Five
new stewards join GIFT: The
Secretariat of the Budget
of the Ministry of Finance
of Argentina, the Ministry
of Finance of Chile, the
Ministry of Economy and
Finance of Benin, the
Ministry of Finance of
Ukraine, and the
Asociación Civil por la
Igualdad y la Justicia
from Argentina.
GIFTenthusiastically
welcomes the
Ministry of Finance of
Argentina, the Ministry of
Finance of Chile, the
Ministry of Economy and
Finance of Benin, the
Ministry of Finance of
Ukraine, and the Asociación
Civil por la Igualdad y la
Justicia (Civil
Association for Equality
and Justice) from
Argentina as new stewards of
the network. These are
institutions whose
representatives have engaged
in significant interactions
with GIFT
over the past two years,
attending workshops and
meetings, sharing their
experiences on fiscal
transparency and public
participation, and
benefiting from peer
learning processes. Members
of the network have been
acquainted with these
institutions’
representatives and have
engaged with them in network
activities, witnessing their
willingness to strengthen
their commitment with GIFT.
With the admission of
these five institutions, GIFTnow counts 45
stewards. In
terms of sectors, there are:
18 budget authorities
institutions; 14 national or
regional civil society
organizations; 5 expert
organizations or technical
networks; 4 multilateral
organizations; 3 private
foundations; and 1
international development
institution. In terms of
regional representation,
Stewards are: 11 global; 18
from the Americas (16 from
Latin America); 5 from Asia;
7 from Africa; and 4 from
Europe.
In further expanding
the Network’s membership,
Lead Stewards have agreed
that it should not grow
beyond a manageable size to
keep it flexible and relying
on a small coordination
team. There should be
attention on the key point
of the entry criteria to
keep a balance of the
membership, not only in
geographical terms, but also
in the mix of different
kinds of organizations (Lead
Stewards Meeting, January
17, 2017).
GIFT
becomes a member of the
Advisory Board of the
INTOSAI’s Professional
Standards Committee
GIFT
gladly accepted the
INTOSAI’s Professional
Standards Committee (PSC)
invitation to join their
external advisory board.
The International
Organization of Supreme
Audit Institutions
(INTOSAI) is an umbrella
organization for the
external public sector
community. It provides an
institutionalized
framework for SAIs to
promote development and
exchange of knowledge and
professional experience
and improve government
auditing worldwide and
enhance professional
capacities, standing and
influence of member SAIs
in their respective
countries.
INTOSAI sets
standards for public
sector auditing through
the Framework of
Professional
Pronouncements. Through
its PSC, INTOSAI currently
consults with the World
Bank, the Institute of
Internal Auditors (IIA),
and the International
Federation of Accountants
(IFAC), and is seeking to
include the perspectives
of a broader range of
stakeholders in its
standard setting work by
establishing a separate
advisory group of
representatives of
standard users,
international audit
organizations and other
relevant parties. In this
space, GIFT
will be providing feedback
and contributing to the
recognition and wide
adoption of the INTOSAI
pronouncements.
Reflecting
on Improving Effectiveness
and Accountability of
Public Expenditures: Trends
in Intergovernmental
Fiscal Relations,
Performance Budgeting and
Budget Participation at
the 2018 Budget Community
of Practice (BCOP) of
PEMPAL plenary meeting
(Vienna, March 14-16)
PEMPAL member countries
from Europe and Central Asia
(ECA) to more efficiently
and effectively use public
resources resulting from
applying good and improved
PFM practices developed,
promoted or shared with
PEMPAL contribution. Its
Budget Community of Practice
(BCOP) held its annual
plenary meeting in Vienna on
March 14-16.
The BCOP membership
reviewed practices and
approaches on the use of
performance indicators in
performance budgeting and
public participation and got
feedback from members on the
BCOP Working Groups’ most
recent work on knowledge
products: a) Performance
Indicators in PEMPAL
Countries: Trends and
Challenges (by BCOP Program
and Performance Budgeting
Working Group), and b)
Public Participation in
Fiscal Policy and the Budget
Process. GIFTNetwork
director, Juan Pablo
Guerrero, contributed with
the discussion on how to
establish and/or
strengthen fiscal
transparency and public
participation mechanisms
in PEMPAL countries.GIFT
presented takeaways
and insights on the OBS
2017 results on public
participation.
Based on 2017 Survey
findings, GIFT
indicated recommendations
for PEMPAL countries on
steps needed to improve
their public participation
mechanisms.
See the plenary meeting
agenda and information here, and
GIFT’s
presentation here.
GIFT
at the Public Expenditure
Management Network in Asia
Workshop in Kuala Lumpur
(March 6-8)
Murray
Petrie, GIFT
Lead Technical Advisor,
took part in a workshop on
‘Rethinking Performance
Budgeting’ held by PEMNA
(Public Expenditure
Management Network in
Asia) in Kuala Lumpur from
March 6-8. Since 2012,
PEMNA has been bringing
ministry of finance
officials from 14
countries together in
regular peer to peer
learning events. Petrie’s
presentation was on making
budget and performance
data more accessible
through the use of open
fiscal data and fiscal
transparency portals. He
outlined GIFT’s
peer to peer activities,
and cited leading country
examples of practices from
within the GIFT
network. Petrie also spoke
about the importance of
engaging the public on
their needs for public
services and their views
on the quality of public
services. He drew on the
2017 OBS to illustrate a
number of good examples
from Asia of public
engagement in budget
preparation and
implementation. His key
take-aways for PEMNA
officials were on the
importance of:
Engaging
users of fiscal data on
their needs, to avoid
publishing data and
performance information
that is little used e.g.
publishing more
disaggregated
agency/facility level
data, and detailed data
linking budgets and
procurement.
Making
fiscal data more
accessible by
establishing single
fiscal data portals,
with all data published
in open data formats, so
that parties outside
government can conduct
analysis and identify
opportunities for more
efficient and effective
policies.
Engage
service delivery
recipients directly on
their needs, and on
their views of service
quality.
#DataOnTheStreets
Rally rouses the
participation of hundreds
in Chile, Colombia and
Mexico to celebrate the
International Open Data
Day
More
than one thousand people
participated in the
#DataOnTheStreets Rally to
celebrate the
International Open Data
Day, in Chile, Colombia
and Mexico. The #RallyChile
(@observafiscalcl) had 431
registered participants who
visited 84 public works
sites, and posted 321 photos
and 86 videos. In the case
of the #RallyColombia (@STransparencia),
53 projects were visited,
300 photos and 45 videos
posted. In the #RallyMéxico (@tpresupuestaria),
477 participants registered,
230 projects visited, 937
photos and 100 videos were
posted.
To celebrate the
International Open Data Day,
Mexico’s Secretariat of the
Treasury and Public Credit (GIFT Lead
Steward) through its Fiscal
Transparency Portal,
alongside Social TIC, leader
non-for-profit organization
in digital empowerment and
open data topics, led the
3rd edition of the
#DataOnTheStreets Rally,
this time inviting other
countries to join the
initiative with the
objective of promoting the
engagement of citizens with
the data from their fiscal
transparency portals,
becoming social supervisors
of public works and agents
of change in the use and
promotion of fiscal
transparency geolocation
data.
The #RallyChile was
organized by the Observatory
of Fiscal Spending of Chile
(GIFT
Steward), with the support
of the Ministry of Public
Works and the Chilean
Chamber of Construction;
and the #RallyColombia by
the Secretariat of
Transparency of the Office
of the President, the
Ministry of Finance and
Public Credit, the Ministry
of Information Technology
and Communications, Open
Knowledge Colombia and the
Observatory of Visible
Infrastructure of the
University of the Andes.
GIFTwill sponsor the
first-place winners of
each country to
participate in the Open
Government Partnership
Global Summit,
which will take place on
Tbilisi, Georgia (July
17-19, 2018), so the OGP
community gets to hear the
details of this innovative
and exiting exercise of
citizen monitoring on public
investments in these
countries.
GIFT
at the Innovations in
Participatory Democracy
Conference in Phoenix,
Arizona
THANK
YOU AND FAREWELL TO DR.
KAY BROWN, Former
Budget Office Chief
Director of the National
Treasury, South Africa
Dr. Kay Brown has been
appointed as the new Chief
Executive Officer of the
Financial and Fiscal
Commission of South Africa.
The GIFTnetwork gratefully
recognizes Dr. Kay Brown’s
significant contribution
to fiscal transparency and
public participation in
South Africa and globally,
and wishes her great
success in her new
endeavors.
You
will be missed, Kay!
Launch
of the Vulekamali budget
data portal newsletter in
South Africa
Vulekamali is
the online budget
data portal emerging from
an exciting collaboration
between a civil society
coalition (IMALI YETHU),
including the Public Service
Accountability Monitor
(PSAM), and the South
African National
Treasury. The recently
launched Open! will provide
ongoing updates on this
project, news about events,
links to resources and
opportunities for
participation.
You
can subscribe to receive
each fresh edition when you
visit the portal.
Following the official
launch of Vulekamali on
Tuesday 20 February 2018 in
Cape Town, the initiative
has received some fantastic
and varied feedback and
requests from the public and
private sector to join in
developing the portal. Check
out some of the recent media
coverage: SABC
2 Morning Live interview with
Zukiswa Kota (IMALI YETHU
Coordinator) on Vulekamali
launch and the partnership
with the South African
National Treasury; Mail
and Guardian article on
Press Conference; Fin24
Article on
launch of vulekamali;
Morning Live interview with
Dr. Kay Brown (National
Treasury Budget Office Chief
Director) on OBS
result and vulekamali
project.
Uruguay
celebrates the Open Data
Day
The Office of Planning
and Budget of Uruguay (GIFT
Steward) celebrated the Open
Data Day in an
event for public officials
that was co-organized with
the Agency of Electronic
Government and of the
Information and Knowledge
(Agesic) with the purpose of
presenting the state of the
art of open data in Uruguay
and analyzing current
challenges and
opportunities, as well as
next steps.
Washington
Post article: “Politicians
are hiding how they spend
money. That’s a political
mistake”
In this article
published in the Washington
Post,
Paolo de Renzio and Joachim
Wehner argue that open
budgeting and citizens
participation in budget
decisions lead to better
policy decisions, pointing
to successful cases in
Uganda and Indonesia.
The Expanded Version seeks
to explain the role played
by the GIFTHigh-Level
Principles
in promoting greater fiscal
transparency globally
(2012), as well as to set
out the relationship between
each of the High-Level
Principles and the
corresponding standards,
norms, assessments,
and country practices to
which they relate.
Readers of the Expanded
Version will quickly
gain an overview of the
current multiplicity of
instruments in relation to
each other, find effective
entry points to the more
detailed sources of
information and guidance,
and consider where standards
and assessments of practice
may need strengthening to
better realize the
aspirations in the
High-Level Principles.
This resource
captures the major changes
that have taken place over
the last few years to
international fiscal
transparency standards and
assessment tools,
given that the main
instruments have all been
substantially revised since
2013. The completion of this
document therefore comes at
an opportune time, when the
normative architecture seems
likely to remain
comparatively stable in the
short to medium term.
In addition to
information on fiscal
transparency standards and
norms, the Expanded
Version contains
information on country
practices – cross-country
data mainly from the Open
Budget Survey, references to
good practice in selected
countries, and links to
published reports assessing
country practices. Together
with the sources of further
information and guidance,
readers can use the Expanded
Version as a starting
point for further
investigation into the full
range of issues relating
to fiscal transparency,
public participation or
accountability.
Insights
at GIFT How
can governments implement
the Open Fiscal Data
Package?
Vitor Baptista – Open
Knowledge International
