, in cooperation with ECOWAS, to present the findings of the project to a target audience of civil servants in defence and finance ministries and auditing agencies, parliamentarians, and representatives from NGOs and the media in the studied countries.

Project outcome:

• A better knowledge of the budgeting processes for determining military expenditures in African states;

• Increased capacity relating to military expenditure management and oversight among civil servants in defence and finance ministries and auditing agencies, parliamentarians, and NGO representatives;
• Increased capability of local researchers to undertake studies in this area;
• Establishment of a network of African researchers on defence issues.
• A book in the form of an anthology, produced jointly by ASDR and SIPRI, presenting the analytical framework of the study, the case studies, conclusions and recommendations: Omitoogun, W. and Hutchful, E. (eds), Budgeting for the Military Sector in Africa: The Processes and Mechanisms of Control. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2006.

The book is presented here >>

Project duration:

The project was conducted during the period June 2001-May 2006.

Partners:

The project was conducted jointly between SIPRI and Africa Security Dialogue and Research (ASDR) based in Accra, Ghana.

Sponsors:

The project was sponsored by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), Sweden.