Transparency of Participatory Budgeting (RO0079)

Description of the problem

Currently, the organizational culture at the level of the public administration in Romania requires a number of adjustments in terms of participatory processes, in general, but especially regarding budgetary allocations from public funds. The allocation of public money requires a high level of transparency, but also the direct involvement of citizens in all procedural steps specific to this area. Increasing participatory budgeting practices at the level of public authorities in Romania can be an essential factor for the proper distribution of public funds, for increasing the legitimacy of the use of public money and, in particular, for increasing citizens’ trust. The latter can be identified by a number of issues in government works, such as: lack of information or incomplete information on the participatory budgeting process, insufficient allocations of funds and without annual recurrence.

Description of the commitment

What the commitment means The purpose of the commitment is to identify how participatory budgeting processes can be improved and if any legislative changes have to be made. The commitment consists of analysing existing practices at national level, achieving unified practices in the budgetary process, organising exchanges of good practice and training sessions with public authorities, as well as providing guidance/recommendations on the participatory budgeting process.

what are the results pursued - Increasing the number of local authorities allocating participatory budgets - Increase in the number of projects submitted by civil society - Creating an online catalogue on the CONECT platform (https://conect.gov.ro/) with public authorities allocating participatory budget at national level - Increasing the number of users of the CONECT platform

what is the major objective Transparency in the process of allocating and using the annual participatory budget of public authorities

Measurable activities (maximum 5) Responsible (institution/partner) Start date Date of completion

1. analysis of the current situation (impediments, difficulties in providing participatory budgets, inconsistency in running programs etc.). A questionnaire will be sent to the local public authorities, the questions of which will answer the above-mentioned issues and on the willingness of the authorities to engage in this participatory budgetary process. Depending on their response, it will be possible to establish an exact number of authorities who will participate in the working meetings and implicitly in the training sessions. At the same time, a questionnaire will be applied at the level of representative NGOs at the level of each county. SGG/ Court of Accounts of Romania /Local Public Authorities /NGOs July 2022 October 2022

2. organising 4 working meetings with the aim of presenting models of good practice at national level. The meetings will also have the role of stimulating local public authorities to offer participatory budgets and hence to attract civil society within this programme. SGG/ Court of Accounts of Romania /Local Public Authorities (LPA)/NGOs November 2022 March 2023

3. organisation of 8 training sessions moderated by public authorities that successfully implement participatory budgets and the Court of Accounts of Romania. During these meetings, local public authorities will be able to learn step by step the stages of participatory budgeting (the development of the institution’s budget, the way the meetings are held, the selection of priorities, the development of funding guides, project fiches, etc.) SGG/ Court of Accounts of Romania /LPAs April 2023 December 2023

4. creating a catalogue (databases) that will be published on the CONECT platform. It will contain information provided by public authorities and shall be kept up to date. SGG July 2022 June 2024

5. Development of an indicative guide/recommendations on the participatory budgeting process for both public authorities and civil society. SGG/ Court of Accounts of Romania /PLs/NGOs January 2024 June 2024

Other information Budget required (lei) (source, if it already exists) State Budget (SGG)

Action Plan Review

Commitment 2. Pilot Program—participatory budgeting process

● Verifiable: Yes

● Does it have an open government lens? Yes

● Potential for results: Modest