Question 126

With regard to the mechanism identified in question 125, does the executive take concrete steps to include vulnerable and under-represented parts of the population in the formulation of the annual budget?
 * a. Yes, the executive takes concrete steps to include individuals and/or CSOs representing vulnerable and underrepresented parts of the population in the formulation of the annual budget.
 * b. The requirements for an “a” response are not met.
 * c. Not applicable (please comment).

OBS Guidelines
This question reflects the GIFT principle of “Inclusiveness”, and examines the executive’s effort to actively reach out to citizens who are from socially vulnerable groups and/or underrepresented in national processes. The emphasis here is on the executive’s efforts to seek out the views of members of the public from socially vulnerable groups and/or who are underrepresented in the process.

To answer “a,” the executive must actively seek out individuals from vulnerable and underrepresented communities and/or civil society organizations representing vulnerable and underrepresented individuals and communities. The researcher must provide evidence to show the government’s efforts and actions. The researcher must speak with the relevant government official(s), and subsequently double check with an alternative source, such as representatives of vulnerable/underrepresented groups.

Answer “b” applies if the executive does not take concrete steps to incorporate vulnerable/underrepresented individuals, or organizations representing them, into participation mechanisms or if the executive does not use public participation mechanisms during the budget formulation stage.

(1) What should we do in countries where there are multiple socially vulnerable groups and marginalized communities?
If researchers can provide evidence that government did seek out inputs from at least one such group, we could score it an “a”. Researchers are welcome to note in comments that there are many other marginalized groups left out, and government could do better.

(2) Regarding guidelines established by the executive that specifically mention that the organizers must engage those who will be disproportionately affected by the decision
There are cases where the guidelines established by the executive for conducting public participation specifically mention that the organizers must engage those that will be disproportionately affected by the decision (especially with mechanisms that are conducted online). In such cases, we could encourage researchers to provide evidence that such groups did participate in the identified mechanism but be lenient on proving that the government “invited” them (if it is proving to be too hard to gather evidence). In the absence of such concrete evidence that at least one such group did participate, we should lean towards the score “b”.