LocationsPacific Floating Budget Office: A Beacon of Transparency and Innovation
July 25, 2023
The PFBO pools individual parliamentary capacities from across the Pacific region, complementing this wealth of knowledge and experience with subject experts from Australia, New Zealand, and beyond.
Floating (adjective): not settled permanently; fluctuating or variable.
In the context of the Pacific, what is the first thing you think of when you consider the term ‘floating’? Most answers would revolve around spending time in the ocean, but from the less-glamorous-yet-potentially-more-valuable perspective of a country’s budget and its subsequent financial management, the term has taken on a whole new meaning thanks to the Pacific Floating Budget Office (PFBO).
In a region where most parliaments are without an office or support staff who can provide such analysis for Members of Parliament (MPs) prior to budget approval being sort, the PFBO offers an innovative, concrete example that exemplifies the principles of open government, and improves accountability and transparency in parliaments across the region.
The PFBO operates on a simple yet powerful concept: it brings together the collective resources of individual parliamentary capacities from across the Pacific region, complementing this wealth of knowledge and experience with subject experts from Australia, New Zealand, and beyond. This collaborative effort creates a critical mass—an amalgamation of diverse perspectives and expertise, leading to successful outcomes.
The bedrock of any thriving democracy
Good governance and fiscal transparency form the bedrock of any thriving democracy. As custodians of public trust, elected representatives bear the responsibility of actively engaging in the review of government budgets. This includes conducting thorough scrutiny, proposing amendments, and safeguarding the interests of the communities they serve.
Fostering public participation throughout the budgetary process is crucial to ensure the inclusion of diverse perspectives and promote an accountable and responsive government. Similarly, the provision of sharp, independent analysis plays a pivotal role in enhancing fiscal transparency.
Independent analysis offers an unbiased assessment of budget proposals, identifies potential inefficiencies, enables elected representatives to gain a deeper understanding of how taxpayers' money is being spent, and can often propose an alternative course of action to those originally put forward.
Equipping parliamentarians with objective information perceives them as empowered to make well-informed decisions and foster a culture of improved public trust. With fiscal and budgetary language often both complicated and convoluted, technical capacity to decipher this and provide sufficient oversight in aid of transparency often goes begging. Such transparency further strengthens the bond between a government and its citizens – as representatives of their interests – nurturing a healthy democratic ecosystem.
Revenue, expenditure and a government’s prerogative for sharing anything beyond the big-ticket budget items has historically been recondite. Oversight, both within the parliament and amongst civil society, has also been lacking.
This is not through a lack of interest; the will to delve deep into the facts and figures of any budget has always existed. However, transparency, accountability and participation have not always been a given; both the quantity and quality of oversight on fiscal decision making has been limited, at best.
This is where the PFBO steps in, to help parliamentarians gain a deeper understanding of budgetary allocations and effective resource prioritisation.
South-South cooperation is the centrepiece of the PFBO, through the creation of a model that pools and builds upon regional capacity, develops networks amongst parliamentary staff across the region, encourages the sharing of best-practice, and addresses the challenges associated with the provision of quality budget analysis across a vast geographical area.
Josua Mudreilagi has been involved with the PFBO since its pilot phase in 2016
Transforming both people and parliaments
Josua Mudreilagi, Manager of Research and Library Services at the Fiji Parliament, has been involved with the PFBO since its pilot phase in 2016. A founding father, as he proudly likes to refer to himself, Mudreilagi is a prime example of what the PFBO can do: build parliamentary capacity to the point in which external support is no longer needed.
Across his time with the PFBO, he has developed his own skill set when it comes to budget analysis, worked with colleagues from across the Pacific, Australia and New Zealand, and worked to ensure that fiscal transparency and accountability have become commonplace in not only the Fiji Parliament, but in others across the Pacific.
“You’re dealing with public money, and the government – as manager – must be held accountable. Oversight and scrutiny must be conducted, as these funds dictate the life of communities, particularly somewhere such as the Pacific where our populations are so diverse and geographically widespread,” he said.
The PFBO presents a fresh outlook on a matter that is being addressed by parliaments worldwide: by collaborating at the regional level, they can combine resources and allocate them to other pressing priorities. This holds particularly true for digital communication capabilities, as there is no longer a requirement for physical travel. The PFBO has successfully conducted virtual implementations on several occasions, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, but not exclusively limited to it.
Mudreilagi emphasised that the PFBO was a tool that worked incredibly well in this region, and that there was no reason as to why a like-for-like solution couldn’t be rolled out elsewhere.
“While obviously our parliaments in the Pacific are limited by resource, we are flexible enough to find areas to be innovative and adaptive. We’re forced to come up with ideas that best fit Fiji, or for other countries in the Pacific, and the Floating Budget Office has not only done this in our region it has the flexibility to strengthen the budget process in any country in which it works,” Mudreilagi said.
Ilaisaane Vaihu serves as Committee Clerk for the Public Accounts Committee in Tonga’s Legislative Assembly.
"You come with one agenda, and leave having learned something incredibly different”
Ilaisaane Vaihu, a recent addition to the parliamentary budget space in Tonga, recently attended her first overseas PFBO meeting in Fiji – supporting analysis of the inaugural budget handed down by the country’s governing coalition.
“Before coming here, the only thing that I wanted to see was how Fiji presented their budget estimates. However, as we finish up our time, I’ve not only learned and worked to better understand how the Fiji Parliament works I’m leaving having also seen how other parliamentary staff across the region work their way through a budget.
“You come with one agenda, and leave having learned something incredibly different,” she said.
Serving as Committee Clerk for the Public Accounts Committee in Tonga’s Legislative Assembly, Vaihu added that there was nothing more important than learning from colleagues across the region, taking these practices back home and applying them to the Tongan context.
“In Tonga, it is difficult to find good information that simplifies the budget into language that everyone can relate to, allowing for people from a broad cross-section of the population to understand what the budget will mean for them.
“The Pacific Floating Budget Office certainly helps to do exactly that. In Tonga, even those MPs who are not members of Cabinet sometimes have trouble understanding the budget in full, so you can only imagine how difficult it must be for civil society to be expected to do the same,” she said.
Vaihu reiterated that for a budget to be considered a success, transparency throughout the process remains key.
“It’s taxpayers’ money, at the end of the day. The public deserve, and have the right, to know where their money is being spent and they also should be holding government to account to ensure that public funds are being used wisely,” she said.
The PFBO offers an innovative, concrete example that exemplifies the principles of open government, and improves accountability and transparency in parliaments across the region.
UNDP and the Sustainable Development Agenda
The PFBO is supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Pacific Office in Fiji, with this activity aligning with the organisation's broader commitment to promoting sustainable development and accountable public institutions.
UNDP's Pacific Office in Fiji provides essential support for parliamentary development across the region through two regional projects: the Pacific Parliamentary Effectiveness Initiative (PPEI), supported by the Government of New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), and the second phase of the Strengthening Legislatures in Pacific Island Countries project, supported by the Government of Japan. In addition, this work is also made possible via the Fiji Parliament Support Project, supported by MFAT and Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
This involvement underscores the broader significance of the PFBO within the sustainable development agenda, highlighting how transparency, public participation, and accountable governance are instrumental in achieving the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.
Yemesrach Workie, UNDP Pacific Office in Fiji Deputy Resident Representative, praised the PFBO as a ground-breaking initiative that champions innovation and a unique approach to development. The PFBO's innovative work has earned recognition from prestigious organizations such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Observatory of Public Sector Information and the Westminster Foundation for Democracy.
“The principles of open government are embedded across the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, just as they are with the Pacific Floating Budget Office. Transparency, public participation, and accountable public institutions are instrumental to achieving the SDGs.
“Ensuring that government remains accountable is an essential element of high-quality and universal service provision, and the Pacific Floating Budget Office continues to innovate and be agile, producing quality and independent budget analysis across the region,” she said.
