Welcome
to the First Issue of Our
Newsletter!
GIFT’s action network is
constantly spreading and
with this newsletter we hope
to keep you posted on all
our events, activities and
publications. It will also
help our stewards, partners
and friends stay updated and
engaged with everything we
are doing in our four
streams of work:
1.
Advancing Global Norms on
Fiscal Transparency: GIFT
helps strengthen the normative
architecture for fiscal
transparency norms and pursues
the adoption of a new set of
principles on public
participation in budget
making.
2.
Increasing Peer-Learning and
Technical Assistance: GIFT
continues to facilitate the
Open Government
Partnership-GIFT Fiscal
Openness Working Group to work
with governments and VSOs to
improve fiscal transparency
and support each other. We
also host a global community
of practice.
3.
Aligning Incentives
Evidence-Based Research: GIFT
research agenda is focused on
advancing research on evidence
of incentives, development
impacts, practical approaches
and innovations in fiscal
transparency.
4.
Harnessing New Technologies
and Open Data to Engage the
Public: GIFT is
developing an open fiscal data
specification for easy
publication of budget data,
use of visualization tools,
and re-use of budget data for
governments and the public.
Visit our website
to learn more and don’t forget
to sign up to our Community of
Practice if you haven’t!
— The GIFT Team.
Wrapping
Up Final Version of
GIFT’s 10 Principles
of Public Participation
It took nearly a year
but we succeeded! After
intense research, discussions
with experts from around the
world at half a dozen regional
workshops, and a very active
web-based public consultation,
the 10 principles are up for
discussion in the upcoming
stewards meeting the first
week of December in Washington
DC. The full document is
coming up very soon, but the
key words are: open,
inclusive, direct, timely,
accessible, well informed,
meaningful, sustained,
complementary, and CSOs
transparency.
Once a final version is
approved, the work will shift
to deciding the next steps. At
the Open Government
Partnership Summit in Mexico
City last month and the
associated meeting of the
Fiscal Openness Working Group,
it was clear there is strong
demand for practical guidance
on just how
state institutions should
engage the public. We could
contribute by developing a set
of guidelines on how to
implement GIFT public
participation principles,
differentiated by executive,
legislative and audit
institution. A subsequent
development could further
distinguish a soft normative
instrument or standards,
differentiating basic, good
and advanced good practices,
to recognize widely different
country circumstances and
capacity. Stay tuned!
To read more about the
principles and the
consultation click here.
Join
Us in the Public
Participation in
Fiscal Transparency
Seminar
We are organizing the
“GIFT Public Participation in
Fiscal Transparency
Seminar: Good Practices and
Lessons Learned” the morning
of December 1st.
During 2015, GIFT has been
researching in detail the
public participation
mechanisms used in eight
countries. In the seminar, we
will present about 30
different mechanisms we found,
differences between the
different branches of
government, and the de
jure and de
facto realities.
Jonathan Fox, Brian Wampler
and other academics will
present a comparative analysis
and lead a discussion about
lessons learned.
Following the seminar,
we will have our last stewards
meeting of the year. To access
our case studies click here.
Thank
You, Mexico City, for a
Productive
Fiscal
Openness Working Group
Session!
 
The Open Government
Partnership (OGP) Summit in
Mexico City the last week of
October was the perfect
opportunity for members of the
Fiscal Openness Working Group
(FOWG) to meet in a two-day
session of rich discussion and
knowledge sharing. Attendance
included representatives from
ministries of finance,
legislators, members of civil
society organizations, and
officials from information
commissions, control and audit
institution of more than 15
countries.
Discussions included
final feedback about the 10
public participation principles
that GIFT is working on,
findings of the 2015 Open Budget
Survey, and whether there is a
need for an international
instrument on Fiscal
Transparency, Participation
& Accountability, among
others.
GIFT also hosted two
fully packed sessions during the
Summit. One was about the public
participation mechanisms and
tools that are increasingly
being incorporated in fiscal
policies. The second one was
about the benefits and
challenges of collaboration
between ministries of finance
and civil society organizations
in building a portal for
proactive disclosure of fiscal
information. For more
information or to join the FOWG
click here.
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