LocationsA European Union–UNDP initiative is helping six Portuguese-speaking countries strengthen the way public funds are planned, spent and scrutinised – while creating solutions that can be adapted elsewhere.
Six countries, one goal: making public money work for people
October 7, 2026
Civil society representatives in Guinea-Bissau present their analysis of the proposed 2026 State Budget – from revenue and expenditure to the budget balance – at a budget analysis workshop organised by Pro PALOP-TL, July 2026.
Pro PALOP-TL
Since 2013, Pro PALOP-TL - funded by the European Union and implemented by UNDP - has worked with ministries of finance, Courts of Audit, parliaments and civil society in Angola, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé e Príncipe and Timor-Leste to strengthen economic governance, public financial management and transparency.
At the heart of the programme is an "all-of-society" approach, pioneered in 2014: working with the entire public finance ecosystem - from ministries of finance and tax authorities to supreme audit institutions, parliaments, independent fiscal institutions and civil society - while also building on the shared language of the participating countries and similar legal systems to encourage peer learning and exchange of solutions.
Pro PALOP-TL in numbers
From users of information to producers of evidence
Across the region, public budgets were often published as closed PDF files, sometimes months late, making the information difficult to access, compare and use. Working with civil society organisations, the programme co-created the e-Budget PALOP-TL platform, transforming these documents into open, comparable data covering 2016 to 2026. The platform also includes a Budget Transparency Index, allowing country progress to be tracked and compared over time. The OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation has recognised e-Budget PALOP-TL as a public sector innovation case.
But making data available is only part of the story. Through a Fellowship with IPPS-Iscte (Institute for Public and Social Policies - University Institute of Lisbon), civil societies representatives developed skills in data storytelling and data intelligence, enabling them to produce their own analyses of public spending in area such as health, education and energy. Thirty-two people from civil society and ministries of finance - including young programmers from start-ups - are accredited to manage the platform and produce the Index.
As David Matern, UNDP Resident Representative in Cabo Verde said, the organisations "arrived as users of public information and leave as producers of evidence". Demand for these skills continues to grow and the model is also attracting international interest. Following an OECD call for evidence on triangular co-operation, the programme's partners have been invited to present the platform and its data literacy programme at the 10th International Meeting on Triangular Co-operation, in Lisbon on 26-27 October 2026.
“One of the programme's greatest contributions was its ability to build bridges, bringing the Ministry of Finance and civil society together around a common transparency agenda. Knowing how to read and interpret the budget gives us the confidence to build solid arguments, so that civil society can stop being merely reactive and become an informed partner and an active voice in shaping and monitoring public policies.”– Maria do Céu Santos, fellow, first edition of the e-Budget Fellowship, Cabo Verde
Gender equality written within the budget
Pro PALOP-TL developed a standard model that tracks how public spending contributes to gender equality. In 2017, only Cabo Verde endorser this approach. By 2021, all six countries had endorsed it, with Angola, Cabo Verde, São Tomé e Príncipe and Timor-Leste integrating it into their budget planning process.
The approach has since moved beyond methodology into laws, systems and everyday budget practices. Cabo Verde's budget Framework Law made the gender perspective mandatory, and more than 90% of projects in the state budget now carry a gender marker. Angola introduced gender markers into its SIGFE (Integrated State Financial Management System) by executive decree, and Mozambique incorporated the methodology into its official manual for preparing the state budget. In 2026 alone, officials in São Tomé e Príncipe applied it to the draft State Budget, while nearly 90 officials in Mozambique were trained to use it, including at subnational level.
"Public budgets are not just financial instruments – they are political instruments, which reflect priorities, distribute resources and shape opportunities."– Marisa Carvalho, Former President of the Cabo Verdean Institute for Gender Equality and Equity (ICIEG), at the launch of the Gender Equality Seal at the Court of Audit of Cabo Verde, March 2026
Learning from each other - and following the money
Supreme audit institutions close the accountability loop and it is here that Pro PALOP-TL's South-South approach has proved particularly valuable. When Angola's Court of Audit needed a performance audit manual, it turned to Mozambique, with Mozambican auditors training their Angolan peers directly. In Guinea-Bissau, on-the-job support helped the Court of Audit issue its opinions on the General State Accounts for 2014, 2015 and 2016.
Working with Brazil's Federal Court of Accounts, the six institutions have also carried out their first coordinated audit on gender-based violence and through ClimateScanner - a global INTOSAI assessment of how governments govern, plan and finance climate action - completed their first climate assessments, contributing to the global finding presented at COP29 and COP30. The results point to a common gap: most countries cannot yet track how much public money goes to climate action.
Whether the money comes from national budgets, climate finance or oil, gas and mining revenues, the question is the same: can it be followed and accounted for? Pro PALOP-TL will take that question to Brussels on the 7 October, when, ahead of the EITI Global Conference, it co-organises with the EITI a session bringing together Courts of Audit and EITI coordinators from Angola, Mozambique, São Tomé e Príncipe and Timor-Leste to share how transparency in extractive revenues becomes accountability.
Auditors of the Court of Audit of São Tomé and Príncipe at the Performance Audit Training organised by Pro PALOP-TL, 16–20 February 2026.
Pro PALOP-TL
Ready to Travel
The Pro PALOP-TL approach was designed for six Portuguese-speaking countries, but its relevance extends beyond them. The programme has been recognised as a good practice by the UN Office for South-South Cooperation, while its mid-term evaluation found that UNDP and the EU were drawing on this experience in other regions.
UNDP's new Gender Equality Strategy 2026-2029, approved in June 2026, also cites the Pro PALOP-TL model as a good practice in how shared financing can strengthen collective delivery. Tools and approaches develeoped through the programme have been taken up by start-ups and universities, creating further opportunities for adaptation and reuse. The programme is aligned with the EU's Global Gateway, contributing to its priorities on good governance, digital transition, gender equality and global partnerships. Its main tools include:
- E-Budget PALOP-TL platform and Budget Transparency Index, a modular digital public good that can be adapted to make budget data more open, accessible and comparable.
- Gender-responsive budgeting model and handbook, an approach already embedded in legislation and public financial management systems in several participating countries.
- Post-graduate programme in public finance management, developed with Iscte and Court of Audit of Portugal and reunning since 2015, with more than 800 postgraduates to date.
Build to last
As Pro PALOP-TL prepares to close at the end of 2027, the focus is on ensuring that the knowledge, networks and tools built over more than a decade remain in the hands of institutions and organisations that use them.
The objective is clear: no critical asset should depend on programme funding once the programme closes and its core tools and knowledge should remain operational and publicly accessible.
What Pro PALOP-TL leaves behind is more than a set of results. It is a foundation - locally owned, designed to endure and ready to be adapted and extended to new countries and partners.