Every municipality faces the same balancing act: limited budgets against a growing list of citizen demands — better roads, cleaner streets, faster permits, and well-maintained public spaces. Getting that balance right is less about spending more and more about spending smart, which is exactly where performance-based budgeting comes in.

This Training Course from the Arab British Fellowship Training Academy walks municipal leaders through the practical side of running a city department: how mayors and council members plan capital projects, monitor land use and building permits, and turn a fixed budget into measurable public value. Rather than treating budgeting as a once-a-year paperwork exercise, the course frames it as an ongoing management tool that shapes everything from road lighting schemes to market regulation and stormwater management.

By the end of this Training Course, participants will be able to:

• Apply core budgeting principles inside a municipal setting, from planning the budget cycle to compiling financial reports.
• Contribute directly to a municipality's strategic planning process and translate it into workable annual plans.
• Manage performance across municipal departments using clear, measurable indicators.
• Apply multi-year frameworks for managing municipal income and expenditure.
• Explain what performance-based budgeting is, why it matters, and how it differs from traditional line-item budgeting.
• Build performance budgets step by step, supported by real illustrations of how the approach improves program effectiveness.

Who Should Attend?

• Accounting staff working within municipal finance departments.
• Municipality directors and mayors.
• Members of municipal and local councils.
• Planning and monitoring committees operating inside municipalities.
• Staff working across municipal council administration.
• Anyone considering a role on a municipal council.

Module 1: Understanding the Role of Municipalities in City Life

• Why municipalities matter to the cities and villages they serve.
• How municipal work shapes the day-to-day living conditions of residents.
• Strategic approaches to managing cities and municipal operations.

Module 2: Planning and Costing Municipal Projects

• How to plan each municipal project and assess community needs accurately.
• Working out the full cost of development projects.
• Mapping project phases with accurate timing and cost at every stage.

Module 3: Monitoring, Follow-up and Performance Comparison

• Forming follow-up and monitoring committees to track municipal work.
• Evaluating overall municipal performance against the original plan.
• Running a full comparison between completed work and final cost.