In Kazakhstan, the Foundation implements the Open Budget Kazakhstan program to involve citizens in the process of drafting, managing and monitoring local government budgets. The Foundation and its grantees under this initiative have successfully lobbied the Kazakh government to issue a decree that all state budget information should be made accessible to citizens though publications and websites. In addition, public hearings prior to budget development were instituted in four regions of Kazakhstan. This increased transparency has already yielded results. Last year, a grantee, in the course of analyzing expenditures by local government in the area of environmental protection, noted that 2 million tenge (about $20,000) had not been spent as planned, and the funds were now reportedly unavailable. The grantee organization investigated these funds and wrote up a report, which was later discussed at a public hearing and submitted to the prosecutor’s office.

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