Association of Parliamentary Budget Offices Community Meeting
“Seminar on Open Government, Information and Budget Transparency”
(Draft Ver. 06.16.13 #1)
AGENDA
June 17 – 19, 2013
Venue: 1001 Rue Sherbrooke
Ouest, Suite 645, McGill
International Executive
Institute, McGill University
Montréal, Quebec, Canada
H3A 1G5
Association of Parliamentary Budget Offices Community Meeting: “Seminar on Open Government, Information and Budget Transparency”
BACKGROUND:
The “2012 Annual Helsinki Parliamentary Seminar,” hosted by the Parliament of Finland in May 2012, brought together parliamentary leaders from across the globe to
identify and capture good practice around the role of parliament and budget formulation. Delegates identified a lack of nonpartisan budget analysis as an impediment to
parliaments’ constructive engagement in the budget and law-making process. In response to this challenge, Parliaments in developed and developing countries are
establishing Parliamentary Budget Offices (PBOs) at a record rate in order to provide parliaments with quality, timely, nonpartisan budget analysis.
Established and nascent PBOs do not have an opportunity to engage and learn from PBOs in other regions. Accordingly, delegates to the “2012 Annual Helsinki
Parliamentary Seminar” recommended the community of parliamentary budget officers, especially those from developing countries, mobilize as a practitioner learning
network in order to strengthen the technical capacity of established and emerging PBOs through knowledge exchange, experience sharing, and identification of good
practice. The “Seminar on Open Government, Information and Budget Transparency” seeks to build on this earlier dialogue by providing a forum for knowledge
exchange between PBOs around budget analysis and identify a roadmap for moving the PBO learning network forward.
SEMINAR OBJECTIVES:
The “Seminar on Open Government, Information and Budget Transparency” seeks to:
(a) Convene members of the international PBO community to define a vision for a global PBO learning network and develop a ‘roadmap’ for accelerating knowledge
exchange between PBOs globally
(b) Identify and share good practice regarding the design, mandate, functions, and operationalization of PBOs; and
(c) Share experience around data collection and budget analysis
ONLINE REGISTRATION
An online Collaboration for Development portal will be used throughout the Seminar. Delegates can access and sign up for the collaborative site beforehand by following
the link: https://collaboration.worldbank.org/groups/login.jspa
All documents, the shared memory of discussions, and community decision-making will be undertaken through the online Collaboration for Development Site. Internet
access will be provided in the Seminar venue for this purpose and delegates are encouraged to bring their laptops, tablets, and smart devices.
Any questions concerning registration or the Collaboration for Development Portal should be directed to the Community Steward, Nima Fallah (nfallah@worldbank.org).
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION:
Information concerning administrative arrangements will be provided in a separate note. Administrative inquiries should be directed to Vienna Pozer
(vpozer@worldbank.org).
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Association of Parliamentary Budget Offices Community Meeting: “Seminar on Open Government, Information and Budget Transparency”
DAY ONE: MONDAY, JUNE 17, 2013
SESSION
Registration
TIME
8:00 –
9:00am
TITLE
Registration:
Registration will take place at the Seminar Venue
(1001 Rue Sherbrooke Ouest, suite 645, McGill
International Executive Institute, McGill University)
CONTRIBUTORS
Breakfast will be served at the Seminar Venue from 8:009:00 am
1
9:00 9:15am
Introduction And Welcome Remarks:
 Introduction to the meeting
 Participants Introduction
 Expectation Setting
 Expected Learning Outcomes



2
9:15 10:00am
e-PBO:
Shaping our community interface through the
Collaboration for Development site

Nima Fallah, Parliamentary Strengthening
Program, WBI
The Global Parliamentary Budget Office Portal Initiative A Virtual Meeting Place for the Global PBO Community?

Sahir Khan
Assistant Parliamentary Budget
Officers(Expenditure and Revenue Analysis),
Office of the Canadian Parliamentary Budget
Officer (CPBO)

Nima Fallah, WBI
http://www.pbo-dpb.gc.ca/en/
►
3
10:00 10:30am
Mitchell O’Brien,
Team Lead – Parliamentary Strengthening
Program, World Bank Institute (WBI)
Prof. Rick Stapenhurst
Professor of Practice, Institute for the Study
of International Development (ISID), McGill
University
Prof. Phil Oxhorn
Founding Director, ISID, McGill University
Questions and Discussion to follow
Leadership Group Preparation:
 Community Keepers (Guardians of voices and practice )
 Agenda Activists (Stewards of emerging themes)
 Social Reporters (Keepers of the memory)
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Association of Parliamentary Budget Offices Community Meeting: “Seminar on Open Government, Information and Budget Transparency”
Refreshment
10:30 Coffee & Tea Served in the Breakout Room
Break
10:45am
4
10:45 World Café:
 Miriam Bensky, Parliamentary
11:30am
Participants will engage in a café format discussion aimed
Strengthening Program, WBI
at identifying areas of interest to be explored through the
 Nima Fallah, WBI
Community of Practice.
5
11:30am 12:30pm
Information, Governments and Society
This session will introduce the:
 Concept of good and responsive government
 Role of information towards building a responsive
government
 Existence of asymmetric information in
governance system
►
Lunch
6
12:30 1:30pm
1.30 –
3.00pm
3:003:30pm
3.30 –
5.00pm
Resource people:
 Julian Durazo Herrmann,
Assistant Professor of Political Science,
Université du Québec à Montréal
 Manuel Balan, Assistant Professor,
Department of Political Science, McGill
University
 Jon Unruh, Associate Professor, McGill
University
Lunch will be served in the Breakout Room
Open Budgeting
This session will focus on:
 How the concept of open budget is embedded in
political, economic and social contexts and
contribution to collaborative governance
 The nature of open budget initiatives, and their
emerging outcomes and evidence of impacts
 Parliament’s role in ensuring transparency in the
budget process; and
 Exploring a framework of collaborative
engagement among demand side actors for
strengthening the budget process
►
Refreshment
Break
7
Questions and Discussion to follow
Facilitator: Chris Manfredi, Dean of the Faculty of
Arts, McGill University
Facilitator: Prof. Phil Oxhorn, Founding Director,
ISID, McGill University
Resource People:
 Rongai Chizema, Program Advisor-Economic
Affairs, Southern African Parliamentary
Support Trust (SAPST)
 Rasheed Draman, Director of Africa
Programs, Parliamentary Centre
 Rod Macdonell, Journalist and Media
Consultant
Questions and Discussion to follow
Coffee & Tea Served in the Breakout Room
The Importance of Independent Budget Analysis and
Role of PBOs
The session will highlight key sets of factors that are
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Facilitator: Eli Turk, Director, International
Relations, McGill University
Association of Parliamentary Budget Offices Community Meeting: “Seminar on Open Government, Information and Budget Transparency”
critical to the PBOs:
Resource People:
Anthony Staddon, Lecturer, University of
 Introduction to fiscal councils and parliamentary
Westminster & Moderator of ‘Parliamentary Budget
budget offices
Offices’ e-Learning Module
 The history behind the creation of nonpartisan,
independent, objective analytic units; and
 PBO relationship with the legislature and executive
►
8
5:00 5:30pm
Questions and Discussion to follow
Leadership Group Reflections
 Reflect on the day’s session through the lens of
your Leadership Group
 Prepare brief feedback for tomorrow/ Wednesday
Note:
o
o
o
“Community Keepers” will discuss the composition
of the community and their respective roles
“Agenda Activists” will steward the learning
content and themes for the CoP
“Social Reporters” will discuss and keep records of
the insights and meeting outputs that needs be
captured and recorded
End of Day 1
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Nima Fallah, Parliamentary Strengthening Program,
WBI
Association of Parliamentary Budget Offices Community Meeting: “Seminar on Open Government, Information and Budget Transparency”
DAY TWO: TUESDAY, JUNE 18, 2013
SESSION
Breakfast
9
10
Refreshment
Break
11
TIME
8:30 –
9:00am
9:00-9:30am
TITLE
Breakfast will be served at the Seminar Venue from 8:30-9:00 am
Leadership groups Report Back
 Report on previous day’s reflections and community
activities from Day 1
Leadership Groups
9:3010:30am
Designing and Establishing a Parliamentary Budget Office
This session will focus on the process for designing new
Parliamentary Budget Offices and the implications for
institutionalizing new nonpartisan, analytic budget units.

10:3010:45am
10:45am 12:30pm
Coffee & Tea Served in the Breakout Room
Access to Data
Data is the lifeblood of analysis. Without rich and reliable data, the
work that a PBO does is difficult, if not impossible. This session will
reflect on the following questions:
 What data does a PBO need?
 Where can a PBO get data?
 What challenges does a PBO face in getting data?
 How can a PBO overcome these challenges?
►
Lunch
12
12:301:30pm
1:30 3:00pm
CONTRIBUTORS
Thailand: King Prajadhipok’s Institute
(KPI)
Facilitator: Mark Baskin, SUNY Albany
Resource People:
 Tolga Yalkin, CPBO & Professor of
Constitutional Law, University of
Ottawa
 Parliamentary Budget Office,
Parliament of Uganda
Questions and Discussion to follow
Lunch will be served in the Breakout Room
Case Clinics: Taking first steps – what can the community
learn from past experience
Case clinics are an opportunity for the community to employ
problem based learning to consider what they already know and
what they need to know about a particular issue/ reform
challenge.
Several parliaments across the globe have indicated an interest in
establishing PBOs. The case-clinic seeks to draw on the experience
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


The Budget and Finance Committee,
Parliament of Zambia
The Budget and Finance Committee,
The Parliament of Nigeria
The Budget and Finance Committee,
The Parliament of Zimbabwe
Association of Parliamentary Budget Offices Community Meeting: “Seminar on Open Government, Information and Budget Transparency”
of established PBOs to contribute to the strategy/ design approach
employed by parliaments seeking to establish these institutions.



Case Clinic: Zambia
Case Clinic: Nigeria
Case Clinics: Zimbabwe
Report back from groups
A brief reflection from each Case Clinic beneficiary.
Refreshment
Break
13
3:00 3:30pm
3:30 5:00pm
Coffee & Tea Served in the Breakout Room
Independent Budget Analysis: Tools & Techniques
The session will provide an overview of the technical knowledge
necessary to analyze data and produce reports on:
 Budget Analysis
 Appropriations Analysis
 Costing of bills
 Models that PBOs need to use in order to conduct budget
analysis
►
14
5:00 5:30pm
Questions and Discussion to follow
Leadership Group Reflections
 Reflect on the day’s session through the lens of your
Leadership Group
 Prepare brief feedback for tomorrow
Note:
o
o
o
“Community Keepers” will discuss the composition of the
community and their respective roles
“Agenda Activists” will steward the learning content and
themes for the CoP
“Social Reporters” will discuss and keep records of the
insights and meeting outputs that needs be captured and
recorded
End of Day Two
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Facilitator: Lisa von Trapp, Budgeting and
Public Expenditures Division, Organization of
Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD)
Resource People:
 Mostafa Askari, Assistant
Parliamentary Budget Officer
(Economic and Fiscal Analysis), CPBO
 Jason Jacques, Director of Budget,
Estimates & Reporting, CPBO
 Parliamentary Budget Office,
Parliament of Kenya

Nima Fallah, Parliamentary
Strengthening Program, WBI
Association of Parliamentary Budget Offices Community Meeting: “Seminar on Open Government, Information and Budget Transparency”
TIME
7:00 8:30pm
Dinner
ARRANGEMENTS
Dinner will be hosted at the historic McGill Faculty Club
We ask that all delegates meet in the Lobby of the Host Hotel at 6:45 to walk to the Faculty Club
DAY THREE: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 2013
SESSION
Breakfast
15
16
TIME
8:30 –
9:00am
9:00 9:30am
TITLE
Breakfast will be served at the Seminar Venue from 8:30-9:00 am
CONTRIBUTORS
Social Reporters Report Back
 Report on previous day’s reflections and community
activities from Day 1

Social Reporters Leadership Group
9:30 10:30am
Beyond Analysis: Building Working Relations with Key
Constituents

Kevin Page, former Parliamentary
Budget Officer, Canada
This session will explore the CPBO’s experience fostering
constructive working relationships with counterpart institutions
and end-users of the CPBO’s analysis.
Refreshment
Break
17
10:30 11:00am
11:00am –
12:30pm
Coffee & Tea Served in the Breakout Room
The Open Budgeting Ecosystem: How to maintain cooperative
relationships without compromising independence
Session facilitator: Sahir Khan, CPBO
This session will highlight existing protocols, structure and legal
framework (if any) that governs the basis for the interaction
between:
 The PBO and Parliament
 The PBO and Bureau of Budget (BoB)
 The PBO and Civil Society Organizations/ Media
Speakers: Representatives from:
 Liberia
 Bangladesh
 Dominican Republic Congress
►
18
12:30 1:30pm
1:30-5:00
Questions and Discussion to follow
Lunch will be served in the Breakout Room
Building the PBO Community of Practice
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
Nima Fallah, Parliamentary
Strengthening Program, WBI
Association of Parliamentary Budget Offices Community Meeting: “Seminar on Open Government, Information and Budget Transparency”
Cultivating the COP: Structure, Role and value Addition
 Lisa von Trapp
Prepare a brief recommendation on the framework of the COP, and
Budgeting and Public Expenditures
the mission of this COP, Agreement on Next Steps
Division, Organization of Economic
Co-operation and Development
OECD Network model
(OECD)
This session will provide an overview of the OECD networking
model focusing on
 The genesis, purpose, and modality
 Various learning Approaches
 Highlight some of the effective communication strategies
among network members
19
17:30
Note: Coffee will be served in between the sessions.
Closing Plenary


Mitchell O’Brien, WBI
Rick Stapenhurst, McGill University
End of Day Three
Dinner
TIME
6:00-8:00
ARRANGEMENTS
Dinner will be hosted at the McGill Undergraduate Student Society
We ask that all delegates meet in the Lobby of the Host Hotel at 5:45 to walk to the Student Society
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