1. Anna Belenchuk, MoF Russian Federation
Comments from PEMPAL on Draft OECD Shared Toolkit on Budget Transparency
Deanna Aubrey, PEMPAL
Anna Belenchuk, MoF Russian Federation
29 June 2016

2. From PEMPAL perspective, budget transparency is a priority
Various guidelines, codes, principles e.g. from OECD, World Bank, IMF, IBP, GIFT have been translated into PEMPAL network languages (Russian and Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian).
Toolkit is a very valuable technical resource as it collates all key advice into one location – thank you to OECD and all involved!
Format very good and easy to follow.
Self assessment functionality very important as participation in some formal mechanisms constrained for some PEMPAL member countries by funding availability.
Categories of best and advanced practices? Best practice is a moving target – suggest define concept or align with IMF FTE use of ‘good’ and ‘advanced’ practices.

3. Suggestions based on PEMPAL advanced practices (1)
Definition: “Budget literacy is the ability to read, decipher, and understand public budgets to enable and enhance meaningful citizen participation in the budget process”.
H.4 Using modern practices of increasing budget literacy among citizens will ensure future demand for budget data and increased citizen engagement in budget process. Budget literacy technologies can be implemented as:
Incorporating Budget Literacy in School Curricula (as a separate subject or as a part of others, for example, Social Studies);
in a broader context – using Budget Literacy for different target groups of people (students, civil servants, pensioners, etc.);
with a maximum coverage of audience similar to the financial and tax literacy;
Advanced Practices
BL should include the structured materials for citizens about:
- What we pay to the budget;
- What can we receive from the budget;
- How can we impact on budget decision making process.
As a key reference: Overview of International Budget Literacy Practices: Key Findings and Lessons Learned, Harika Masud, World Bank Group, 2015

4. Examples from around the world
Type of Resource
Examples
Blogs
Understanding Fiscal Responsibility Blog (United States)
Comics/Cartoons
Sofinha and her Gang (Brazil)
What’s in it for Us? (New Zealand)
Crossword Puzzles
National Budget Crossword (Ireland)
Datasets on Public Spending
A Scuola di OpenCoesione (Italy)
Budget Stories (Moldova)
Glossaries/Primers
The ABC of Taxes (Guatemala)
Declaring My Taxes (Costa Rica)
Participatory Budgeting Guides
Handbook for Schools to Implement Student Participatory Budgeting (Germany)
Welsh Government Participatory Budgeting Toolkit (United Kingdom)
PowerPoint Presentations
Budget Taxation & Government Finances (Ireland)
Government Spending (United States)
Posters/Graphics/ Wordles
National Budget Wordle (Ireland)
Tax Expenditure Interactive Graphic (Uruguay)
Quizzes/Trivia and Surveys
Taxes Trivia (Dominican Republic)
Tax Education and Citizenship Survey (New Zealand)
Tool Kits/Lesson Plans
‘Tax Matters’. HM Revenue and Customs. [United Kingdom]
Overview of Budget 2015: Building Our Future, Strengthening Social Security (Singapore)
Training kit for senior pupils, their teachers and parents
(Russian Federation)

5. Suggestions based on PEMPAL advanced practices (2)
H.5 Using different stimuli for promoting budget transparency at regional and municipal levels (as they are closer to the citizens interests) will encourage governments to provide information to ensure the equal rights of citizens to obtain public information from the budgets at all levels of government. It can be implemented as:
Domestic regional and municipal Indexes (ratings) of Budget Transparency (Croatia and Russian Federation experience);
Analytical annual reviews about best practices in regional and municipal Citizens Budgets and public engagement in the budget process, published and sent to the regional governors (Russian Federation experience);
Organizing federal and local competitions using budget data engaging citizens and consulting companies (BudgetApps and Citizens budget annual competition in Russia)
Advanced Practices
Advanced practices may include using different combinations of stimuli for regional and municipal levels
As key references:
Experience of Croatia with Regional Ratings of Budget Transparency:
Experience of Russian Federation:
Regional Rating of Budget Transparency:
Competitions with budget data:
Analytical annual review with regional citizens budget rating:

6. Thank you for your attention!