Strengthening Fiscal Openness Together: Progress, Innovation, and Collective Action
December 4 & 11, 2024 | via Zoom Teleconference
Background
In December 2024, the GIFT Stewards General Meeting (SGM) brought together members and partners of the Network, including representatives from ministries of finance, civil society organizations, international financial institutions, and other key stakeholders. This gathering focused on the latest developments and emerging trends in members’ efforts to advance fiscal openness, offering a valuable platform for collaboration and knowledge sharing.
The meeting provided a unique opportunity to tackle common challenges and exchange innovative approaches to promoting transparency, accountability, and public participation in budget processes. Through these discussions, participants contributed to strengthening collective efforts in driving impactful and sustainable reforms in public financial management.
Objectives
The main objectives of the SGM 2024 were to:
- Provide updates on GIFT membership and progress on the implementation of GIFT’s work plan; and
- Facilitate knowledge-sharing on challenges, accomplishments, and lessons learned by GIFT Stewards from their latest fiscal openness efforts and innovations.
Session #1: SGM 2023 Opening Session and GIFT Stewards Updates
- Date: December 4, 2024
- Time: 8h00 EST / 7h00 CST / 21h00 PST / 14h00 CET / 23h30 ACDT
- Duration: 120 minutes
This session provided a dynamic platform for GIFT Stewards to share their accomplishments, challenges, and key lessons learned over the past year, as well as outline their plans for sustaining and advancing fiscal openness initiatives.
The GIFT Coordination Team presented updates on the implementation of GIFT’s strategic work plan, highlighting progress and ongoing efforts across the network. Additionally, exciting announcements were made to recognize countries and participants who actively completed GIFT’s online course: Advancing Fiscal Transparency for Development.
Session #2: Promoting Innovating and Meaningful Use of Fiscal Data: Showcasing 2024 Dataquests and Data Rally Journeys
- Date: December 11, 2024
- Time: 8h00 EST / 7h00 CST / 21h00 PST / 14h00 CET / 23h30 ACD
- Duration: 90 minutes
The Principles of Public Participation in Fiscal Policies aimed to guide fiscal policymakers and other stakeholders in their efforts to improve government performance and public trust. The GIFT network upheld these principles through a number of initiatives, understanding that they came in a myriad of shapes and formats. One of them was the user engagement initiatives: the #DataOnTheStreets Rally and the #Dataquest for Sustainable Development, which allowed the use of fiscal information in open formats and incorporated different audiences that were traditionally not as interested or involved in analyzing the information published by ministries of finance.
In this session, a panel featured organizers and winners of these initiatives from Mexico and the Philippines, discussing ways for government-civil society collaborations to expand and enhance the use of fiscal data while making listening to the demand impactful.
