The Collaborative Africa Budget Reform Initiative (CABRI) is a membership-based international organisation based in South Africa.
Since our inception, we have been investigating what works, what doesn’t and under what circumstances from the perspective of the practitioner in the field of public financial management (PFM). To this day, we continue to deepen our understanding of why specific contexts matter, how one size does not fit all, and how reforms should aim to increase the functionality of PFM systems.
There is a growing movement within the PFM field – supported by a substantial body of literature – towards making investments in PFM really count. We are at the coalface of this movement. Our interventions, which are guided and informed by our member states and approximately 40 other participating countries, inform policy decisions and programme implementation continent-wide. In our view, it is the practitioners on the ground – the senior officials actually responsible for PFM in their countries – who are best placed to identify context-related challenges, and to develop and implement functional approaches to address them.
We approach PFM reform with pragmatism and acknowledge that complex challenges call for practical solutions. This approach guides our motto to “Connect. Share. Reform” and drives us to work closely and in consultation with our member countries. Our work is centered on Praxis - what works, when it works, how it works. We are not a PFM academic or think tank institution, nor is it a regional or international body seeking to put out guidelines of best practice for compliance. Our uniqueness : our direct access to African country finance ministries and their PFM experts, by virtue of the fact that they constitute our membership.
We strongly believe that unique local context matters and is a catalyst for change within countries. This motivates us further to build and strengthen local capabilities and agencies, and sustainable changes in our member countries through partnerships and collaborations.
Our Vision is clear. We envision an African continent where public financial resources are mobilised and managed with transparency and accountability to drive efficient and effective service delivery, sustainable economic growth and development.
We stand firm by our Mission : to empower African governments in the design and implementation of effective PFM systems, policies, and practices through collaborative peer-learning, locally-driven solutions, and dynamic networks of senior budget practitioners; realising good governance and integrity in PFM.