Tag Archive for: Public budget

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Public Budget in Córdoba: reflections on the Public Hearing

The Executive Branch of the province of Córdoba presented the 2024 budget bill. On November 9, we presented ourselves at the Public Hearing held in the Legislature.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

Like every year, the following year’s budget bill is presented. This 2023, due to the elections, the times were brought forward and the project was presented on October 24, something that usually happens on November 15. After being presented, the project is discussed in several Commissions and approved in two legislative sessions, called 1st and 2nd reading. And in between, a Public Hearing is held.

From Fundeps we presented ourselves to the Public Hearing last Thursday, November 9. In this sense, it is noteworthy that starting this year, all the information related to the debate on the 2024 public budget law, with the project and its complementary documents, as well as with the calendar of sessions, dates of the Commission sessions and the Hearing. In addition, the way to register through a web form was improved compared to other years. Yes, we must note that it would be very useful for future occasions to publish the Commissions that meet on each date and to allow external participation, even if it is from listeners. Currently, committee sessions are uploaded to the Legislature’s YouTube channel after they happen.

At the hearing, we made some general observations that we understand make it possible to better analyze the budget and comments on a program related to Water and Sanitation. First of all, we explained that the descriptions of the Budget Programs are very generic and it is necessary that they be accompanied by physical goals and both quantitative and qualitative indicators, for the purposes of their monitoring. In the case of Program 572 analyzed, its content remains the same since its creation in 2018. In the case of the Works, contained in the Public Investment Plans, they are not directly described, at least in the budget documents. Then, we move on to explain Program 572 on Water and Sanitation, which is made up of two subprograms, one related to Drinking Water and the other to Sewage Liquids and Sanitary Services. In both cases we observe their evolution and behavior in the years 2022, 2023 and how they are projected in 2024. In that sense, in the two subprograms the same trend of sub-executions is observed in the year 2022 (32% and 53% respectively). , greater execution in the current year (87% and 75%) and a decrease in the budget allocation for 2024. More notable in the first subprogram than for the second. In that sense, we appeal that these programs be observed by the Legislators present, in view of budget approval in the second session on Wednesday, November 15.

A budget that guarantees rights, such as in this case drinking water and sanitary services that directly impact the rights to health and a healthy environment, is governed by the principles of progressivity and non-regression, in which care must be taken that In the allocation of resources there are no setbacks, avoiding cutting or reducing the levels reached.

Participation in the audience was very varied. There were Professional Associations (such as Lawyers or Notaries), civil housing associations, social sports, companions of children in vulnerable situations, among other actors. This shows that, although this instance is extremely valuable and allows a direct approach by the authorities to problems that bring together different social actors, it also reveals the lack of more spaces for participation. So that people and citizens who often face and solve public problems can channel their demands more effectively. This could be resolved with periodic hearings or greater social participation in the thematic commissions of the Legislature.

It is extremely important that these spaces become increasingly accessible, open and widespread. This is key so that the greatest number of social actors can approach and present their points of view and observations in the development of public policies that directly affect them.

More information

You can consult the entire Public Hearing here, and our participation in the minutes: 2:55.50 – 3:06.20.

Related notes Public budget:

Contact

Victoria Sibilla, ninasibilla@fundeps.org

Ícono de validado por la comunidad
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Budget and Rights: Working group on budget analysis

Last Thursday, November 24, we held a Working Group on Budget and Rights, together with the Civil Association for Equality and Justice (ACIJ), the Observatory of Labor, Economy and Society (OTES) and the accompaniment of the Federal Institute of Government (IFG) of the Catholic University of Córdoba.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

The activity was carried out in continuity with a series of virtual meetings that we held in August of this year, where conceptual issues of the public budget, the gender perspective within the budget, and some examples both in the national budget and in that of the province of Córdoba.

In the Working Group on Budget and Rights, the proposal was rather practical and was divided into two stages. A first exhibition, in which OTES commented on some of its reports and main findings after analyzing the budgets of the province of Córdoba, in recent years. From ACIJ and Fundeps we share where the main budget information is located in the province, to give rise to the second moment of the meeting for budget analysis by the attendees.

So, according to thematic affinities, we divided into groups and based on some triggering slogans, we navigated through the web portals of the province of Córdoba where budget information is found and we proceeded to analyze some policies or programs of interest. In this sense, there were groups on the environment, health, education, housing, disability and gender. At the end, we shared the findings in full and different exchanges were generated about the information that is available, the need to incorporate other elements and indicators when carrying out this type of analysis, among others.

This Table took place a week before the 2023 Budget Public Hearing will be held in Córdoba in the Legislature, which is why at the end we share the information on how to participate in it. It is essential that these spaces for participation are promoted and how to attend is clearly and accessible disseminated, with the aim of diversifying the voices in this space and democratizing the debate around a key element for the guarantee of our rights.

Thank you ACIJ for inviting us to be part of this initiative and we hope to continue generating spaces for dialogue, debate and research around the different public budgets that are dictated at the different levels of government.

More information

Contact

Maria Victoria Sibilla, ninasibilla@fundeps.org

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A dialogue on food programs, public purchases and the Law for the Promotion of Healthy Eating

Last Thursday, November 17, we held a meeting on the current management of food programs for school canteens in the provinces of Mendoza, Córdoba, Salta, Tucumán, and Buenos Aires. Special emphasis was placed on food purchasing systems and on the need to guarantee the effective application of Law No. 27,642 on the Promotion of Healthy Eating (PAS) within the framework of school assistance programs in each of these provinces. The event was organized by Fundeps, Nuestra Mendoza, Andhes, Salta Transparente, the Center for the Implementation of Constitutional Rights (CIDC) and also had the support of SANAR.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

In addition to representatives of the aforementioned civil society organizations, the following participated in the meeting: Claudia Oliva and Victoria Lo Valvo, General Director of the Comprehensive Assistance Program of Córdoba (P.A.I.Cor) and Director of Legal Affairs of the General Directorate of Purchases of Córdoba ; Franco Pullido and Gabriel Sciola, Director of School Feeding of Mendoza and Undersecretary of Administration of the General Directorate of Schools of Mendoza and Matías Molina, General Director of Monitoring of Procurement of Goods and Services of the province of Salta.

At first, through a participatory dynamic, the different representations and social images linked to chronic non-communicable diseases and, specifically, malnutrition due to excess and the commonly known “law of labeling” were addressed. Then the different components of said law were described and, finally, the provisions related to public purchases for school canteens were studied in depth.

It was highlighted that, when dealing with purchases for educational establishments, they should guarantee that products with black seals did not enter the schools, whether they were already packaged products or the ingredients used to prepare the food. This, given that products with at least one seal or precautionary legend cannot be offered, marketed, promoted, advertised or sponsored within schools, by virtue of article 12 of the PAS law.

In a second moment, the floor was given to each of the leading people from the provinces, authorities in the event that they were present or from NGOs, so that they could comment on how the management of the food programs was in each one of them, how Food purchases were decided, with what nutritional criteria, if this information was accessible to the public, all with the aim of identifying some common points and windows of opportunities for the effective application of the PAS law.

By way of conclusion, each attendee identified opportunities, challenges and possibilities for articulation between civil society and the State agencies involved.

 

Authors

Maria Victoria Sibilla

Maga Merlo

Contact

Maria Victoria Sibilla, ninasibilla@fundeps.org

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Public budget: the debate and approval stage began in the Legislature

Each year budget laws are enacted that will guide the development of public policies for the following year, both at the national and provincial levels and in all the municipalities of the country. Through these laws, management priorities are set, and it is determined how much will be collected and invested in public policies.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

In Córdoba, this process began on November 15 when the provincial executive sent the provincial public budget bill to the Legislature, and with the presentation made by the Minister of Finance, Osvaldo Giordano, to the legislative body two days later. The project must be accompanied by a “Message from the Executive” which is a reflection of the government plan that the provincial government is in charge of to guide economic activities.

After this, a period of debate and review begins in several of the Legislative Commissions. Of these, the one that plays a major role in this process is the Economy, Budget, Public Management and Innovation Commission, since it is in charge of preparing the opinion (or two, one by majority and one by minority) that is incorporated into the order. of the day of the Legislature to be dealt with in Sessions.

 

How is the budget law approved in Córdoba?

The budget law is approved through the “double reading” mechanism, provided for by the Constitution of the province for certain important cases (such as the declaration of constitutional reform, borrowing, among others), which involves the debate in two legislative sessions. This arrangement was foreseen once the Legislature of Córdoba became unicameral, as of 2001. In addition, the possibility of holding a public hearing, between sessions, is foreseen, which in the case of the approval of the budget law it is mandatory.

In other words, it is approved in two legislative sessions, between which no more than 15 days can elapse, and a hearing is held in between. Entities representing various social, economic, productive, professional sectors, as well as citizens in general, usually participate in this.

This Hearing must be convened by the presidency of the Legislature, that is, the vice-government, once the bill has been approved in first reading. In addition, the call must be published both in the Official Gazette and in a newspaper of circulation of the province, for two days and one day respectively. The Legislature’s outreach channels are also used, such as its own website.

Any person, association or organization that wishes to give their opinion, comments or observations to the budget bill may participate in the hearing. You can participate by speaking or as a “simple assistant” as a listener. A Minute and a stenographic version are drawn up of each hearing, where everything said is reflected, material that is made available to the legislative body for its consideration in the face of the second reading session. Once the bill is approved or rejected, the versions of the hearings are available to the public on the Legislature’s Open Data Portal (Commissions section).

 

We leave you this information so that you can follow the debate process of the budget law 2022 in Córdoba

Contact

Nina Sibilla, ninasibilla@fundeps.org

 

Related note

ABC of the Public Budget in the provinces of Córdoba, Mendoza, Salta and Tucumán

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Public purchases in pandemic 2021: less transparency and direct purchases continue

After the publication in March of the results of the survey “Public purchases in pandemic: 2020, the year of direct contracting and the lack of transparency”, Red Ruido adds to the investigation the first quarter of the year 2021.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”

Ruido is a federal network of communicators, specialists in open data and civil society organizations that was created to make visible issues of public interest related to the management of State resources, administrative transparency, corruption and access to information. From Fundeps we support its creation in an alliance Citizen Power and FOPEA.

In this new report, the question remains the same as in the first Noise survey: can citizens know how much the State paid for each product purchased to alleviate the pandemic?

The answer is not only the same —no—, but now it is worse: there was less information available to access data for the first quarter of 2021, in relation to what was surveyed in 2020. This is the main conclusion of the survey in 13 provinces of the country , plus the City of Buenos Aires and the Nation.

Highlights
● 82.3% of the hires in the first quarter of 2021 were made directly, according to the Noise survey in 14 Argentine provinces.
● Fewer transactions were registered than last year and there was also less data available: the index of access to information worsened.
● In many joint purchases (those that include several products) it is impossible to detect how much each province paid for each item.
● Santa Cruz was added to the provinces without data.
● A record-breaking purchase of ethyl alcohol was detected in Chaco: 1,900 pesos per liter.

Tenders, missing
The survey of public purchases related to the pandemic during 2020 had detected that 92% of the operations had been carried out directly. That index improved a little, but it is still very high: 82.3%.

The Decree of Necessity and Urgency 260/2020 that President Alberto Fernández signed on March 12, 2020 established the public emergency in health matters due to Covid-19, so that the contracting of goods and services that are carried out in this framework can be processed by direct route.

More than a year passed and the time to plan prevention increased, but the use of this shortcut to hire was not reduced.

Among the provinces with almost 100% direct purchases and / or awards are Salta, Entre Ríos and Santiago del Estero, while Mendoza is responsible for the drop in this general average, since it used the mechanism of bidding, auctions and / or open competitions in 49% of purchases. It was the province with the greatest improvement in relation to 2020, when that figure was just 13%.

Access to information

If the level of access to information in the first Noise survey (purchases in 2020) is compared with that of the first quarter of 2021, the situation worsened.
According to the index prepared (in which 1 implies total public access to data and 4, no access), the general average of access to information in 2020 had been 2.3. But from January to March 2021, it fell 0.3 points to 2.6.

This is so because not only did the three provinces that keep secret data and do not respond to access requests (Tucumán, Salta and Santiago del Estero) remain the same, this time Santa Fe (provides negligible information) and Santa Cruz joined (He did not respond to any request for information).

Booze through the roof
In the case of the prices of chinstraps, ambulances and ethyl alcohol, in the first quarter of 2021 there were far fewer purchases of these products than in 2020.
Wide gaps in the prices paid for chinstraps were maintained, and there were no purchases of ambulances.

In the case of ethyl alcohol, the record paid for this element appears in a purchase from Chaco: 1,900 pesos per liter. This arises in a purchase made on March 30, 2021 (order number 1,865) from Ande Servicios SRL, for which units of 200 milliliters (at 70%) were purchased at 380 pesos, for a total of 91,200 pesos. The figure represents up to 10 times the market value.

It is not possible to have more details of this operation, since the province of Chaco did not respond to any request for access from Ruido.

The other element that appears in some surveys is the rapid test kits to detect the virus. There is a wide range of prices for the same product that goes from the 170 pesos that CABA paid, up to the 715 pesos spent by Mendoza.

Access the full report and the analysis of each province here.

 

Ruido survey authors:

Mariela Arias (Santa Cruz), María Ester Romero (Buenos Aires, Tierra del Fuego and CABA), Yamile González (Formosa), Gabriela Sánchez (Mendoza), Bárbara Maidana (Chaco and Sante Fe), Juan Manuel González (Córdoba), Natalia Buiatti (Entre Ríos), Gonzalo Guzmán (Transparent Jumps), Luis María Ruiz (Tucumán), Sol Minoldo, Julieta Fantini, Andrés Vázquez, Cristian Pérez, Sergio Carreras and Edgardo Litvinoff.
Graphics: Diego Forti. Network design: María Pía Reynoso. Networks: Daniela Reynoso. Development: Walter Kanqui.

Ruido Communication Channels:

http://elruido.org/
https://twitter.com/RuidoRed
https://www.instagram.com/ruidored/
https://www.facebook.com/ruidored/

More information:
Public procurement in a pandemic: a year of direct contracting and lack of transparency

Contact:

Nina Sibilla, ninasibilla@fundeps.org

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ABC of Public Budget

Together with the organizations Andhes, Nuestra Mendoza and Salta Transparente, we have prepared a report that gives an account of how public budgets are created in the provinces of Córdoba, Tucumán, Mendoza and Salta, as well as the availability of information around them and the existence or not of participation mechanisms.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

Determined to strengthen the mechanisms of publicity, accountability and citizen participation, the Fundeps, Andhes, Nuestra Mendoza and Salta Transparente organizations prepared a report that explains the public budget formation cycle in the 4 provinces, as well as its execution and control by part of the public authorities.

The budget is a key element of public management, it defines the public policies that a government will carry out, determines how much will be collected and invested in public policies over a specific period, which is usually a anus.

The ABC report of the Public Budget seeks to answer the following questions, how is the public budget cycle in each of the provinces under analysis? What are your times and what key actors are involved? Is this information available? Does the citizenry have spaces for citizen participation?

To this end, the legal frameworks of each province, the stages of the provincial budget processes – elaboration, debate and approval, execution and control – were analyzed, identifying in each of them the key actors involved, the times of the process and which ones. they are the most relevant documents that result in each instance. Finally, for each province, the level of publicity and dissemination of budget information was analyzed, as well as opportunities for citizen participation, giving recommendations adapted to each situation.

In an instrument as relevant as the public budget that has a direct impact on the exercise of people’s human rights, it is necessary to guarantee, on the one hand, the highest levels of dissemination, publicity so that it is accessible to all citizens. , as well as instances and mechanisms of citizen participation that contribute to the construction of a more just and inclusive society.

DOWNLOAD REPORT

Contact

Nina Sibilla, ninasibilla@fundeps.org



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ABC of the public budget in the provinces of Mendoza, Salta, Tucumán and Córdoba
This report gives an account of how public budgets are created, executed and controlled in the provinces of Córdoba, Tucumán, Mendoza and Salta, as well as the availability of information around them and the existence or not of participation mechanisms. It was carried out in conjunction with the Andhes, Nuestra Mendoza and Salta Transparente organizations.


               

               
               
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We are trained in “budget analysis and advocacy strategies for transparency”
Within the framework of a project that seeks to strengthen accountability at the federal level, together with the NGOs Nuestra Mendoza, Andhes and Salta Transparente, we are trained in “Budget Analysis and Advocacy Strategies for Transparency” in order to generate common tools and align our work on this matter.


“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”


The public budget is the main economic policy mechanism that defines how and how much public resources will be collected and invested in a whole year. Through this, the government defines its priorities in attention to public policies and therefore in the guarantee of rights.


The objective of the training was to generate tools and align our work on public budget matters, in order to carry out a joint strategy on the subject. Although, in general terms, all public budgets follow a similar scheme both at the national and sub-national levels, both the nation and each province have their own specificities. In this sense, guidelines were established for the analysis of each provincial budget process, identifying its key actors, times of the process and the existence or not of a mechanism for transparency and citizen participation.


In a particularly complex year, where the emergency was declared and large funds were allocated to care for the pandemic – a situation that is expected to continue at least for a while longer – we consider it key to delve into this issue. In this sense, we will advocate for greater visibility of the public budget, while making it more transparent, participatory and guarantor of human rights.


Contact


Nina Sibilla, ninasibilla@fundeps.org.