Communities in south of Sri Lanka were initially not motivated enough about the value of budget monitoring; looking at budgeting as a distant and remote process. As a part of this ELBA process, in 2007,  Siyath Foundation and Centre for Family Services worked with communities in 10 villages in the Southern district of Galle and in 5 villages in the Kurunegala district of Wayamba province. The community was made available with an opportunity to discuss their local development in terms of finances and priorities. The Economic Literacy and Budget Accountability Group (ELBAG) worked with the community to assist them to appreciate how local village level projects to national development, planning, financing and implementation impacts on their very lives. Training manuals, with responses, regular meetings and inputs from the villagers were developed. Issues such as governance, local and national budgets, economy, globalization, community participation, access to information, state development approaches, etc. were brought to focus during training and these manual building discussion sessions.

The first step in this ELBAG process was thus working with communities to strengething their knowledge and building capacity in budgeting and economic literacy, and then the process was carried forward.  10 villages started to discuss their local development plans and how local public finances might affect these plans. An interactive exhibition led the community to discuss proposed development work in their locality with local government officials in attendance. The discussion led to the formation of a village committee that undertook further planning of their local work. ELBAG has been able to nourish democracy and participation in the community. In villages where ELBAG was carried through by the partner organisations, there is an apparent assertion of community participation in local governance and widening of such spaces by the villagers.

Source: Action Aid Sri Lanka Annual Report 2006