This manual presents the mechanisms, principles and key actors of financial oversight in the security sector. It can also serve as a reference document for training, capacity building and reform of organizations responsible for financial oversight in the security sector.

It aims to providing information and insights to all elected officials, professionals and citizens interested in security sector governance in the Sahel. Indeed, it describes the roles of inspectorates, parliament, and oversight institutions in the financial control of resources allocated to the security sector and also provides practical guidance for other formal and informal actors involved in the promotion of democratic governance of the security sector. 

The manual follows the regional conference on security sector resource management hold in Bamako on 17-18 March 2021, as well as a series of assessment, training, and exchange of experiences and good practices on financial oversight in the security sector in Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.

A review of the legal framework governing the resources management allocated to defense and security sector in the Sahel reveals that they do exist, but their effectiveness is affected by a lack of precision and extremely limited implementation. In addition, there is a widely expressed need to consolidate citizens' confidence in the defense and security forces by improving transparency and accountability through strengthening internal and external financial oversight. 

To ensure strategic and technical coverage of financial oversight in the security sector, the manual is structured around 7 chapters: 

1. General presentation of financial oversight in the security sector, its issues and importance in terms of promotion of democratic governance of the security sector;
2. Principles, concepts and methodology of budgetary programming in the security sector; 
3. Roles and responsibilities of inspections in the financial oversight in the security sector; 
4. Roles and responsibilities of the Parliament in the financial oversight in the security sector; 
5. Ways and opportunities for the Parliament to strengthen and affirm its role to ensure financial oversight in the security sector, in particular through building networks with other formal and informal actors; 
6. Access to information as a key challenge to democratic governance; 
7. Specifics measures to take into account in order to strengthen financial oversight in the security sector.