Panama: Strengthening the Role of Civil Society
in the Budget Process
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The Government of Panama has committed to following the standards of the Open Budget Survey (OBS), an international survey that measures the utilization of governance and accountability mechanisms in a government’s budget process. To help strengthen open budget standards in Panama, FSVC has been building the capacity of local civil society organizations (CSOs) to advocate for adoption of international standards in the budget cycle and process.
In March, FSVC conducted a virtual training for CSO representatives to help them gain a better understanding of key public financial management concepts. The covered topics included how budget transparency relates to macroeconomic issues like debt, the importance of budgetary statistics and their implications, and Panama’s ranking in international indices.
This training helped CSOs better understand the importance of fiscal transparency. Furthermore, participating CSOs are now better equipped to advocate in the budget process, and to play a monitoring role. For example, the Panamanian Chamber of Commerce published an editorial and gave an interview on national TV about open budgets following FSVC’s trainings.
This activity was implemented with funding from the U.S. Embassy in Panama.
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Angola: Identifying and Tackling Corruption-Prone Areas
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Participants during FSVC’s roundtable
Luanda, Angola, March 2022
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Angola ranks 136th out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index. To support the country’s efforts to combat corruption, FSVC conducted a roundtable with CSOs to identify areas prone to corruption and develop an action plan to tackle each area. The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) funded this work.
FSVC’s volunteer experts Albino Francisco and Denise Namburete presented different forms of corruption and shared case studies of successful advocacy campaigns from Mozambican CSOs. Participants discussed potential risks of corruption affecting public administration in Angola, and the impact of corruption on public service delivery. The volunteer experts next worked with participants to develop key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the social impact of their work. Finally, the FSVC volunteers went over the Angolan legal framework overseeing CSOs’ work. Participants raised questions including how to ensure the sustainability of advocacy, and proposed interventions needed to implement an advocacy action plan.
“The participants contributed good ideas and opinions on how to be a part of this process. This was the most engaging discussion I have been a part of,” observed Mr. Francisco. As a result of this roundtable, Angolan CSOs gained a better understanding of different forms of corruption, and how to identify and report potential corruption.
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Iraq: Assessing the Budget Process
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The Iraqi Ministry of Finance (MoF) is working on providing more budget information to citizens throughout the budget cycle and align with international standards in open budgets.
To assist the MoF in these efforts, FSVC conducted an assessment of the Iraqi budget process through a series of virtual meetings with MoF representatives from the accounting, budget and public policy departments. During the meetings, the MoF representatives explained the stages of the budget process and covered the legal, institutional and technical framework under which they operate. As a result, FSVC, in coordination with the MoF, was able to identify the main strengths and weaknesses in the budget process. FSVC then developed a roadmap of key actions needed to meet international budget standards. During the next phase of this program, FSVC will assist the MoF in implementing the roadmap, including helping the MoF to strengthen the Citizens Budget and Mid-Year Review, and to provide more information in an easy-to-use format on the MoF’s website.
This program is funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs.
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FSVC Pays Tribute to Stephen H. Axilrod
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The Board of Directors and Staff of FSVC mourn the passing of Stephen H. Axilrod. He was a wonderful and devoted member of our Board, serving from 2005 until his retirement in 2017, and Chairman of the Board’s Audit Committee. Steve was also an outstanding FSVC volunteer, serving on FSVC’s Lead Missions to assess the state of the financial sectors in Egypt and Algeria in 2003/04, as well as on high-level missions to Albania, Croatia, Indonesia, Morocco, and Russia, among other countries.
Few individuals understood the implementation of monetary policy or the inner workings of the Federal Reserve System better than Steve, and he was a superb ambassador for FSVC and our country. His advice was trusted by central bank governors and finance ministers around the world. We were deeply privileged to have Steve’s dedicated service for so many years. His wisdom and warm-hearted spirit will be sorely missed. We extend our heartfelt condolences to Steve’s wife of 72 years, Kathy, to his sons Peter and Richard, to his daughter Emily, and to their families.
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About Us
The Financial Services Volunteer Corps (FSVC) is a not-for-profit organization that helps strengthen financial sectors in developing and emerging market countries. It does so with the ultimate aim of promoting job creation, economic growth and a better quality of life. FSVC structures practical, results-oriented technical assistance and training missions staffed by senior financial sector professionals who serve as unpaid volunteer experts. Over the past 32 years, more than 10,000 volunteer experts from the international financial, legal and regulatory communities have taken part in 3,400 missions, impacting millions of people in 70 countries.
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