Working towards better fiscal information: the case of the Mexican Budget Transparency Portal October, 2015

Index I.Introduction II.Impacts of the collaboration between CSOs and MoF III.Elements that led to success IV.Key Lessons V.Recommendations

I. Introduction

After a decade of denouncing that the budget information Mexico was not sufficient in we decided to change our advocacy strategy and thus, our narrative: 1.Stress the importance and impacts of budget transparency. 2.Start a collaborative interaction with the government. 3.Formed a coalition of organizations to worked towards this goal. 4.Concentrate in the publication of an specific document: the Citizen’s Budget. 5.Use international best practices to ask for specific information: OBS.

II. Impacts of the collaboration between CSOs and MoF

i.Instituted practice within the MoF to produce a Citizens Budget as part of the key budget documents produced every year. ii.Advancements in Subnational and Municipal level budget transparency. iii.Institutional use of freedom of information requests.

iv.Enhance the understanding and acceptance of the relevance of budget transparency within the MoF. v.Increased understanding of the relevance of CSOs inputs. vi.Improved information systems within the MoF.

OBI scores, Indonesia and Mexico: constant collaboration with civil society produced a steady increase in the score Source: International Budget Partnership, 2015.

III. Elements that led to success

i.Pressure from the CSOs within the 2009 economic crisis scenario. ii.Mexico’s scores on international transparency and corruption indexes. iii.Consolidated and highly skilled national community of practice in budget transparency. iv.Changes in the Executive that placed transparency “champions” in key decision-making positions within the MoF. v.A global trend towards similar processes and tools.

IV. Key Lessons

i.Budget transparency and participation gains are not immediate and cannot be solely attributed to the actions of one stakeholder. ii.Importance of civil society inputs. i.Change also depends on establishing and fostering relationships, which then need to be used strategically.

V. Recommendations

i.Make a specific diagnostic of what information is needed to monitor the budget cycle and why. ii.Establish a socially useful information list. iii.Make specific timeframe commitments to start publishing the documents and develop a chronogram that serves as a checklist. iv.Make a public commitment towards the publication and or enhancement of the agreed documents.

¡Muchas gracias! Diego de la Mora x 119