Collaborating
with #OpenGovCan to
advance Fiscal
Transparency,
Accountability and
Participation April
23
GIFT
teamed up with the Canadian
Government and Civil Society
as the Multi-stakeholder
Forum on Open Government works
to shape priorities and
commitments for Canada’s 4th
OGP National Action Plan,
2018-2020. In a remote
participation at a Forum’s
workshop, GIFT
Network director, Juan Pablo
Guerrero, advised that
Canada can make progress on
fiscal transparency and
participation oversight by
building a fiscal data
portal that responds to
user’s needs that links
budget and transactional
data; and setting up
mechanisms to engage
citizens in the budget
process (including budget
formulation and monitoring);
and fully adopt the Open
Contracting Standard. He
referred to the IMF Fiscal
Transparency Evaluation as a
valuable resource for
guidance, as well.
The open government
team, on behalf of the
Government of Canada, will
be working with civil
society and interested
stakeholders to collect and
evolve ideas, and draft the
NAP, shaping and co-creating
commitments, for a final
publication on August. We
will keep you posted!
GIFT
at the Regional Launch of
the OBS: Strengthening
Open Budget Practices in
Asia and the Pacific Manila,
Philippines- May 7-9
Aiming to analyze
budget practices and
public service performance
using international tools
and assessments, to share
peer practices and
experiences, and develop
national roadmaps for
advancing fiscal
transparency and
participation, the Asian
Development Bank (ADB),
the ADB Institute (ADBI),
the International Budget
Partnership (IBP), and the
OECD organized a technical
workshop. A main feature
of the meeting was the
analysis of the results of
the Open Budget Survey
2017 by finance ministries
representatives and
independent civil society
budget groups.
The workshop convened
senior budget officials
and representatives from
civil society from 9
countries in the Asia and
Pacific region –including
GIFT
Stewards: the Department
of Budget and Management
of the Philippines, the
Ministry of Finance of
Indonesia and FITRA, and
the World Bank– to
discuss open budget
practices in individual
countries and the region.
The workshop’s program
featured discussions on
fiscal transparency and
participation norms, and
standards of budget
transparency and
participation, with an
emphasis on country
perspectives of
transparency and
participation reforms.
Participants reflected on
country strategies to
promote actions to advance
fiscal transparency and
participation, identifying
key priorities in each
country. Moreover,
organizers facilitated a
discussion of peer-to-peer
learning, and technical
support for the
implementation of such
reforms.
This was an
#OpenGovWeek event.
UPCOMING
EVENTS
Latin
America Regional Launch of
the OBS in Dominican
Republic Santo
Domingo, May 15-17
The Ministry of the
Treasury of the Dominican
Republic and the
International Budget
Partnership (IBP), GIFT
Stewards, along with the
Inter-American Development
Bank (IADB) are hosting the
Strengthening Open
Budget Practices in Latin
America and the Caribbean
technical workshop. IBP
will present the global and
regional results of the 2017
OBS and will facilitate a
peer discussion of the
country specific results. GIFT
network director will lead a
public participation
session, aimed to analyze
the new public participation
indicators in the OBS, which
are based on GIFT’s
Public Participation
Principles; share and
discuss tools and practices
that countries can implement
to advance fiscal
transparency and
participation; and to
identify peer support for
technical collaboration.
Partners and Stewards from
Argentina, Chile, Colombia,
Dominican Republic,
Guatemala, Mexico, and
Paraguay, as well as
representatives from Ecuador
and Peru will attend the
workshop
GIFT
will participate in the
14thAnnual Meeting of the
OECD Regional Network of
Central, Eastern &
South-Eastern European
Senior Budget Officials Zagreb,
Croatia- May 24-25
The meeting will be
hosted by GIFT
Steward, the Ministry of
Finance of the Republic of
Croatia. Discussions will
center on trends in budget
transparency and public
participation, and common
challenges in the region and
more globally, drawing on
new data from the OECD
Budget Practices and
Procedures Survey and the
IBP’s OBS pen Budget Survey.
Moreover, delegates, joined
by CSO experts, will develop
a shared roadmap with
concrete measures to improve
disclosure of budget
information and public
participation. The results
of these discussions will be
used to inform a regional
ministerial meeting planned
alongside the Open
Government Partnership
Global Summit in Tbilisi in
July
2018.
Digital
Tools, Information
Technology and Citizen
Engagement, a GIFT
Workshop in Zagreb,
Croatia May
23
In the framework of the
14thAnnual Meeting of the
OECD Regional Network of
CESEE-SBO, the GIFT
coordination team will hold
the Digital Tools,
Information Technology and
Citizen Engagement
Workshop. The
workshop, which will be
attended by PEMPAL country
representatives, will be
organized in three modules:
fiscal transparency portals,
targeting the audience, and
use of social media. The
workshop will be
co-facilitated by GIFT
Lead Steward, Secretariat of
the Treasury and Public
Credit of Mexico.
Representatives from Croatia
and Ukraine (GIFT
stewards), Slovenia, Bosnia
& Herzegovina, Serbia,
Macedonia, Armenia, Georgia,
the Neverlands, Russia
Federation, Bulgaria,
Belarus and the Kyrgyz
Republic will attend the
meeting. The objectives are
to frame the importance of
using information and
communication technologies
to improve fiscal
transparency and promote
citizen engagement,
illustrating with examples
and lessons learned of the
benefits of the use of
social media channels and
disclosure of budget
information in open data;
and also, to identify areas
of collaboration, where the
GIFT
network could offer further
support and technical
collaboration.
NEW
RESOURCES
Don’t
miss the new tutorial on
disclosing and using
budget open data, by
Mexico’s SHCP and GIFT!
At the request of GIFT
Stewards to have practical
resources that explain how
to implement a fiscal
transparency policy with
open data as a fundamental
pillar, based on the
successful experience of GIFT
Stewards, the Mexican
Secretariat of Finance and
Public Credit (SHCP) –GIFT
Lead Steward- and GIFT
have produced a new Tutorial
launched this month. The
tutorial is composed of a
series of ten 1-4 minutes
that address the what, how
and for what of an open data
policy to disclose and
communicate budget
information.
PFMx:
IMF launches the Massive
Open Online Course on
Public Financial
Management from May 9 to
July 4, 2018
In this MOOC, the IMF staff
from the Fiscal Affairs
Department explains how well
designed public finance
management institutions
support economic policy
objectives, inclusive
growth, and the achievement
of the sustainable
development goals (SDG),
with an emphasis of the
information that the public
needs to hold governments
accountable. This is a 5
part course that presents
the budget cycle and the
challenges that governments
are facing, and it is
supported with an online
discussion forum. The course
is intended for PFM
officials, donor
institutions staff,
specialized CSO or anyone
interested in PFM. Check out the PFMx
at imf.org/moocs
! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHvxtW_ypwU
IMF
new Framework for Stepping
up Engagement on
Governance and Corruption
in Member Countries
This paper proposes the
adoption of a framework that
would supplement the 1997
Fund’s Guidance Note on the
Role of the Fund in
Governance Issues, adopted
by the Executive Board (the
“1997 Governance Policy”).
While the 1997 Governance
Policy remains an
appropriate basis for the
Fund’s work in this area,
further guidance from the
Executive Board is needed to
ensure that the objectives
of that policy are achieved.
Experience over the past 20
years has underscored the
critical impact that
governance issues can have
on the Fund’s work. Of
particular concern is the
evidence that corruption can
have a pernicious effect on
a country’s ability to
achieve sustainable,
inclusive economic growth.
As requested by the
Executive Board, the
proposed “Framework for
Enhanced Fund Engagement” is
designed to promote more
systematic, effective, and
candid engagement with
member countries regarding
those governance
vulnerabilities, including
corruption, that are judged
to be macroeconomically
critical. Perhaps most
importantly, the application
of the Framework for
Enhanced Fund Engagement to
all members on a systematic
basis will enhance
evenhandedness. Finally, the
Framework is designed to
strengthen the global fight
against corruption by
promoting governmental
measures that prevent
private actors from offering
bribes or providing services
that enable the proceeds of
corrupt acts to be
concealed, particularly in
the transnational context.
