Enhancements and adding new features to the Citizen Budget Analysis Tool

Phnom Penh

| 7-August-2026

Introduction (API):

The Advocacy and Policy Institute (API) is a leading Cambodian capacity-building organization in the areas of advocacy, policy influencing, citizen engagement, and good governance. API is a non-profitable, non-governmental organization (NGO).

Our Vision: Cambodia has a national culture of harmony, with political and economic stability, sustainable development, democratic governance, and protection of human rights for a prosperous future for all.

Our Mission to serve the long-term democratic and social development needs of Cambodia through empowering people to interact with their government to protect their rights.

Our Strategic Goal: By 2028, Cambodia is a more harmonious and inclusive society with sustainable development through economic empowerment, better management of climate risks, inclusive policies, good governance, and respect for democratic principles, human rights, and GEDSI.

Our Strategic Objectives (2024-28)

Program Objective 1: Inclusive Policies, Democratic Governance, and Human Rights
Program Objective 2: Economic Development and the Informal Economy
Program Objective 3: Climate Action and Environmental Justice
Program Objective 4: Civil Society Sustainability and Resilience

Our programs are guided by a human rights-based approach. API serves all Cambodians and values the diversity of gender, sexual orientation, identity, (dis)ability, ethnicity, faith, and political opinions. At the same time, we are especially committed to supporting the most disadvantaged in their efforts to make their voices heard. Through the SCOPE-PFM project, API supports citizens and CSOs in meaningful ways. Under the EU/Oxfam-funded Strengthening Civic Engagement and Oversight in Public Financial Management (SCOPE-PFM) project, API and other partners work to enhance access to budget and public procurement information as a foundation for accountability, transparency, and improved public service delivery.

Project Background

The budget is the government’s most powerful social and economic policy instrument and plays a central role in the lives of each and every citizen. It reflects the government’s priorities. Not only are the resources for public budgets derived from citizens’ expenditures and earnings, but citizens, especially poor and low-income ones, are the primary beneficiaries of government programs financed through the budget. It is therefore vital that citizens, individually and in groups, understand government budgets and have access to information and processes that allow them to hold the government accountable for the use of public funds. But to engage effectively with the government, it is important to understand the allocation of budgets across development sectors at the commune and district levels.

The Social Service Fund is most often given less attention and receives low priority in the commune’s budget allocation. An ability to analyze commune budgets and district budgets with a proper understanding of the budgetary processes, allocations, and outcomes is therefore crucial for citizens or non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Analyzing budgets gives them the means to create effective advocacy strategies for seeking more commitment from the commune council to pay attention to commune social service and the district to pay more attention to responding to citizen needs based on the new functional transfer role, holding it accountable, and ensuring more effectiveness and transparency in the expenditures.

The budget analysis development was supported by UNICEF, DCA, and BfdW by sharing costs for developing the budget analysis, while UNICEF provided budget support for developing the budget application, and DCA and BfdW provided support for Apple Account (iOS), Google Account (Android), Web, and Database Server costs.

The Advocacy and Policy Institute (API) is a Cambodian non-governmental organization active in advocacy, policy influencing, good governance, and civic engagement. Capacity building and dialogue facilitation are at the heart of our efforts towards democratic and sustainable development.

Objective:

Enhance the technical capacity, usability, and functionality of the Citizen Budget Analysis Tool to better support budget transparency, data analysis, and public access to information.
Improve the existing Sub-National Budget module, which currently supports budget data at province, district, and commune levels, but does not yet provide detailed budget classification in line with Circular No. 007/2025 (MEF–MoI), particularly for social service and natural resources-related budget categories.
Expand access to comprehensive and detailed budget data across administrative levels, including ministries, provinces, districts, communes, education institutions, and health facilities.
Integrate national and sub-national procurement data, including procurement information at the ministry level, to strengthen transparency, monitoring, and public oversight.
Strengthen user engagement and citizen participation by improving feedback, interaction, and communication mechanisms within the system.
Support citizens, civil society organizations (CSOs), and relevant stakeholders to effectively access, monitor, analyze, and use budget and procurement information for evidence-based advocacy.
Promote transparent, inclusive, participatory, and accountable public financial management by providing reliable data and user-friendly tools for monitoring, analysis, and decision-making.

How to apply

Individual consultants and software development firms with relevant experience are invited to submit a complete application package in accordance with these Terms of Reference.

The application package should include: