<commit_before>--- 
layout: post
title: Technology for Transparent and Accountable Public Finance
published: true
type: post
status: publish
---

In early March, we embarked on a project to map out projects which use [technology to further the aims of fiscal transparency, accountability and participation](http://openspending.org/blog/2012/03/12/technology-for-fiscal-transparency-where-next.html). Today, we are happy to announce the official release of the resulting report, Technology for Transparent and Accountable Public Finance. Preliminary findings were presented at last month's [GIFT](http://fiscaltransparency.net/) meeting in Brasilia. Since then, we've been building on the comments, follow-up questions and feedback from the session. 

We have tried to highlight specific roles which GIFT could play in promoting the good practice requirements of the report. The slides from the session can be found below:

<div style="width:425px" id="__ss_12607771"> <strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/lucyfedia/gift-presentation-12607771" title="Gift presentation" target="_blank">Gift presentation</a></strong> <iframe src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/12607771" width="425" height="355" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div style="padding:5px 0 12px"> View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/" target="_blank">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/lucyfedia" target="_blank"><NAME></a> </div> </div>

## More about the project

Looking at government revenue, expenditure and off-budget information - we have attempted to identify projects from both governments and civil society which use innovative approaches to: 

* Publish more or better data related to fiscal processes (aid, revenues, budgets, audits, etc. -- see below),
* Help understand this data through the creation of better visualisation and data analysis tools,
* Educate citizens about fiscal processes, and assist civil society organisations promoting accountable governance,
* Facilitate direct participation in fiscal matters through participatory budgeting, citizen auditing and the like,
* Provide policymakers with complete and reliable data relevant to their work, enabling them to make better decisions.

We focussed in particular on the question: 'Who are the users?'. We examined their motivations for getting involved, the scalability and applicability of given solutions to other contexts. The report also aims to highlight gaps that prevent users from taking up these tools.

## Report now available online

Today, the first edition of the report is published on [OpenSpending.org](http://openspending.org/resources/gift/index.html). It is also available for download as a PDF. Accompanying the report is a [project database](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AvoV_cBqwo28dDBHNUJaWUFLQS1rNDY3YWFBcU5VQ0E&pli=1#gid=0) which contains many more projects that publish, analyse and demystify fiscal data. 

The section on participatory budgeting deserves special mention. We discovered so many projects that they merited their own listing, which can be found [here](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AvoV_cBqwo28dE9fZy02NEt2UGxPTnRQMTEzaUhTOGc#gid=4). As we go through, we are building up a catalog of government finance portals in [the 'finance' group of datacatalogs.org](http://datacatalogs.org/group/finance). There's still a lot of work to be done there, but the group already contains the portals mentioned in the report. 
<commit_msg>Resize slideshare. <commit_after>--- 
layout: post
title: Technology for Transparent and Accountable Public Finance
published: true
type: post
status: publish
---

In early March, we embarked on a project to map out projects which use [technology to further the aims of fiscal transparency, accountability and participation](http://openspending.org/blog/2012/03/12/technology-for-fiscal-transparency-where-next.html). Today, we are happy to announce the official release of the resulting report, Technology for Transparent and Accountable Public Finance. Preliminary findings were presented at last month's [GIFT](http://fiscaltransparency.net/) meeting in Brasilia. Since then, we've been building on the comments, follow-up questions and feedback from the session. 

We have tried to highlight specific roles which GIFT could play in promoting the good practice requirements of the report. The slides from the session can be found below:

<div style="width:620px" id="__ss_12607771"> <strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/lucyfedia/gift-presentation-12607771" title="Gift presentation" target="_blank">Gift presentation</a></strong> <iframe src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/12607771" width="620" height="517" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div style="padding:5px 0 12px"> View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/" target="_blank">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/lucyfedia" target="_blank"><NAME></a> </div> </div>

## More about the project

Looking at government revenue, expenditure and off-budget information - we have attempted to identify projects from both governments and civil society which use innovative approaches to: 

* Publish more or better data related to fiscal processes (aid, revenues, budgets, audits, etc. -- see below),
* Help understand this data through the creation of better visualisation and data analysis tools,
* Educate citizens about fiscal processes, and assist civil society organisations promoting accountable governance,
* Facilitate direct participation in fiscal matters through participatory budgeting, citizen auditing and the like,
* Provide policymakers with complete and reliable data relevant to their work, enabling them to make better decisions.

We focussed in particular on the question: 'Who are the users?'. We examined their motivations for getting involved, the scalability and applicability of given solutions to other contexts. The report also aims to highlight gaps that prevent users from taking up these tools.

## Report now available online

Today, the first edition of the report is published on [OpenSpending.org](http://openspending.org/resources/gift/index.html). It is also available for download as a PDF. Accompanying the report is a [project database](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AvoV_cBqwo28dDBHNUJaWUFLQS1rNDY3YWFBcU5VQ0E&pli=1#gid=0) which contains many more projects that publish, analyse and demystify fiscal data. 

The section on participatory budgeting deserves special mention. We discovered so many projects that they merited their own listing, which can be found [here](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AvoV_cBqwo28dE9fZy02NEt2UGxPTnRQMTEzaUhTOGc#gid=4). As we go through, we are building up a catalog of government finance portals in [the 'finance' group of datacatalogs.org](http://datacatalogs.org/group/finance). There's still a lot of work to be done there, but the group already contains the portals mentioned in the report. 

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