Free State Civic Information Drive: enhancing public participation in the budget process!
National Treasury in partnership with civil society coalition IMALI YETHU , are developing a budget portal
called vulekamali.gov.za . This is in line with National Treasury’s continued commitment to transparency
and increased public participation in the budget process.
From 25 to 27 July 2019, National Treasury, IMALI YETHU and Free State Provincial Treasury, will be
hosting Civic Information Drives (CIDs) in the Free State. The aim of these events is to raise awareness
about vulekamali.gov.za , encourage participants to engage with the South African national and
provincial departments budgets, and create budget data-driven solutions to some of the problems
experienced by local communities.
The CIDs are divided into two events:
1. CSO Budget Literacy training, 25 & 26 July 2019 – Leslie Monnanyane Hall, Rocklands –
Bloemfontein Government budgets can be intimidating to try and understand as they are often presented in
complicated and inaccessible formats. For this reason, Vulekamali was created; to make National and
Provincial government budgets accessible to everyone in South Africa. Currently – this includes a
combination of interactive visualisations, simple graphs, summarised budget documents and
educational videos. At every stage of open budget portal’s development, there are opportunities for
users (that’s you) to provide input on the design, layout and functionality of www.vulekamali.gov.za . We
invite all Community organisations, Free State Provincial & Local Government officials, SMMEs and
university students who are eager to learn more about government budgets to attend and to
contribute to the development of this portal. The 2-day training focuses on introducing participants to
the budget process within government, interacting with www.vulekamali.gov.za , but importantly, being
able to interact with National & Provincial government officials.
2. Better Budget DataQuest, 27 July 2019- Kagisanong Community Hall, Rocklands, Bloemfontein.
Come and create with us at the next #BetterBudget DataQuest, in Bloemfontein, on the 27th of July.
Our DataQuests are an opportunity to collaborate with other creatives and those who are interested in
public-spending, advocacy work, solution development, data journalism and analysis, as well as to do
something that could contribute to your community’s upliftment and long-term well-being. Within 8
hours (09:00 – 17:00), you and your team must create a proposal in the form of a presentation outlining
a problem you are trying to solve. Explore it, Visualise it, Explain it!
The goal of the DataQuest is to bring together this diverse audience to explore solutions to information
and advocacy needs. Participants are encouraged to reflect on the National and Provincial government
budget information available on the #vulekamali portal. Anyone is welcome, no matter your skills,
interests or background, and we urge you to come with lots of exciting ideas and initiatives! We will
have onsite support available from National Treasury, Imali Yethu, Free State Treasury, Geekulcha and
Openup to guide you through taking your idea to a presentable project!
Free State Civic Information Drives _ Press Release (1)
Go to https://create.vulekamali.gov.za/ to register for these events.
Please contact Andisile Best, Andisile.Best@treasury.gov.za or Zukiswa Kota, z.kota@ru.ac.za should
you require more detailed information about the above events.
www.Free State Civic Information Drives _ Press Release (1)