On the Project Budget Literacy for High School Students DEVELOPMENT OF BUDGET LITERACY Closing Conference On the Project Budget Literacy for High School Students June 22, 2017 Moscow Development of Budget Literacy in the Russian Federation: Further Steps

What is budget literacy about? Budget literacy is the ability to read, decipher, and understand public budgets to enable and enhance meaningful citizen participation in the budget process. (World Bank). In the context of the RF, budget literacy includes understanding of relations between a citizen and the budget: What do I pay to the budget What do I receive / can receive from the budget How can I influence the budget process

Why do we need budget literacy? Creates prerequisites for a dialogue between the authorities and the society on the issues related to formation and areas of spending public finance Fosters people’s confidence in the authorities Is a response to growing interest of the civil society to public governance issues, among which a special place is given to use of public finance. Allows the population, primarily the groups that need social protection, full exercise of the rights to get support from the state

The current situation On one hand, a lot has been done to enhance openness of the budget: Publication of the citizens’ budget at the federal and regional levels on the public finance information transparency score (Open Budget Index), in 2015, Russia took the 11th place among in 102 countries The information campaign, promotion and support of regions and municipalities by the state led to expansion of the practice for implementation of the initiative budget, On the other hand, Interest to the budget is low, according to the Ministry of Finance of Russia, over the past 3 years, only about 64.3 thousand users addressed citizens budgets of various years on the Internet. Statistics of such views and downloads is uneven by years, and there is no positive dynamics. The situation in regions is quite similar. Citizens awareness about their rights for social support still remains at a rather low level. The number of requests for tax deductions on TIPI in connection with payment for educational services is 5 times lower than the number of students that pay in full the tuition fee. One of the main reasons for the low level of involvement of citizens in budget-related issues is the insufficient level of budget literacy of the population

Goals and objectives of enhancement of budget literacy Enhancement of budget literacy is needed in order to form a responsible civic position of a significant part of the population by means of understanding objectives and functions of the state budget, rights and duties with respect to the budget. Achievement of the set goal implies solutions for the following tasks: Inclusion of budget and budget process related issues in curricula at all levels, starting from high school; Development of a system for upgrading skills related to the budget and budget process related issues; Elaboration and dissemination of information and educational materials on the budget and budget process related issues; Creation of a portal on budget literacy – actual content, educational programs and materials, methodological support for implementation of programs on budget literacy, arrangement of a dialogue between teachers, etc.

Enhancement of budget literacy: Target groups Youth Schoolchildren Intermediate vocational education and university students Adults Taxpayers Entrepreneurs Citizens that receive social support from the budget Employees of governing bodies and deputies of all levels. People working in mass media

Key issues related to enhancement of budget literacy Large-scale involvement of the population in enhancement of budget literacy Organization and forms of enhancement of budget literacy of certain target groups Customization of the content of courses and educational materials for specific target groups

Organization of enhancement of budget literacy and educational-information materials Schoolchildren Inclusion of elements of budget literacy in curricula of compulsory subjects Studying basics of budget literacy in terms of the main curriculum that is formed by participants of educational relations – optional and elective subjects; Extracurricular courses, and also training in the framework of additional general educational programs. Students For profile specialties – enhancement of practical orientation of the course, access to current information using the Internet For non-profile specialties – a course of choice, that includes not only issues related to formation and spending of budget funds, but that also presents to students possibilities of citizens’ participation in the budget process.

Forms and organization of enhancement of budget literacy and educational-information materials Entrepreneurs Preparation and dissemination of materials, and organization of educational events (workshops, roundtables, business games) could be done by unions of entrepreneurs, such as “Opora Rossii” and associations of entrepreneurs and producers with methodological support from financial and fiscal bodies Citizens who receive social support from the budget Preparation and dissemination of this information in the form of brochures, leaflets, posters and video clips, and also by means of holding individual consultations by social protection services Employees of governing bodies and deputies of all levels. Creation of an ongoing system for training and methodological support for employees of governing bodies with emphasis on the specifics of the budget and budget process of a corresponding level with involvement of the infrastructure on promotion of initiative budgeting practices that is being created in recent years in the regions People working in mass media Training courses and modules for students who study at faculties of journalism. Programs of courses and workshops for working journalists who cover socio-political and economic topics Parents’ Guide developed in the framework of the teaching materials for high school students could serve as a basis for educational and information materials

Next steps on ensuring enhancement of budget literacy of the population in the Russian Federation. List of events Timeframe (2017) 1. Development of a draft Concept for development of budget literacy in the Russian Federation taking into consideration results of discussions (discussed at the Draft Expert Council on 20.04.17, approved at the meeting of the Working Group of the Ministry of Finance of Russia on promotion of the project “Citizens’ Budget” on March 1, 2017. Done 2. Development of the curriculum “Budget literacy for high school students” for the purpose of including the course in the registry of sample general educational programs of the Ministry of Education and Science 3. Elaboration of proposals on inclusion of elements of the course “Budget literacy for high school students” in the school curricula September 1 4. Elaboration of proposals on inclusion of budget literacy in curricula for training school teachers in teacher training universities 5. Elaboration of proposals on motivating constituents of the RF to hold events on enhancement of budget literacy of the population November 1 6. Development of the Program for Promotion of budget literacy of the population in the Russian Federation for the mid-term period

Thank you for attention