Follow The Money is now the largest citizen-led socio-digital accountability movement in Africa, driving grassroots participation in mainstream issues and nudging critical stakeholders to hold governments accountable. It is a network of journalists, data wranglers, development enthusiasts, community champions, information analysts, legal practitioners, and citizens across Africa who are passionate about open data and ensuring more transparent government processes.
iFollowTheMoney is an online community for thousands of passionate young people across Africa who are holding their government to accountable standards in order to ensure that the dividends of democracy are achieved and public funds work for the good of the people. You too can be a part of the solution in your community by joining our team of citizen evaluators, and community champions at ifollowthemoney.org
Follow The Money has been tracking government funds since its inception in 2013 when it accelerated timely intervention for over 1500 children dying of lead poisoning in Bagega, a far-to-reach community in Zamfara Northern Nigeria. Follow The Money used digital communications tools like Twitter and Facebook to mobilize Nigerian citizens and the international community to demand justice for the children. This public outcry accelerated the disbursement of the sum of $5.3 million USD by the Nigerian Government and International aid for the treatment of the children and the remediation of Bagega.
Our team has tracked a total of $13.5 million government projects in 371 grassroots communities and further saved the Nigerian Government the tune of N447 million from financial leakages. Since then, we realized that our collective voices have the potential to accelerate social change. Through our interventions, essential public projects, initially abandoned or which may not have been implemented are restarted and completed. Schools have been built or renovated, primary health care centres rehabilitated and refurbished and WASH facilities installed.
In 8 years, Follow the Money has expanded to become the largest citizen-led socio-digital accountability movement in Africa, driving grassroots participation in mainstream issues and nudging critical stakeholders to hold governments accountable. Our team has tracked a total of $10.6 million government projects in 191 grassroots communities and further saved the Nigerian Government the tune of N447 million from financial leakages.
Founded in 2012, Connected Development (CODE) is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) on a mission to provide marginalised communities in Africa with the resources to amplify their voices, improve their access to information and build the capacity of these people on how to hold their government accountable for the implementation of constituency projects. To enhance effective democratic governance and accountability, CODE uses mobile and web technologies to create platforms that close the feedback loop between citizens and the government. Our focus is to influence government policies and practices that will accelerate social economic development and timely intervention, especially in remote grassroots communities.
CODE’s social accountability initiative, ‘Follow The Money’ (FTM), an action advocacy-based initiative,tracks and advocates for proper utilization of government funds and international aids in grassroots communities and ultimately ensures that public services work for the people.