Promoting access to information in the Digital Age
- ngofmail
- Oct 9
- 1 min read
Promoting access to information in the Digital Age to enhance public participation, transparency, integrity, and accountability in Public Financial Management (PFM).
Mr. Mar Sophal, Program Manager of the NGO Forum on Cambodia, said that public finance reform, including budget, revenue-expenditure, budget settlement and audit, has been widely implemented digitally.
As the secretariat of the CSOs’ Budget Working Group (BWG), NGO Forum on Cambodia (NGOF) has collaborated with the International Budget Partnership (IBP) to promote the Transparency in Budget through Open Budget Survey (OBS), which has been continuously increasing since 2008. This growth reflects the contribution from the civil society organizations and the commitment of the Royal Government to demonstrate budget transparency to the citizens.
Notably, this indicator was included by the Royal Government of Cambodia in the National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP) 2024–2028 to promote digital policies and public outreach.
He called on citizens, especially young people, to use social media to participate in monitoring the national budget, which is generated from citizens’ taxes, and to provide feedback digitally. It should also be noted that the NGO Forum on Cambodia also has a “METRI” strategy (2024 - 2030) and taking advantage of that opportunity, he also stated that at least 500 young people over the next 3 years will be given the opportunity to participate as “METRI” youth ambassadors in various activities such as research, budget analysis, advocacy, and engaging with the government in the public finance management process.
This program is part of the “Citizen Participation in Public Finance Management” project, which is supported by the European Union.
#SCOPE-PFM, #NGOF, #IBP, #OBS, #OpenBudget
