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FISCAL OPENNESS ACCELERATOR PROJECT

Fiscal Transparency for Public Participation for Better Use of Public Resources

What it is?
Scope of Work
The International Budget Partnership (IBP, a GIFT Lead Steward) and GIFT have developed the Fiscal Openness Accelerator, a project to deepen work in improving transparency and enhancing public participation in fiscal policies. Five governments are working together to pilot specific mechanisms of public participation along the budget cycle. The FOA is supported by the US Department of State and the OGP Multi-Donor Trust Fund managed by the World Bank.
 
The objective of the project is to build the technical capacity of a number of selected governments to improve their fiscal transparency and to implement mechanisms for public participation in the elaboration of fiscal policies, while providing a dialogue between civil society and public finance authorities on the use of public resources.
International experts and governments are increasingly realizing that public participation and transparency are mutually reinforcing and need to be advanced together as key components of improved government decision making and accountability. However, only reforms that support both expanded fiscal transparency and enhanced opportunities for public engagement in budgeting can ensure that individual gains on fiscal transparency and public participation buttress each other.
To help bridge the gap between the demand for and the resources available to support the development of fiscal transparency and public participation mechanisms, IBP and GIFT have developed the Fiscal Openness Accelerator, a project that will deepen work in improving transparency and enhancing public participation in fiscal policies in some countries in Africa, such as Benin, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Africa, with the support of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs. Other governments, such as the budget office’s representatives from Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Mexico and the Philippines have also been part of a fruitful conversation since 2019 and have provided extremely valuable information for the FOA project. More recently, additional ministries of finance have also expressed interest in joining these efforts. This confirms that there is a growing community that shares the commitment to promoting public participation with an impact on public finances.

The US government is financing the pilots for five African countries (Benin, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa) and the GIFT network is seeking additional funds to expand the project to more countries in 2023 and succeeding years.

Full scope of the project:

What we seek​

to achieve

Support governments in the development of participation mechanisms that can help their governments engage in budget processes that better reflect the inputs and needs of citizens. During the development we will document the process to evaluate the impact and disseminate good practices and lessons learned.

Additionally, with the storytelling we seek to create better engagement and visibility of the pilots. The storytelling will encourage other government innovators to take the same path and will allow them to have a glimpse of the process the need to undergo.

Terms of Reference for the Advisory Group
  • Memorandum of understanding between IBP, GIFT, and the Ministry of Economy and Finance of the Republic of Benin – PDF
  • Memorandum of understanding between IBP, GIFT, and the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning of the Republic of Liberia – PDF
  • Memorandum of understanding between IBP, GIFT, and the National Treasury of the Republic of South Africa – PDF
  • Memorandum of understanding between IBP, GIFT, and the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning of Nigeria – PDF
  • Memorandum of understanding between IBP, GIFT, and the Ministry of Finance and Budget of Senegal – PDF
  • Workplan for fiscal transparency indicators, Benin –
    PDF
  • L’amélioration de l’exhaustivité du projet de Loi des finances, Bénin – Improving the comprehensiveness of the finance bill, Benin –
    PDF
  • Publication dans les délais opportuns des huit documents budgétaires clés, Bénin – Timely release of the eight key budget documents, Benin –
    PDF
  • Note sur la transparence de las finances des entreprises publiques, Bénin – Note on the transparency of the finances of public enterprises, Benin –
    PDF
  • Prochaines étapes, Bénin – Next Steps, Benin –
    PDF
  • Procès verbal de l’installation des membres du groupe consultatif du project Fiscal Openness Accelerator, Bénin – Proceedings of the installation of the members of the Advisory Group for the FOA Project, Benin –
    PDF
  • Revue de milieu d’année 2020, Bénin – Mid Year Review 2020, Benin –
    PDF
  • Modèle Béninois de promotion de la participation publique au processus budgétaire – PDF
  • Présentation de la nouvelle application de participation citoyenne et de suivi budgétaire dénommée : Boussole du processus budgétaire (BousProB)’’
    – PDF
  • Plan de travail annuel 2021 du groupe consultatif du project d’acceleartion de l’ouverture budgetaire – PDF
  • Plan de travail annuel 2022 du groupe consultatif du project d’acceleartion de l’ouverture budgetaire – PDF
  • Workplan for fiscal transparency indicators, Liberia – PDF
  • Timely publication of the eight key budget documents, Liberia – PDF
  • Next Steps, Liberia – PDF
  • Comprehensiveness of the budget reports: Executive Budget Proposal in Liberia – PDF
  • 2022 FOA Liberia Workplan – PDF
  • Workplan for fiscal transparency indicators, Nigeria – PDF
  • Timely publication of the eight key budget documents, Nigeria – PDF
  • Improve the comprehensiveness of the budget reports: Executive Budget Proposal, Nigeria – PDF
  • Next Steps, Nigeria – PDF
  • 2022 FOA Nigeria Workplan – PDF
  • Prochaines étapes, Sénégal – Next Steps, Senegal – PDF
  • 2022 Plan de travail du Senegal FOA – PDF
  • Confirmation Letter of SA National Treasury on FOA project participation – PDF
  • Invitation to Civil Society Groups Nomination of Representatives to the Participatory Mechanisms in Fiscal Policies Pilot Project – PDF
  • South Africa FOA Advisory Group Terms of Reference (ToR) – PDF
  • Congratulatory Letter on the Conduct of South Africa’s 1st Pre-Budget Consultation– PDF
  • Appreciation Letter to GIFT from the South African National Treasury– PDF
  • South Africa Pre-Budget Consultations, September 2021
  • 2022 South Africa FOA Workplan– PDF

2022 Fiscal Transparency Recommendations for Benin, Liberia and Nigeria

FOA Meeting

Materials

March 2-3, 2020.

 
Launching meeting of the IBP/GIFT public participation pilot project. The kick-off meeting was hosted by the National Treasury of South Africa, a leading and remarkable institution, and member of the GIFT network.
  • Public Participation in Budgeting – Social Accountability Mechanisms to promote transparency & accountability in budgets and expenditure English Français
  • Cascais Participatory Budgeting, Portugal English Français
  • A representative mechanism for national budget participation English Français
  • Public Policy Councils English Français
  • FOA Kick-off Meeting Workbook English Français
  • FOA Kick-off Meeting by Vivek Ramkumar and Juan Pablo Guerrero – PPT
  • Senegal IMF’s Fiscal Transparency Evaluation – PDF
  • Report of the FOA Kick-off Meeting English Français
  • Indicators for fiscal transparency by Lorena Rivero from GIFT – PPT
  • Interview with Daniel Avelino, Inclusiveness in participatory budgeting – Video
  • Interview with Daniel Avelino, Inclusive, meaningful and sustainable aspects of public councils – Video
  • Interview with Jason Lakin – Video

October 20, 22 & 27, 2020.

Session 1: Framing of SOEs reporting in the context of Fiscal Transparency and progress in FOA countries

Session 2: Information flows for reporting SOEs transactions with government, including integration through FMIS

Session 3: Reporting and management of guarantees to SOEs and the link with fiscal risks

  • SOEs reporting in the context of fiscal transparency what does it mean – GIFT – PPT
  • Why SOE’s (and public entities) reporting matters – CABRI – PPT
  • The Public Sector Balance Sheets (PSBSs) – FAD, IMF – PPT
  • Session 1 in English – Video
  • Session 1 in French – Video
  • FAD Fiscal Risk Analysis Tools: SOE Health Check – IMF – PPT
  • Session 2 in English – Video
  • Session 2 in French – Video
  • Gaps in recording, monitoring and reporting of reliable and comprehensive SOEs guarantees – CABRI – PPT
  • Recording, monitoring & reporting of external and domestic debts – Ministry of Finance, Liberia – PPT
  • Fiscal Risk Statement: why, how and country examples – AFRITAC South, IMF – PPT
  • Using PEFA to look at SOEs reporting, consolidation and benchmarking – PEFA Secretariat – PDF
  • Macroeconomic Risks: FAD’s Fiscal Stress Tests COVID-19 – AFRITAC South, IMF – PPT
  • Session 3 in English – Video
  • Session 3 in French – Video

Fiscal Openness Accelerator Meeting
December 15, 2020
8:00-10:30 am (EST)

The general objective of the meeting was to assess the current state of the FOA project in each country, so that the FOA coordination team can devise specific strategies for the continuation of the FOA workstream in 2021. The meeting was held in French and English, with simultaneous translation.
 
  • Minutes of the FOA Meeting in English – Doc
  • Minutes of the FOA Meeting in French- Doc
  • Updates from Benin  – Doc
  • Updates from South Africa – PPT
  • Meeting in English – Video
  • Meeting in French – Video

Fiscal Openness Accelerator Bilateral Country Meetings
January to March 2021

From January to March 2021, the five pilot countries made progress in designing and selecting public participation mechanisms, albeit faced with challenges from the impact of the continuing pandemic. Following the meeting on December 15, 2020 where FOA country representatives provided updates and news on the status of the project and implementation and challenges, IBP scheduled one-on-one bilateral meetings with each Country Advisory Group.

The bilateral meetings aimed to proactively support  the design and implementation of  public participation pilot activities and determine how GIFT/IBP can specifically support the country process in 2021 and 2022. The agenda items of the bilateral meetings included but were  not limited to: 1)  follow-up on the status of the project at the local level, 2) present and discuss the guidance notes produced by GIFT/IBP on the selection of public participation mechanisms, and, 3)  identify next steps, areas and modalities of technical assistance that IBP can provide to each country.

  • Guidance Notes on the Co-Creation of Public Participation Mechanisms in Fiscal Policies (EN) – PDF
  • Notes d’orientation sur la co-création de mécanismes de participation du public dans les politiques budgétaires (FR) – PDF

Fiscal Openness Accelerator Countries Meeting
April 08, 202

The general objective of the meeting was to check progress on the implementation of the FOA project in each country, and explore options for technical assistance to advance the process in each pilot country.
  • Minutes of the FOA Meeting in English – PDF
  • FOA Meeting Presentation – PDF

 Peer-Exchange on Mobile Civic Tech between Philippines and Benin
June 09, 2021

The event aimed to:

  1. To present and discuss the general features, design and development process, and implementation strategies for mobile civic technologies in Benin and the Philippines;
  2. To conduct live demonstration of BousProb tool of Benin and Devlive mobile application of the Philippines; and
  3. Facilitate benchmarking and exchange of lessons, challenges and practical areas/ entry points to mainstream public participation in mobile civic technologies between Benin and the Philippines
  • Programme (FR) – PDF
  • Agenda (EN) – PDF
  • Devlive Presentation (EN)– PDF
  • Meeting Documentation (EN) – PDF

Learning Activity on International Experiences on Pre-Budget Consultations
June 11, 2021

The event aimed to:

  1. Discuss and present relevant international experiences on mainstreaming public participation in pre-budget consultations; and
  2. Facilitate international benchmarking and exchange on lessons, challenges and practical areas/ entry points to mainstream public participation in the Pre-Budget Consultations/Workshops in South Africa
  • Programme  – PDF
  • Presentation – PDF
  • Documentation Report– PDF

Fiscal Openness Accelerator Countries Meeting
July 22, 2021

The activity served as a venue for invited FOA countries  to provide updates on the progress of their work within the fiscal transparency and public participation workstreams of the project.

During the meeting, the IBP/GIFT coordination team also took the opportunity to discuss options for support and technical assistance that can be provided, as well as, other relevant updates on the FOA project.

  • Programme  – PDF
  • Presentation – PDF
  • Documentation Report– PDF

South Africa Pre-Budget Consultation
September 21, 2021

This section provides relevant documentation on the implementation of the first round of pre-budget consultations in South Africa, the country’s pilot public participation mechanism under the FOA project.

The project aimed to: 

  • To enrich the national budget process and/or policy/ies with inputs from nongovernment stakeholders, and other relevant sectors towards better alignment of national government fiscal policies with citizens’ needs and concerns.
  • To improve government practice and policy/ies on public participation and closing the feedback loop on the budget process (i.e. ensure documentation of inputs from citizens and government response for stronger accountability), increased government responsiveness and public accountability

Fiscal Openness Accelerator Countries Meeting
November 08, 2021

The event aimed to:

  • Provide updates on the progress made in the FOA project in each pilot country
  • Explore areas of technical assistance to advance the selection process and implementation of the pilot public participation mechanism; and
  • Discuss plans and next steps for 2022
  • Programme  – PDF
  • Presentation – PDF
  • Documentation Report– PDF

Fiscal Openness Accelerator Countries Workshop
March 29-31, 2022

In general, the workshop aimed to:

  • Discuss and share lessons from the FOA project in the past two years;
  • Identify challenges and practical solutions on how best to move the process forward, support countries
    in the of a public participation mechanism and the drafting of an implementation plan;
  • Offer a great opportunity for trust and commitment-building, team work, mutual support, and planning for next steps.
  • Documentation Report– PDF
  • Benin FOA Workplan  – PDF
  • Liberia FOA Workplan – PDF
  • Nigeria FOA Workplan – PDF
  • Senegal FOA Workplan – PDF
  • South Africa FOA Workplan – PDF
  • Cote d’Ivoire  FOA Workplan – PDF

Piloting Public Participation in the Budget Process at the National Level: A Learning Event
May 10, 2023

Featuring country experiences and lessons learned from the implementation of Fiscal Openness Accelerator (FOA) Project, this session tackled early results, challenges and lessons from establishing and/or enhancing public participation mechanisms in the budget process of Benin, Liberia, Nigeria, South Africa, and Senegal. Anchored on collective data from FOA country experiences, it  provided recommendations on how to implement inclusive and successful initiatives that engage citizens in fiscal processes and the roles different actors should play in the continued promotion and in ensuring the sustainability of such efforts.

  • Provisional agenda  – PDF
  • Summary Note on the FOA Experience – PDF
  • Presentation on the FOA project – PDF
  • Presentation on the Open Budget Survey 2021 Participation Findings – PDF
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