CRC/C/GC/19 States parties to the Convention are accountable for meeting their budgetary obligations to realize children’s rights. 58. The Committee recognizes that States have existing expertise and experience in applying the general principles of the Convention and the following budget principles to their budget processes. States parties are encouraged to share and exchange their good practices. A. Effectiveness 59. States parties should plan, enact, execute and follow up in ways that lead to advances in child rights. States parties should invest in understanding the child rights situation in their context and formulate and implement legislation, policies and programmes that are strategically designed to overcome the challenges of realizing the rights of the child. States parties should constantly assess how budgets affect different groups of children and ensure that their budget decisions lead to the best possible outcomes for the largest number of children, paying special attention to children in vulnerable situations. B. Efficiency 60. Public resources dedicated to child-related policies and programmes should be managed in such a way as to ensure value for money and bearing in mind the obligation to respect, protect and fulfil children’s rights. Approved expenditures should be executed in line with the enacted budget. Goods and services to advance child rights should be procured and delivered transparently and on time, and be of appropriate quality. Furthermore, funds allocated to the rights of the child should not be wasted. States parties should make efforts to overcome institutional barriers that impede efficient spending. Monitoring, evaluation and auditing of public funds should provide checks and balances that promote sound financial management. C. Equity 61. States parties shall not discriminate against any child or category of children through resource mobilization or the allocation or execution of public funds. Spending equitably does not always mean spending the same amount on each child, but rather making spending decisions that lead to substantive equality among children. Resources should be fairly targeted to promote equality. States parties are obliged to remove all discriminatory barriers that children may face in accessing their rights. D. Transparency 62. States parties should develop and maintain public financial management systems and practices that are open to scrutiny, and information on public resources should be freely available in a timely manner. Transparency contributes to efficiency and combats corruption and mismanagement of public budgets, which in turn increases the public resources available to advance child rights. Transparency is also a prerequisite for enabling meaningful participation of the executive, legislatures and civil society, including children, in the budget process. The Committee emphasizes the importance of States parties actively promoting access to information about public revenues, allocations and spending related to children and adopting policies to support and encourage continuous engagement with legislatures and civil society, including children. 14 GE.16-12638