Citizen Involvement in Budget (GE0090)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: Not Attached
Action Plan Cycle: 2018
Status: Active
Institutions
Lead Institution: Parliament of Georgia
Support Institution(s): Initiator: GIZ Programme “Public Financial Management in the South Caucasus”; GGI
Policy Areas
E-Government, Fiscal Openness, Open Parliaments, Participation in Lawmaking, Public Participation, Public Participation in Budget/Fiscal Policy, Publication of Budget/Fiscal Information, Regulatory GovernanceDescription
2. Increasing Citizen Involvement in the Elaboration and Approval of the Budget
Lead Agency Parliament of Georgia
Partners Public Institution Initiator: Parliament of Georgia
Civil/International/Private Sector Initiator: GIZ Programme “Public Financial Management in the South Caucasus”; GGI
Current Situation and Challenges In order to establish efficient, effective and accountable budget system, it is crucial to ensure citizen involvement in budgetary processes.
According to the Open Budget Survey conducted within the framework of International Budget Partnership (IBP) in 2017, Georgia took the fifth place. Despite receiving high rating in accordance with a number of criterions (80 Points/OBI 2017), the country is still challenged with a low rating (22 Points/OBI 2017) for the criterion of Citizen Involvement in Budgetary Processes.
The nature of the budget process requires that certain activities involve joint effort of key organizations that participate in the process, including coordination and implementation of Parliamentary control on performed activities.
Main Objective
Ensure transparency and increased citizen involvement in elaboration and approval process of the state budget.
OGP Challenge Improving Public Services
OGP Principles Access to Information Accountability
Citizen Engagement
Technologies and Innovation
√ √ √
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) the Commitment addresses
Goal 16
Milestones New/Old Commitment Start Date: End Date:
1. Elaboration of Policy and Guidance Documents (in accordance with OBS and GIFT Recommendations) on Citizen Involvement in the budgetary processes by the Parliament, the Ministry of Finance and the State Audit Office with the participation of civil society, international and donor organizations. 09/2018 07/2019
2. Ensuring accessibility of simple, easy and visually processed information about the state budget / draft budget on the website of the Parliament (GGI) 10/2018 04/2019
3. Review of the Annual Report on activities carried out in order to ensure the transparency of the state budget and citizen involvement in budgetary processes submitted by the Ministry of Finance to the Finance and Budget Committee of the Parliament 02/2019 10/2019
4. Holding civil society consultations with the participation of Parliamentary Committees, the Budget Office, the State Audit Office and CSOs from the day of submission of information on key macroeconomic forecasts and main directions of the Ministries of Georgia to the Parliament of Georgia until the final hearing by the Finance and Budget Committee 01/2019 07/2019
5. Holding civil society consultations with the participation of Parliamentary Committees, the Budget Office, and the State Audit Office from the day of submission of the draft law on state budget to the Parliament until its final hearing by the Finance and Budget Committee 09/2019 11/2019
6. Elaboration and proactive disclosure of the Finance and Budget Committee Report on civil society involvement in the Committee hearing of the main documents on key macroeconomic forecasts, main directions of the Ministries of Georgia and the State Budget Draft Law 02/2019 12/2019
7. Elaboration and proactive disclosure of the Parliamentary Recommendations document by the Finance and Budget Committee of the Parliament of Georgia 07/2018 07/2019
Indicators
Activity 1 (GIZ and the Parliament of Georgia) Policy and guidance documents on citizen Involvement in budgetary processes are elaborated and shared with civil society representatives
Activity 2 (GGI) Simple, easy and visually processed information about the state budget / draft budget is proactively disclosed on the website of the Parliament
Activity 3 (GIZ and the Parliament of Georgia) The Committee has reviewed the report at least once and has proactively disclosed the minutes of the hearing
Activity 4 (GIZ and the Parliament of Georgia) The Finance and Budget Committee has conducted at least one meeting with civil society representatives and has proactively disclosed a report
Activity 5 (GIZ and the Parliament of Georgia) The Finance and Budget Committee has conducted at least one meeting with civil society representatives and has proactively disclosed a report
Activity 6 (GIZ and the Parliament of Georgia) The report has been proactively disclosed on the website of the Parliament
Activity 7 (GIZ and the Parliament of Georgia) • Relevant amendments have been applied to the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament;
• Recommendations have been proactively disclosed on the website of the Parliament
IRM Midterm Status Summary
Commitment 25: Increasing Involvement in the Elaboration and Approval of the Budget
Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:
“In order to establish efficient, effective and accountable budget system, it is crucial to ensure citizen involvement in budgetary processes.
According to the Open Budget Survey conducted within the framework of International Budget Partnership (IBP) in 2017, Georgia took the fifth place. Despite receiving high rating in accordance with a number of criteria (80 Points/OBI 2017), the country is still challenged with a low rating (22 Points/OBI 2017) for the criterion of Citizen Involvement in Budgetary Processes.
The nature of the budget process requires that certain activities involve joint effort of key organizations that participate in the process, including coordination and implementation of Parliamentary control on performed activities.”
Milestones:
- Elaboration of Policy and Guidance Documents (in accordance with OBS and GIFT Recommendations) on Citizen Involvement in the budgetary processes by the Parliament, the Ministry of Finance and the State Audit Office with the participation of civil society, international and donor organizations.
- Ensuring accessibility of simple, easy and visually processed information about the state budget / draft budget on the website of the Parliament (GGI)
- Review of the Annual Report on activities carried out in order to ensure the transparency of the state budget and citizen involvement in budgetary processes submitted by the Ministry of Finance to the Finance and Budget Committee of the Parliament
- Holding civil society consultations with the participation of Parliamentary Committees, the Budget Office, the State Audit Office and CSOs from the day of submission of information on key macroeconomic forecasts and main directions of the Ministries of Georgia to the Parliament of Georgia until the final hearing by the Finance and Budget Committee
- Holding civil society consultations with the participation of Parliamentary Committees, the Budget Office, and the State Audit Office from the day of submission of the draft law on state budget to the Parliament until its final hearing by the Finance and Budget Committee
- Elaboration and proactive disclosure of the Finance and Budget Committee Report on civil society involvement in the Committee hearing of the main documents on key macroeconomic forecasts, main directions of the Ministries of Georgia and the State Budget Draft Law
- Elaboration and proactive disclosure of the Parliamentary Recommendations document by the Finance and Budget Committee of the Parliament of Georgia
Start Date: September 2018
End Date: December 2019
Editorial note: For the full text of this commitment, please see https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/georgia-action-plan-2018-2019/.
Context and Objectives
In its 2017 Open Budget Survey, the International Budget Partnership recommended that the Government of Georgia provide more opportunities for the public to participate in budget design and implementation processes. It also recommended holding legislative hearings on the formulation of the annual budget, during which any member of the public or civil society organization could testify. [131]
As part of these efforts, the Parliament of Georgia, plans to develop a public participation policy document and guidelines. It will work with development partners and with the Ministry of Finance, the State Audit Office, and civil society organizations (CSOs). The document will follow the Open Budget Survey and the Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency recommendations. [132] It also aims to institutionalize mechanisms for increasing public participation in budgetary processes.
The commitment also calls for the development of an online module that will be integrated into the new parliamentary webpage. [133] That webpage will present budget-related information in an easy-to-understand manner, compared to the current practice of publishing the budget draft-law in its original form. According to stakeholders, this module will differ from the existing budgetmonitor.ge. It will provide information about the budget draft-law and not the actual national budget. [134]
Lastly, this commitment also aims to introduce several mechanisms regarding civic participation in the budget process. These include holding consultations with CSOs on key macroeconomic forecasts for ministries, holding committee hearings and consultations with CSOs on the state budget bill, and elaborating and publishing committee reports and recommendations. The aforementioned activities are relevant to the OGP values of access to information and civic participation. The commitment provides specific milestones and indicators and is thus verifiable.
According to an interviewed National Democratic Institute representative, [135] public participation largely depends on the support of donor organizations to Parliament in raising awareness through public outreach campaigns, both in the capital and the regions. Parliament has now committed to disseminate information about the prospective budget, which is a timely and positive step forward. Participants in the IRM researcher’s focus group noted that this commitment includes important activities for increasing transparency and informing the public, [136] Though they were skeptical regarding the citizen participation component. Involving citizens in the budgeting process could be challenging, because they often do not possess specific understanding of this process.
Overall, this commitment includes positive steps for increasing the participation of CSOs in the entire process, including consultations with CSOs from budget submission to the final hearing. The commitment also increases the accountability of the government to the Parliament. However, the mechanisms for engaging citizens in budgeting processes are not explicitly defined, which somewhat limits the potential impact of the commitment. Considering the cumulative effect of all the activities, this commitment could represent a moderate improvement regarding involvement in elaboration and approval of the national budget.
Next steps
The Parliament could improve the scale and the scope of the commitment. This could be done by increasing the number of and expanding consultations about the key macroeconomic forecasts and main directions of the state budget bill to the regions (Milestones 25.4 and 25.5). By widening its consultations, the Parliament could expand limited participation and possibly increase the impact of the commitment.
To stimulate public interest and participation in budgetary processes, the Budget and Finance Committee could promote and hold a public hearing of the Ministry and Finance “annual report about the activities carried out in order to ensure the transparency of the state budget and citizen involvement in budgetary processes” (Milestone 25.3). This hearing would go beyond the regular committee review, creating stronger public accountability links and extending the scope of the commitment.
The Budget and Finance Committee should elaborate a monitoring mechanism to ensure that the government follows the recommendations developed under Milestone 25.7 for the next budget bill cycle.
[131] International Budget Partnership, Open Budget Survey 2017, “Georgia,” https://bit.ly/2E1hNTE.
[132] Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency, “Mechanisms of Public Participation,” https://bit.ly/2LW7yU5.
[133] The launch of the new webpage of the Parliament of Georgia is envisaged as part of Commitment 26 of the 2018–2019 OGP national action plan.
[134] Tamar Sartania, Deputy Chief of Party, National Democratic Institute, interview with IRM researcher, 11 July 2019.
[135] Sartania interview, 11 July 2019.
[136] IRM researcher’s focus group discussion with experts, researchers, and master’s students of public administration, 18 June 2018.
Commitments
-
Improved Public Services
GE0066, 2018, Capacity Building
-
Citizen Engagement Platform
GE0067, 2018, Capacity Building
-
Unified Authentication System
GE0068, 2018, E-Government
-
Economic Governance
GE0069, 2018, E-Government
-
Environment Portal
GE0070, 2018, E-Government
-
Strengthen Anti-Corruption Institutions
GE0071, 2018, Anti-Corruption
-
Monitor SDGs
GE0072, 2018, Capacity Building
-
Citizen Engagement Legislation
GE0073, 2018, Legislation & Regulation
-
Publish Court Decisions
GE0074, 2018, E-Government
-
Increasing Transparency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
GE0075, 2018, E-Government
-
Citizen Participation in Public Finance
GE0076, 2018, Anti-Corruption
-
Transparent Public Funding System
GE0077, 2018, Fiscal Openness
-
Public Procurement Improvements
GE0078, 2018, Access to Information
-
Housing Policy Planning
GE0079, 2018, Land Rights & Spatial Planning
-
Openness and Accountability of State-Owned Enterprises
GE0080, 2018, E-Government
-
Transparency and Good Governance
GE0081, 2018, Legislation & Regulation
-
Open Data Collection and Publication
GE0082, 2018, Access to Information
-
Participation for Disabled Individuals
GE0083, 2018, Infrastructure & Transport
-
Participatory Budgeting
GE0084, 2018, Capacity Building
-
Your Idea for the Zugdidi Mayor
GE0085, 2018, Capacity Building
-
Electronic Services
GE0086, 2018, E-Government
-
I. Gov. Zugdidi
GE0087, 2018, Capacity Building
-
Service and Citizen Satisfaction Assessment
GE0088, 2018, Capacity Building
-
Promoting and Monitoring SDGs
GE0089, 2018, Open Parliaments
-
Citizen Involvement in Budget
GE0090, 2018, E-Government
-
Technology for Transparency
GE0091, 2018, E-Government
-
Citizen Engagement Center
GE0092, 2018, Capacity Building
-
Raising Public Awareness About Parliamentary Democracy
GE0093, 2018, E-Government
-
Electronic Innovations for More Transparency and Efficiency of Public Procurement
GE0056, 2016, Anti-Corruption
-
Adoption of the Environmental Assessment Code
GE0057, 2016, Anti-Corruption
-
Introduction of a Mobile App as an Alternative Channel to Connect to “112”
GE0058, 2016, E-Government
-
Development of Local Councils for Crime Prevention
GE0059, 2016, Justice
-
Development of a Guidebook for Economic Agents
GE0060, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Development and Introduction of the Quality Control Program of Commercial Service
GE0061, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Presentation of Company Reports in an Electronic Form and Provision of Their Accessibility
GE0062, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Introduction of an Electronic Petition Portal and “Zugdidi-INFO” on the Webpage of Zugdidi Municipality Assembly
GE0063, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Transparency of Ozurgeti Municipality Assembly Meetings
GE0064, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Creation of Electronic Mechanism for Local Budget Planning in Kutaisi, Ozurgeti, Batumi and Akhaltsikhe
GE0065, 2016, E-Government
-
Adapting the Public Service Hall to the Needs of the People with Disabilities
GE0042, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Launch of the Unified Healthcare System Information Portal
GE0043, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Introduction of Electronic Licensing System in the Field of Natural Resources Application
GE0044, 2016, Anti-Corruption
-
Creation of Spatial (Geographic) Data Web-Portal for the Energy Sector
GE0045, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Creation of Innovation Ecosystem
GE0046, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Electronic Portal for Registering and Disposal of State Property – Customer’S Module
GE0047, 2016, E-Government
-
Development of the Freedom of Information Law
GE0048, 2016, Access to Information
-
Development of a Monitoring and Assessment System of the Government Policy and Legislative Acts
GE0049, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Introduction of the Public Officials’ Asset Declarations Monitoring System
GE0050, 2016, Anti-Corruption
-
Establishing Unified Regulations to Publish Court Decisions
GE0051, 2016, Judiciary
-
Development of Transparency and Integrity Strategy and Action Plan in the Field of Regional Development and Infrastructure
GE0052, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Improvement of the Database of the Convicted and Transfer of the Penitentiary Department Entirely Onto the Electronic Workflow Management
GE0053, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Publication of Phone Tapping Data According to the Nature of the Crime and Geographic Area
GE0054, 2016, E-Government
-
Increasing Citizen Participation in Supervision of Public Finances (Public Audit)
GE0055, 2016, Anti-Corruption
-
"Voice of the Consumer"
GE0013, 2014, Public Participation
-
JUSTdrive
GE0014, 2014,
-
Educational Services
GE0015, 2014, Education
-
Citizen's Portal (Www.Mygov.Ge)
GE0016, 2014, Capacity Building
-
Transformation of Public Libraries for Regional Development
GE0017, 2014, Capacity Building
-
Digital Signature and Online Authentication
GE0018, 2014, E-Government
-
Open Data Portal (Data.Gov.Ge)
GE0019, 2014, Access to Information
-
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Draft
GE0020, 2014, Access to Information
-
Georgia's OGP Forum
GE0021, 2014, Public Participation
-
I-Change.Ge
GE0022, 2014, E-Government
-
Transparency of Public Service Recruitment
GE0023, 2014, E-Government
-
Asset Declaration Monitoring System
GE0024, 2014, Anti-Corruption
-
Political Party Financial Declarations
GE0025, 2014, Access to Information
-
Accessibility of Ministry of Interior's Webpage to People with Special Needs
GE0026, 2014, E-Government
-
Proactive Publishing of Surveillance Data
GE0027, 2014, Civic Space
-
Public Awareness of the Electoral Process
GE0028, 2014, Capacity Building
-
Transparency of Budgetary Processes
GE0029, 2014, E-Government
-
Electronic System of Procurement
GE0030, 2014, Anti-Corruption
-
Digital Human Resource Management System
GE0031, 2014, E-Government
-
Digital Preservation System: E-Archive
GE0032, 2014, E-Government
-
Openness and Accessibility of National Archives
GE0033, 2014, E-Government
-
Electronic Catalogues of Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) Archives
GE0034, 2014, E-Government
-
Public Finance Management System
GE0035, 2014, E-Government
-
Alternative Channels to "112"
GE0036, 2014, E-Government
-
Interactive Statistics and Crime Mapping
GE0037, 2014, E-Government
-
Travel Insurance Services
GE0038, 2014, Citizenship & Immigration
-
State Property Registration
GE0039, 2014,
-
Development of Community Centers in Georgia
GE0040, 2014, E-Government
-
Introduction of e-Governance in Local Self-Governments
GE0041, 2014, E-Government
-
Public Service Hall-Hub of Public Services
GE0001, 2012, Access to Justice
-
e-Governance in Local Governments
GE0002, 2012, E-Government
-
Citizens’ Portal
GE0003, 2012, E-Government
-
Easily Accessible and Better Healthcare
GE0004, 2012, E-Government
-
Launch Ichange.Ge and Data.Gov.Ge
GE0005, 2012, E-Government
-
Platform for Participating in the Legislative Process
GE0006, 2012, E-Government
-
Citizens and Justice
GE0007, 2012, Access to Justice
-
Transparent Party Financing
GE0008, 2012, Anti-Corruption
-
Home-Grown Concept of E-Procurement
GE0009, 2012, Anti-Corruption
-
e-Declarations
GE0010, 2012, Anti-Corruption
-
Technology Cares for Safety: ICCMS, Crime Mapping, and Safety in Your Neighbourhood
GE0011, 2012, E-Government
-
NGO Forum
GE0012, 2012, Capacity Building