Promote Transparency by Enhancing Citizens’ Access to Information on Public Revenues.

Description

A. Program Description 1. Goals and Objectives Goal: Promote Transparency by Enhancing Citizens’ Access to Information on Public Revenues. Objective One: By September 30, 2027, ensure the existence of a centralized and accessible platform in Mauritania for monitoring and reporting revenues from natural gas, mines, and fisheries, that is accessible to all Mauritanian citizens, local organizations, and interested private sector investors. Activities: 1. Support the design of a digital platform to collect, monitor, and publish user-friendly data on revenue from natural resources. 2. Conduct training sessions for relevant Mauritanian government officials, members of parastatal organizations, private sector, and civil society actors on transparency regulations and the importance of data submission methods and processes. 3. Collaborate with relevant stakeholders such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, relevant United Nations agencies, and other similar entities to verify reported income, publish findings, and share them publicly to ensure information reaches even the most remote regions of the country. Objective Two: By September 30, 2027, ensure the public availability of Mauritanian government and state-owned enterprise debt, through a dedicated platform, like the one that monitors natural resources income, and through credible and accessible media channels. This is intended to increase public awareness and engagement on the status of Mauritanian government and state-owned enterprise debt by 50 percent. Activities: 1. Partner with media outlets based in Nouakchott, Nouadhibou, Kiffa, Nema, Kaedi, and Rosso to create and disseminate user-friendly and multilingual content on fiscal data, including infographics, videos, and articles. 2. Publish reports on government debt, including state-owned enterprise debt, on an open-access website and promote them through articles and on social media. 3. Implement in-person training for journalists and bloggers on understanding the concept of government and state-owned enterprise debt. 4. Hold public forums with journalists, bloggers, academics, private sector associations like the Union Nationale du Patronat Mauritanien (UNPM) and the U.S. Mauritania Business Council, and civil society organizations to discuss and amplify fiscal and budget data. Objective Three: By September 2027, operationalize Mauritania’s Citizens' Budget through a user-friendly, multilingual web and WhatsApp-based application with chatbot capacity, making 80 percent of budgetary data accessible and understandable to the public and engaging at least 60,000 people annually. Activities: 1. Develop and launch a multilingual web- and WhatsApp-based application with a chatbot to provide real-time, simplified responses to public questions on national expenditure budgets, including government debt. 2. Regularly update and disseminate reliable budgetary information through the application in close coordination with the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the Accounting Court. 3. Conduct public outreach campaigns to promote the application and educate citizens on how to use it effectively; also link it to the U.S. Embassy business page so interested companies can see how the Mauritanian government allocates funding.

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