[OpenSpending] openspending Digest, Vol 47, Issue 8

Thu Nov 14 15:31:08 UTC 2013

Pierre,

Glad my inputs were of use to you.

My response on BOOST;

In terms of improving spending data capacity, I would say they this has potencially happened in two ways;

i) In the case of Moldova, Mexico and potentially all LA/E.europe BOOST countries, I would say that they were already collecting high quality spending data before the BOOST process, so I am not sure you could say their spending data capacity improved because of BOOST. However, you probably could say BOOST has helped in provide a means for these countries to report to a common standard in a 'machine readable' manor, and improved the public accessibility of the data. I believe there were some delegates from the Moldovan Government at OGP talking about BOOST, I am not sure if anyone has their contact details, as they may be happy to share their experience/thoughts with you. If no one has their details, may be you want to get in touch with the BOOST team (Leif or Massimo probably best) to see if they can link them up with you.

ii) The second case would be countries that do not have spending data that fully conforms to COFOG or GFS classifications. In this case, I believe the BOOST team would sit down with government officials and try and classify their spending data in line with these international classifications, so as to input into the BOOST database (very time consuming process). This potentially could be a significant help to improve spending data capacity, but the question is whether this assistance has actually changed Governments behaviour in adopting these international standards into their country systems? In the case of Togo, despite BOOST classifying spending to international standards in the database, I do not think the government has so far used that classification in their own budgeting process. However, the BOOST team might have examples of countries successfully integrating some components of the BOOST process into country systems, and this might be the case even if countries have not bought into the full integration of BOOST.

If some things I have said are not clear, or if you have any other questions, then I am very happy to clarify/answer them,

Richard

----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Pierre Chrzanowski 
  To: Richard Watts 
  Cc: OpenSpending Discussion List 
  Sent: Thursday, November 14, 2013 2:10 PM
  Subject: Re: openspending Digest, Vol 47, Issue 8

  Thanks very much Richard for your inputs, 

  Challenges re integration of BOOST as part of Government process reminds me of similar issues with other statistical data in developping countries where external org do the job of aggregating and publishing data but without reinforcement of internal gov capacity. Then, if so, it would be interesting to here how Moldova used BOOST to improve its own spending data capacity.

  Also I am not sure how much this is overlapping with the work of IBP but our objectiv here is not to start a comprehensive list of spending data projects or index, only highligthing and explaining in few words best projects implementation. For instance, do the country implemented an export tool upon its accounting information system or created a new infrastructure ?

  Best
  Pierre

  On Wed, Nov 13, 2013 at 3:18 PM, Richard Watts <rjwatts at development-finance.org> wrote:

    Dear Pierre,

    In terms of BOOST, the process is as follows (if wrong, somebody please correct me..)

    i) Preparation - the BOOST team have to get sign off from WB country offices to start the BOOST process in country, they need government approval, and then after this they would receive budget classification/data from Governments to be able construct the BOOST database.

    ii) Build the database - BOOST team build the database for the country, then they test it

    iii) Using BOOST - getting countries utilising the database

    iv) Capacity building - training to Government to use BOOST, and on how to update/mainstream it

    v) Opening up of the BOOST database to public (Governments decision)

    With the exception of Moldova, I would say the key issue for BOOST is that governments in general after the database has been built have not really bought into mainstreaming BOOST as part of country systems. Obviously it is a work in progress, but currently the majority of the updating of the country databases is actually done by the BOOST team, and not by the Governments (although they still provide the data to them). So the key issue is not the initial buy in of governments, but the continued interest by Governments to invest in BOOST and mainstream it into country systems. Therefore, I would say the process is very replicable in terms of establishing the database, but not yet replicable in terms of adoption. I am not part of the BOOST team, so maybe you want to discuss more with them on this, but I am happy to answer any questions or discuss this further with you or others at OKF?

    In addition, I am sure people are aware (but in case you are not), the BOOST team is creating an open budget portal, which will go live on the 18th November, which will provide a central location to access the data (previously Government's had to create their own portal). The countries/regions due to go live are; Peru, Guatemala, Brazil - Mina Gerais, Brazil - Rio Grande, Armenia, Poland, Moldova, Togo, Kenya, Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Seychelles, Mauritius, Mexico, Paraguay

    In terms of the Open data index - Government Spending;

    I do not want to comment too much on this, as it is clearly in its infancy. However, there does seem to be quite a bit of overlap with the open budget index, so I am not sure if you want to discuss with IBP whether you want to cooperate with them on this? The other point of note I had was that it would be good to state what level of Government you are classifying/scoring. An example would be Nigeria and India in your index, which are actually at the federal level, which is only about 30 of total government expenditure, so you are really only assessing a fraction of the 'openness' of a countries spending. South Africa is a great example of a budget process that combines both the central and state level together. As with BOOST, if you want to discuss this further, then very happy to do so.

    Hope this is of some interest to you,

    Richard

    -------
    Richard Watts
    Development Finance International
    39 Hatton Garden
    London, EC1N 8EH
    Tel: (+44) 020 7404 9000
    Web: http://www.development-finance.org/; http://www.governmentspendingwatch.org/

    ----- Original Message ----- From: <openspending-request at lists.okfn.org>
    To: <openspending at lists.okfn.org>
    Sent: Wednesday, November 13, 2013 12:00 PM
    Subject: openspending Digest, Vol 47, Issue 8

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      Today's Topics:

        1. Exploring Open Government Spending Data Best Practices
           (Pierre Chrzanowski)

      ----------------------------------------------------------------------

      Message: 1
      Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2013 12:16:00 +0100
      From: Pierre Chrzanowski <pierre.chrzanowski at gmail.com>
      To: OpenSpending Discussion List <openspending at lists.okfn.org>
      Subject: [OpenSpending] Exploring Open Government Spending Data Best
      Practices
      Message-ID:
      <CAB-gMst1o6To3V7v005jhvMk=jcZUNxpEcgq-nnH4x3CMT9m=w at mail.gmail.com>
      Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

      Dear All,

      Following the Open Data Index which showed there was still a long way to go
      re Spending Data, I thought it would be worth gathering information on how
      countries implemented open publication of their spending data.

      So after a suggestion of Anders, I started a simple google presentation
      here [1] where I listed first ranked countries according to the OD Index.
      And I invite you to add details about the project you may know directly on
      the presentation or start a discussion about a specific example on this
      list.

      Questions to adress :
      - How do countries deliver in practise?
      - Which countries publish with thresholds eg. UK and US?
      - What are the standards used ?
      - Etc.

      For instance, I noted the work of Moldova and the World Bank with the Boost
      program. What were the main steps of that project to get the country to
      publish its detailed expenditures ? How easy it is replicable ? It would be
      good to have one simple slide on that.

      Result of this work will be added to the OpenSpending knowledge base

      And in case I am replicating an ongoing work somewhere else, please let us
      know

      Thanks a lot for your contribution !

      [1] http://goo.gl/j6TfD0

      -- 
      *Pierre Chrzanowski*
      *Open Knowledge Foundation France*

      Mail: pierre.chrzanowski at gmail.com
      Skype: pierre.chrzanowski | Twitter:
      @piezanowski<https://twitter.com/piezanowski>
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  -- 

  Pierre Chrzanowski
  Open Knowledge Foundation France

  Mail: pierre.chrzanowski at gmail.com
  Skype: pierre.chrzanowski | Twitter: @piezanowski
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