Guide on Principles and Mechanisms of Public Participation in Fiscal Policy

Guide on Principles and Mechanisms of Public Participation in Fiscal Policy

GIFT – March 2016

GUIDE ON PRINCIPLES AND MECHANISMS OF

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN FISCAL POLICY

Concept Note

I. Objective

The Guide’s primary goal is to provide guidance about how to integrate public participation into fiscal policy and the associated benefits. The Guide will achieve this by illustrating with practical examples of mechanisms (“practices”) and providing step by step guidance about how the GIFT principles on public participation in fiscal policy can be successfully put in practice.

II. Audience

Ministries of Finance and other executive departments or ministries; legislative committees engaged in the formulation and review of the budget; citizens and community members interested in engaging in the way public funds are used; and civil society organizations that are actively seeking to engage with governments.

III. Methodology

The Guide identifies mechanisms or practices that illustrate GIFT’s Principles of Public Participation in Fiscal Policy and dissects them across a number of dimensions (described below) to provide “how to” guidance tailored to those who wish to implement similar efforts.

The guidance should not be understood as a source of prescriptive recipes, but rather as a catalogue of viable approaches to integrate public participation into fiscal policy, each of which must be defined on a case by case basis depending specific goals and broader context. The Guide will initially offer a small number of cases in a multimedia platform and more can be gradually added in the future, subject to demand.

Each mechanism will be presented and discussed with the following dimensions:

1. The Mechanism: Introduction and Benefits

This section will briefly describe the mechanism and the country where it took place. It will then discuss the benefits that can be achieved with the mechanism, including a brief description of the particular policy objectives and public demands or expectations that the practice is intended to address. This will also serve as an explanation about why we decided to include each mechanism in this Guide.

2. How to Choose

Before learning how to design and implement a mechanism, users of the Guide will first face the question of which mechanism – or variation of it - to choose, depending on their specific circumstances. The Guide will walk them through a series of key factors they should consider when making that decision as follows:

2.1 Fact Sheet

This is a “how to” Guide and as such it does not seek to provide in depth context descriptions or analysis. However, it will provide a brief fact sheet to facilitate an understanding of the surrounding factors and conditions in which the mechanism in question took place. Users of the Guide can contrast them with their own. The Fact Sheet will include:

·  Type of government

·  Brief description of the civic space

·  Actor’s positioning in the country

2.2 Type of Participation

The Guide will follow the IAP2’s Spectrum of Public Participation to identify the type of participation that each mechanism utilizes:

·  Inform

·  Consult

·  Involve

·  Collaborate

·  Empower

2.3. Stage in the Budget Cycle

This category will identify the stage in the budget cycle in which the mechanism takes place and why public participation matters in that stage. For the purpose of the Guide, we will follow the classification below:

·  Formulation (including new fiscal policy proposals)

·  Enactment

·  Implementation (including service delivery and public investments)

·  Audit

2.4 Branch of Government

This category will identify the branch of government implementing the mechanism and briefly discuss any relevant particularities specific to the nature of that branch that should be considered in both design and implementation:

·  Legislative branch

·  Executive Branch

·  Supreme Audit Institution

3. Principles of Public Participation in Fiscal Policy

The Guide will discuss which of the 10 GIFT principles are engaged in the practice. When appropriate, it will also offer recommendations of potential actions that would allow the mechanism to engage more of the principles.

4. “How to” Design and Implement

This will be the richest and most detailed section for each mechanism. It will provide a step-by-step description of how to design and how to implement the mechanism, including detailed descriptions of the process, structure and components required.

5. Lessons Learned and Conditions for Success

This dimension will identify the key lessons learned by the practitioners who implemented the mechanisms and any relevant evidence from the current state of the field, as well as tips and the main conditions and factors associated to the success of the practice.

6. Other Practices

The Guide will not include all known relevant practices, but it will point at other similar or related practices that those interested in implementing public participation mechanisms may want to consider and further research as they choose the best solution for their specific case.

IV. Background Information

In addition to the mechanisms presented in the format described above, the multimedia platform where the Guide will be embedded will also contain additional background information, such as a brief history of public participation in fiscal transparency, the full GIFT Principles of Public Participation in Fiscal Policy and the High-Level Principles of Fiscal Transparency and their preambles, links to key literature and research on the matter, and other resources that users interested in learning more may find useful.

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