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Community Survey
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GIFT
Community Survey
We need to hear from YOU! Give
us five minutes of your
time.
Let
us know how to
tailor-fit our work
better for your 2021
fiscal transparency,
participation and
accountability
objectives. We want to
hear from you, our
fiscal openness
champions: what are we
doing right? What have
we learned, and what can
we do better?
Take our 5-minute survey
below and help improve
our work as a network.
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An
Exciting Year Ahead:
The GIFT Work Plan
for
2021
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Following
GIFT’s
Strategy 20-22,
Accelerating Engagement for
Better Public Finance, the
GIFT Network is all set and
ready to achieve a new set of
milestones for 2021!
Find out more about our
activities this year from the
GIFT 2021 Work Plan here.
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Now
Available: Guide for
Fiscal Transparency in
COVID-19 Responses in
French
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Generating,
gathering and publishing
quality and timely fiscal
information pertaining to
emergencies, such as the
pandemic, is key to
facilitating the monitoring
work required to minimize the
potential for mismanagement
and corruption of public
funds. Achieving impactful
fiscal transparency amidst the
COVID-19 crisis requires the
proactive publication of the
data underlying strategic
emergency responses. In 2020,
the GIFT
presented the Guide for
COVID-19 Fiscal Transparency
to help governments in clearly
identifying the datasets and
data fields that should be
gathered for disclosure and
ensuring that transparency is
embedded in policy responses.
This Guide is now available in
French.
Données
budgétaires pour les
interventions de crise :
Guide
pour la transparence en
COVID-19
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In
Focus: Improving
Fiscal Transparency in
Francophone Africa
January
19, 2021
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The
International Monetary
Fund (IMF) Fiscal Affairs
Department (FAD), in
collaboration with the
International Budget
Partnership (IBP) and with the
financial support of the
European Union (EU), recently
organized the second edition
of the Regional Seminar on
Fiscal Transparency in
Francophone Africa. The aim of
the seminar, in which GIFT
participated as a speaker in
two sessions, was to help
these countries strengthen
their fiscal transparency
practices through peer-to-peer
learning and sharing of tools
and good practices. Bruno
Imbert, Serge Ramangalahy,
Claire Schouten and Alex Kreko
summarized some of the
insights in the IMF’s blog here.
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Western
Balkans kicks off
Transparency
Initiative with focus
on COVID-19 spending
January
21, 2021
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Focusing
on issues around COVID-19
and recovery spending,
representatives from Bosnia
& Herzegovina,
North-Macedonia and Serbia
kicked off the work for the
Transparency Initiative for
the Western Balkans through
a virtual gathering held
last January 21. The
activity featured
presentations of country
experiences on the topic, as
well as exchanges on best
practices around the globe.
The said initiative seeks to
support participating
governments in identifying
opportunities for
strengthening fiscal
transparency practices
during emergency situations.
The project is being
implemented under the Good
Governance and Investment
Climate Reform (GGICR) Trust
Fund (TF) with financial
support of the Government of
the United Kingdom (UK).
Access the workshop
presentation here.
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Fiscal
Openness Accelerator
Project
starts 2021 stronger
with Meeting Series
January
22, 2020
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The Fiscal
Openness Accelerator (FOA)
Project started the
new year strongly with the
conduct of a series of
country meetings that aim to
proactively facilitate the
implementation of FOA
activities in 2021 and 2022.
In these meetings, the GIFT
team presented a
common framework with
recommended process and
timeline for the selection
and implementation of pilot
mechanisms on public
participation in fiscal
policies in South Africa,
Nigeria, Benin, Senegal, and
Liberia. The meetings also
served as a venue to
identify other areas for
alignment, collaboration and
technical assistance between
GIFT, IBP, and country
stakeholders.
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All
eyes on Chile:
Independent Commission
delivers recommendations
to improve transparency,
quality and impact of
public expenditure reforms
January 25,
2021
The
Independent Public Spending
Commission delivered its Final
Report to Chile’s Ministry of
Finance, with the invitation
to open a constructive and
transformative dialogue on
structural public financial
management reforms. The Report
is the result of
a cutting-edge initiative to
have evidence-based
recommendations that take into
account both national and
international good practices
and standards mainstreaming up
to the highest level of
national budgetary reform.
We, at GIFT, are very proud
and honored to have
collaborated in this endeavor
with our stewards, the Fundación
Observatorio Fiscal and
Chile’s
Ministry of Finance, as
well as with the United
Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) country office. We are
grateful for the support from
the Inter-American Development
Bank for this work.
Find the full report in
Spanish here.
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Gearing
up for Open Data
Day: #DataRallyFromHome
and #BetterBudget
Dataquest Terms of
Reference for 2021
is now up
January
31, 2021
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2021
is your year to use Open
Data! The world has changed
and we are in a new normal.
We have now learned our way
into capabilities that allow
many of us to work, have
fun, and make our voices
heard while staying safe at
home.
With this in mind, we are
launching terms of reference
of the Public Infrastructure
#DataRallyFromHome and the
#BetterBudget Dataquest for
Sustainable
Development+COVID19.
Citizen’s engagement and
public participation in the
budget cycle is now more
relevant than ever! Let’s
bring our minds together and
improve public budgets!
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Open
Data Day 2021
mini-grant scheme
#OpenDataDay
2021 is coming up on
March 6 and we’re
excited to
participate! What
about you? If you are
a local group brewing
something too for
#ODD2021, you might
want to apply to the
Open Knowledge
Foundation’s
mini-grant scheme to
get $300 support!
Deadline of
application is
February 5, so hurry,
and apply here!
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Open
Contracting Lift
Program
Do
you want to make
recovery efforts from
the pandemic fast,
fair and effective
through open
contracting? If your
answer is yes and you
need support. The Open
Contracting
Partnership invites
you to apply to the
Lift program. Read
more about this
opportunity here.
Deadline of
application is March
12.
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Indonesia
hosts international
webinar on
Transparency and
Accountability in
COVID-19 Pandemic
January
12, 2021
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Audit Board of the Republic of
Indonesia hosted an
international webinar featuring
transparency and public
accountability efforts amidst
the continuing pandemic on
January 11. Themed “Ensuring
Transparency and Accountability
in COVID-19 pandemic: A
Multi-Stakeholder
Approach/Perspective” the event
included presentations and
exchange between and among
speakers from the Audit Board of
the Republic of Indonesia (BPK),
the World Bank, the
International Budget Partnership
(IBP), and from the Certified
Practising Accountants
Association (CPA). |
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GPSA
webinar reflects on
social
accountability in
the delivery of
quality healthcare
services
January
11, 2021
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Speakers
from the Global
Partnership for Social
Accountability (GPSA)
and the Gavi
Vaccine Alliance
reflected on collaborative
social accountability and
how it contributes to
improving the quality of
design of public sector
reforms, mitigating risks
associated with the
implementation of sectoral
policies, including
decentralization and,
strengthening health
systems and governance.
The GPSA is housed at the
World Bank, while Gavi is
an international
organisation and a global
alliance that aims to
improve access to new and
underused vaccines for
children living in the
world’s poorest
countries. Click here
to access the webinar
recording and more
information about the
event.
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The
true cost of
procuring at speed
Janury
26, 2021
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The
Open Contracting Partnership
and ACCA jointly hosted the
webinar themed “True Cost of
Procuring at Speed – Lessons
Learned from the COVID-19
Procurement Crisis,” last
January 26. The event shed a
renewed light on the
cornerstones of transparent,
open, and well-audited
public procurement,
especially now that the
COVID-19 pandemic has
brought public procurement
to the foreground of public
scrutiny, as governments
around the world are forced
to procure at speed and
often without many of the
necessary safeguards. Read
more about the session here.
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What
data on extractive
industries can help
advance women’s
rights in the
context of the oil,
gas and mining
sector?
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Activists,
industry representatives and
data users explored what
extractives data can be used
to advance women’s rights,
where to find it, and where
we need to push for more
disclosure in the webinar
held last January 26. The
same event served as
platform for participants
exchanged ideas on how to
develop an intersectional
and transformative feminist
natural resource governance
agenda that centres the
leadership and lived
realities of women and
frontline communities.
The activity was part of a
webinar series launched by
the Gender Justice and
Extractive Industries
Working Group exploring
different policy areas
related to women’s rights,
the extractive industries,
and gender issues. More
information about the
webinar series can be
accessed here.
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Leveraging
Public Budgets for
the Sustainable
Development Goals:
The Case of Mexico
In
this blog,
Lorena Rivero del Paso
(Fiscal Affairs
Department, IMF)
writes about the
public budget’s
crucial role in
directing priorities
from an economic,
political and legal
standpoint, especially
in financing and
implementing programs
to achieve the 2030
Agenda for the
Sustainable
Development Goals.
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How
Can Civil Society
Make Tax Systems
More Equitable?
Access
more resources that
can guide and help
civic actors get
involved with tax
reform and learn from
each other from this article
written by Paolo
de Renzio, Jason Lakin
and Fariya Mohiuddin
of the International
Budget Partnership and
this post
from the International
Centre for Tax and
Development.
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When
Disaster Strikes:
Fiscal Responses
to Natural and
Man-made
Disasters
As
the world
continues
to reel from the
impact of COVID-19,
let’s look back and
learn about the
options that countries
should consider when
faced with crises that
are caused by factors
outside their control
from this report
on the 2017
Collaborative Africa
Budget Reform
Initiative (CABRI)
Conference.
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