1. OPEN BUDGET SURVEY 2017 findings on Public Participation Anjali Garg Suad Hasan

2. Participation mechanisms by the three institutions are assessed
Executives
Legislatures
Audit Institutes

3. (GIFT Principle of Timeliness)

4. OBS 2017 questions on Public Participation:
Total of 18 questions, revised from the last round
Drawn from GIFT principles on Participation in Public Finance
Better aligned to international norms
Capture formal participation mechanisms at the national level
Impose higher standards and represents a more robust approach to measuring public participation:
Higher scores are reserved for countries that facilitate an engagement between governments and citizens
Assess who is participating, if it is open to all/ based off invitations/ include vulnerable and underrepresented groups (GIFT principle of Inclusiveness)
Captures more information about the purpose, scope, intended outcomes, timeline of what is covered during the consultations (GIFT principle of Openness)
Captures if there was a summary/report/ feedback on the inputs received (GIFT principle of Depth)

5. What the questions do not assess:
Informal participation mechanisms for influencing budget decisions
Not able to assess whether the participation mechanisms lead to high quality participation or genuine changes in budget decisions
The percentage of budget covered through the consultations
Participation mechanisms that exist at the municipal levels

6. Examples of the kind of mechanisms from around the world:
Pre-budget consultations
Call for pre-budget submissions
Public Councils
Public consultations (on specific policy issues)
Sector Working Groups
Governance mechanisms
Online reporting mechanisms

7. Canada Example
The Department of Finance organizes pre-budget consultations during budget formulation stage, with the Canadian public.
The government incorporates social media into their consultations by leveraging Google Hangouts, Facebook live events, YouTube videos to connect with various groups, notably university students. The Minister may also meet with these groups in a town-hall fashion.
Pre-budget consultations held in the fall of 2016 had a specific call for proposals on “supporting middle class” and job creation. This was tied to the theme of the upcoming budget titled “Building a strong middle class”.
Dept. of Finance will seek out marginalized or vulnerable groups in accordance to the government's agenda.
Dept. of Finance received 12,000 submissions and messages and the staff also travelled to 14 cities across Canada, conducted over 20 roundtables, events and chats, meeting with over 1,500 Canadians in person. They published a summary of the responses received.
All information related to Budget 2017 consultations can be found here:

8. UK’s Public Consultation framework
All UK agencies including HM Treasury hold Public Consultations on specific issues
These consultations adhere to the UK government’s “Consultations Principles 2016” ( onsultation_principles_final.pdf)
(Among other things) the framework requires all consultations
To be clear, concise and have a purpose
To be targeted in their approach (assess, tailor consultations based on who is getting affected)
To publish all consultations, scope, summary of inputs, impact assessment on gov.uk
Publish a government response to consultations within 12 weeks

9. UK Example:
UK’s Budget 2016 announced key policy design features for a restriction on the tax deductibility of corporate interest expense.
The HM Treasury held Consultations on the policy design for their new “Business tax road map” and also for the implementation of the new rules.
The UK govt. put out details of the scope of consultations and set aside four months (May-Aug 2016) to receive public submissions. They received a total of 176 formal responses, mostly from organizations.
The government provided response for almost every proposal received from the public in a report published in December 2016.These responses informed the drafting of the legislation for Finance Bill 2017.
Upon approval, the new corporate interest restriction was effective starting 1 April 2017.
Details and all documents for this consultation can be found here: expense

10. National Councils: a regional trend noted in the Central Asia and Eastern European countries
The role and functions of councils is set in law. Bulgaria & Kazakhstan recently set up Public Councils under their respective Ministry of Finance
There is representation from govt., civil society or unions with the principle of rotation every few years
Many such councils are based on the idea of tripartite cooperation in solving issues and problems
Agenda of such councils may cover budgetary reforms, reviewing new policy proposals, monitoring of special projects, national strategies, draft laws and regulations
While OBS acknowledges such councils, they are far from ideal. Many don’t post a timetable of meetings, nor are report on the contents of the meetings/ minutes of the meetings published online. A few, but not all may hold public hearings for the general public
In some countries, governments have an obligation to present the budget to their respective councils, however, often these discussions are just a formality and take place after the budget has already been approved

11. Other Examples from the region
Georgia: SAI set up a Budget Monitoring mechanism, a unique analytical web-platform, which provides comprehensive information about the public finances. Via BM citizens send audit requests, proposals, inform SAI about the deficiencies in the PFM system, reveal corruption related cases and suggest the priority spheres for future audit works. Citizens are able to maintain their anonymity, and have the opportunity to share information confidentially. Ukraine: There is a “Citizens Appeal” Act guaranteed under the constitution of Ukraine. According to a recent report, the Ministry of Health received 19,000 appeals from citizens, and many appeals helped with monitoring of the health programs covered under state budgets. Kyrgyz Republic: The Committee on Budget and Finance of the Jogorku Kenesh of the Kyrgyz Republic held parliamentary hearings on December 22, 2015 on the discussion of the draft law "On the republican budget of the Kyrgyz Republic for 2016 and the forecast for ". These were open to all, and were based on first-come-first-serve basis.

12. Opportunities for deepening public participation mechanisms
Within the PEMPAL region, most of the countries have some basic mechanism, but there is a scope for strengthening and implementing the same mechanisms in a way that maximizes their potential
There is an opportunity to undertake research on the impact of Public Councils, and design desired standards for such councils to conduct meaningful participation mechanisms
While Ministry of Finance is traditionally responsible for the formulating budgets, there is an opportunity to collaborate with line ministries and better understand policy priorities among citizens
Many countries in the PEMPAL region have open legislatures, when members of the public can attend. However, such access can be broadened to allow public to testify, especially in issues relating to the budget.