OBS Researchers’ Training workshop

BY RESEARCH TEAM 

Citizens’ Constitutional Forum (CCF) Research Officer Aman Nath attended the Open Budget Survey (OBS) Researchers’

Training Workshop in Bangkok, Thailand from August 30 to September 1, 2016. The workshop was organized and sponsored by the International Budget Partnership (IBP).

“The fundamental objective of the workshop was to empower researchers on the revised model of the Open Budget Survey for 2017 and the preparatory discussions on the questionnaires for tracker work,” said Nath.

The OBS is a civil society led process which assesses and monitors the transparency and effectiveness of Government’s budgets and its impact on the lives of citizens. Fiji is one of the 113 countries which is ranked under the Open Budget Index (OBI).

Nath highlighted that improvement in Fiji’s rankings under the OBI is one of the main priorities of OBS and advocacy work would subsequently follow in 2017 after the completion of the OBS questionnaires. One of the notable features of the new OBS questionnaires is its key focus on public participation in the national budget processes and  the role of the Supreme Audit Institutions.

The training workshop also gave an opportunity for Fiji to comprehend and learn other countries’ experiences in the Open Budget Survey. Nath thanks the IBP for this opportunity to learn the fundamentals of the budget processes and enhance its application in research work via budget consultations in the grassroots communities.

A total of 20 countries attended the Researchers Training Workshop in Bangkok, Thailand.