Citizen Participation in Public Finance (GE0076)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: Georgia Action Plan 2018-2019
Action Plan Cycle: 2018
Status: Active
Institutions
Lead Institution: Administration of the GoG
Support Institution(s): Parliament of Georgia, Ministry of Finance Civil Society Institute
Policy Areas
Anti-Corruption, Audits, Capacity Building, E-Government, Fiscal Openness, Public Participation, Public Participation in Budget/Fiscal Policy, Social AccountabilityIRM Review
IRM Report: Georgia Design Report 2018-2019
Starred: Pending IRM Review
Early Results: Pending IRM Review
Design i
Verifiable: Yes
Relevant to OGP Values: Civic Participation , Technology
Implementation i
Completion: Pending IRM Review
Description
Commitment 11: Increasing citizen participation in oversight of public finances
Within the framework of the OGP Georgia Action Plan 2016-2017, the State Audit Office (SAO) an innovative analytical platform “Budget Monitor”, by means of which wide public has a unique possibility to obtain comprehensive information about the state budget, public resources management issues, audit findings, issued recommendations nd the state of their implementation. In addition, the platform will enable every citizen to address the SAO in connection with existing shortcomings in the management of public finances and to participate in the next year’s audit plan completion.
For increasing citizen partuicipation in this process and the platoform efficiency, the SAO shares the recommendation of the OGP’s Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) and aims to introduce a feedback mechanism for citizen addresses and notifications. This will make it possible to constantly track the status of responding to citizen addreses and notifications (including anonymous).
To ensure co-participation, the SAO plans to introduce an additional tool – preparation of audit results in the form easily accessible by society.
Commitment 11: Increasing citizen participation in oversight of public finances: implementation of effective tools for citizens feedback
Lead Agency State Audit Office
Other Involved Actors Public Agency
Civil Society/Private Sector Advisory group comprised of the representatives of the SAO and civil sector working on the issues of citizen participation in the supervision of public finance management.
Issues to be Addressed The low index of citizen participation in the budgetary process remains a challenge, which is evidenced by the 2017 Open Budget Survey assessment of citizen participation score (22 points out of 100). The reasonof the abioe can be both mistrust on the part of citizens and the lack of necessary effective means for their participation.
In response to the above, the SAO aims to cteate such mechanism of citizen participation, which will make it possible to condtantly track the status of responding to citizen addreses and notifications. The introduction of a transparent system will contribute to increaste public trust in the SAO and to create an effective mehanism for timely responding to citizen requests/claims. The SAO plans to integrate said mechanism into the Budget Monitor, which is a clear example of continuation of the OGP commitments.
Main Objective Promotion of better management through citizen participation in the oversight of public fianances.
OGP Principles Transparancy Accountability Citizens Participation Technology and Innovation
Milestones to Fulfill the Commitment New or ongoing commitment Start date End date
Creation and introduction by the Budget Monitor of a feedback mechanism for citizen notifications New May 2018 December 2018
Organization by the SAO of 5 working meetings at least with duifferent focus groups for raising awareness. Ongoing January 2018 December 2018
Indicator The feedback mechaism for citizen appeals and notifications has been introduced, through which constant track of the status of responding to the addresses and notifications (including anonymous) is possible.
IRM Midterm Status Summary
Commitment 11: Increasing Citizen Participation in Oversight of Public Finance
Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:
“Within the framework of the OGP Georgia Action Plan 2016-2017, the State Audit Office (SAO) an innovative analytical platform ‘Budget Monitor’, by means of which wide public has a unique possibility to obtain comprehensive information about the state budget, public resources management issues, audit findings, issued recommendations and the state of their implementation. In addition, the platform will enable every citizen to address the SAO in connection with existing shortcomings in the management of public finances and to participate in the next year’s audit plan completion.
For increasing citizen participation in this process and the platform efficiency, the SAO shares the recommendation of the OGP’s Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) and aims to introduce a feedback mechanism for citizen addresses and notifications. This will make it possible to constantly track the status of responding to citizen address and notifications (including anonymous)”.
Milestones:
- Creation and introduction by the Budget Monitor of a feedback mechanism for citizen notifications
- Organization by the SAO of 5 working meetings at least with different focus groups for raising awareness.
Start Date: May 2018
End Date: December 2018
Editorial note: For the full text of this commitment, please see https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/georgia-action-plan-2018-2019/.
Context and Objectives
This commitment builds on Commitment 14 from Georgia’s third action plan (2016–2017). During the third action plan, the State Audit Office of Georgia (SAO) launched the online platform budgetmonitor.ge. The platform consolidates previously dispersed information on state and municipal budgets. It also includes a “Citizen” page, where the public can suggest government bodies for auditing, and a “Fight Corruption” page, where citizens can report cases of corruption. Those reported cases are then reviewed by an auditor. [63] The IRM End-of-Term Report for the third action plan found that, despite providing the public with opportunities to participate, public participation remained low. Accordingly, to improve public participation in the audit process, SAO has committed to introduce a new feature for tracking and responding to citizen input received through budgetmonitor.ge. SAO also plans to conduct five focus groups to raise awareness of the new feedback feature. The commitment is relevant to the OGP value of civic participation. It employs web technologies for citizens to submit feedback and track the status of their feedback.
This commitment provides two verifiable milestones: the creation and introduction of a feedback mechanism for citizen notifications and the organization of five focus groups to raise awareness. However, providing more detailed information about the purpose and composition of working groups would make the commitment more specific and measurable. If fully implemented, the new feedback mechanism could result in a minor but positive improvement to the existing feedback feature on budgetmonitor.ge. The commitment could also result in improvement to participation in the auditing process more broadly. In particular, the new feature would allow citizens to track the status of their feedback via budgetmonitor.ge platform, even if they provide feedback anonymously. It is worth noting that the 2016–2017 IRM Progress Report recommended that SAO conduct a widespread awareness-raising campaign for budgetmonitor.ge. However, this commitment’s text refers to organizing five focus groups meetings, which are limited in scale.
Next steps
Although the budgetmonitor.ge platform significantly improved access to budget information during the previous action plan, this commitment represents a minor upgrade to the existing platform. Accordingly, the IRM researcher recommends that the government continue raising awareness about the platform, but not as part of the next OGP action plan.
[63] Open Government Partnership, IRM: Georgia End-of-Term Report 2016–2018, pp. 44–45, https://bit.ly/2vZMQ00
Commitments
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Improved Public Services
GE0066, 2018, Capacity Building
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Citizen Engagement Platform
GE0067, 2018, Capacity Building
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Unified Authentication System
GE0068, 2018, E-Government
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Economic Governance
GE0069, 2018, E-Government
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Environment Portal
GE0070, 2018, E-Government
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Strengthen Anti-Corruption Institutions
GE0071, 2018, Anti-Corruption
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Monitor SDGs
GE0072, 2018, Capacity Building
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Citizen Engagement Legislation
GE0073, 2018, Legislation & Regulation
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Publish Court Decisions
GE0074, 2018, E-Government
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Increasing Transparency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
GE0075, 2018, E-Government
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Citizen Participation in Public Finance
GE0076, 2018, Anti-Corruption
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Transparent Public Funding System
GE0077, 2018, Fiscal Openness
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Public Procurement Improvements
GE0078, 2018, Access to Information
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Housing Policy Planning
GE0079, 2018, Land Rights & Spatial Planning
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Openness and Accountability of State-Owned Enterprises
GE0080, 2018, E-Government
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Transparency and Good Governance
GE0081, 2018, Legislation & Regulation
-
Open Data Collection and Publication
GE0082, 2018, Access to Information
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Participation for Disabled Individuals
GE0083, 2018, Infrastructure & Transport
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Participatory Budgeting
GE0084, 2018, Capacity Building
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Your Idea for the Zugdidi Mayor
GE0085, 2018, Capacity Building
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Electronic Services
GE0086, 2018, E-Government
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I. Gov. Zugdidi
GE0087, 2018, Capacity Building
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Service and Citizen Satisfaction Assessment
GE0088, 2018, Capacity Building
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Promoting and Monitoring SDGs
GE0089, 2018, Open Parliaments
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Citizen Involvement in Budget
GE0090, 2018, E-Government
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Technology for Transparency
GE0091, 2018, E-Government
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Citizen Engagement Center
GE0092, 2018, Capacity Building
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Raising Public Awareness About Parliamentary Democracy
GE0093, 2018, E-Government
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Electronic Innovations for More Transparency and Efficiency of Public Procurement
GE0056, 2016, Anti-Corruption
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Adoption of the Environmental Assessment Code
GE0057, 2016, Anti-Corruption
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Introduction of a Mobile App as an Alternative Channel to Connect to “112”
GE0058, 2016, E-Government
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Development of Local Councils for Crime Prevention
GE0059, 2016, Justice
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Development of a Guidebook for Economic Agents
GE0060, 2016, Capacity Building
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Development and Introduction of the Quality Control Program of Commercial Service
GE0061, 2016, Capacity Building
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Presentation of Company Reports in an Electronic Form and Provision of Their Accessibility
GE0062, 2016, Capacity Building
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Introduction of an Electronic Petition Portal and “Zugdidi-INFO” on the Webpage of Zugdidi Municipality Assembly
GE0063, 2016, Capacity Building
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Transparency of Ozurgeti Municipality Assembly Meetings
GE0064, 2016, Capacity Building
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Creation of Electronic Mechanism for Local Budget Planning in Kutaisi, Ozurgeti, Batumi and Akhaltsikhe
GE0065, 2016, E-Government
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Adapting the Public Service Hall to the Needs of the People with Disabilities
GE0042, 2016, Capacity Building
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Launch of the Unified Healthcare System Information Portal
GE0043, 2016, Capacity Building
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Introduction of Electronic Licensing System in the Field of Natural Resources Application
GE0044, 2016, Anti-Corruption
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Creation of Spatial (Geographic) Data Web-Portal for the Energy Sector
GE0045, 2016, Capacity Building
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Creation of Innovation Ecosystem
GE0046, 2016, Capacity Building
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Electronic Portal for Registering and Disposal of State Property – Customer’S Module
GE0047, 2016, E-Government
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Development of the Freedom of Information Law
GE0048, 2016, Access to Information
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Development of a Monitoring and Assessment System of the Government Policy and Legislative Acts
GE0049, 2016, Capacity Building
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Introduction of the Public Officials’ Asset Declarations Monitoring System
GE0050, 2016, Anti-Corruption
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Establishing Unified Regulations to Publish Court Decisions
GE0051, 2016, Judiciary
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Development of Transparency and Integrity Strategy and Action Plan in the Field of Regional Development and Infrastructure
GE0052, 2016, Capacity Building
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Improvement of the Database of the Convicted and Transfer of the Penitentiary Department Entirely Onto the Electronic Workflow Management
GE0053, 2016, Capacity Building
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Publication of Phone Tapping Data According to the Nature of the Crime and Geographic Area
GE0054, 2016, E-Government
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Increasing Citizen Participation in Supervision of Public Finances (Public Audit)
GE0055, 2016, Anti-Corruption
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"Voice of the Consumer"
GE0013, 2014, Public Participation
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JUSTdrive
GE0014, 2014,
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Educational Services
GE0015, 2014, Education
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Citizen's Portal (Www.Mygov.Ge)
GE0016, 2014, Capacity Building
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Transformation of Public Libraries for Regional Development
GE0017, 2014, Capacity Building
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Digital Signature and Online Authentication
GE0018, 2014, E-Government
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Open Data Portal (Data.Gov.Ge)
GE0019, 2014, Access to Information
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Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Draft
GE0020, 2014, Access to Information
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Georgia's OGP Forum
GE0021, 2014, Public Participation
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I-Change.Ge
GE0022, 2014, E-Government
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Transparency of Public Service Recruitment
GE0023, 2014, E-Government
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Asset Declaration Monitoring System
GE0024, 2014, Anti-Corruption
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Political Party Financial Declarations
GE0025, 2014, Access to Information
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Accessibility of Ministry of Interior's Webpage to People with Special Needs
GE0026, 2014, E-Government
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Proactive Publishing of Surveillance Data
GE0027, 2014, Civic Space
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Public Awareness of the Electoral Process
GE0028, 2014, Capacity Building
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Transparency of Budgetary Processes
GE0029, 2014, E-Government
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Electronic System of Procurement
GE0030, 2014, Anti-Corruption
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Digital Human Resource Management System
GE0031, 2014, E-Government
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Digital Preservation System: E-Archive
GE0032, 2014, E-Government
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Openness and Accessibility of National Archives
GE0033, 2014, E-Government
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Electronic Catalogues of Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) Archives
GE0034, 2014, E-Government
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Public Finance Management System
GE0035, 2014, E-Government
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Alternative Channels to "112"
GE0036, 2014, E-Government
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Interactive Statistics and Crime Mapping
GE0037, 2014, E-Government
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Travel Insurance Services
GE0038, 2014, Citizenship & Immigration
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State Property Registration
GE0039, 2014,
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Development of Community Centers in Georgia
GE0040, 2014, E-Government
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Introduction of e-Governance in Local Self-Governments
GE0041, 2014, E-Government
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Public Service Hall-Hub of Public Services
GE0001, 2012, Access to Justice
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e-Governance in Local Governments
GE0002, 2012, E-Government
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Citizens’ Portal
GE0003, 2012, E-Government
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Easily Accessible and Better Healthcare
GE0004, 2012, E-Government
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Launch Ichange.Ge and Data.Gov.Ge
GE0005, 2012, E-Government
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Platform for Participating in the Legislative Process
GE0006, 2012, E-Government
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Citizens and Justice
GE0007, 2012, Access to Justice
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Transparent Party Financing
GE0008, 2012, Anti-Corruption
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Home-Grown Concept of E-Procurement
GE0009, 2012, Anti-Corruption
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e-Declarations
GE0010, 2012, Anti-Corruption
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Technology Cares for Safety: ICCMS, Crime Mapping, and Safety in Your Neighbourhood
GE0011, 2012, E-Government
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NGO Forum
GE0012, 2012, Capacity Building