Local open government: opportunities and challenges in terms of impact and participation.

Renato Manuel Berrino Malaccorto,Maricel Lonati

doi:10.29379/jedem.v11i2.573

Abstract

Through this reflection we propose to investigate and explore the possibilities offered by the implementation of open government policies in the local dimension, focusing particularly on: 1) the impact generated by open government initiatives in the improvement of processes, delivery of public services and quality of life of citizens; 2) the potential of these tools to advance in opening policies that involve the different branches of the State; 3) the possibilities offered by closeness in local governments to encourage and diversify citizen participation, and to empower the community as a driver of innovation; 4) the lessons and challenges that the implementation of these tools leave in subnational governments.

Highlights

Two years after the launch of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Local Government programme, which set as objectives; the promotion of innovations and reforms of open government at the local level, where governments can participate more directly with citizens and provide many crucial public services, we access the Final reports of the Independent Review Mechanism (IRM), which evaluated the participation of the 15 local governments that formed the first subnational pioneer cohort
Since Buenos Aires was incorporated into the pilot programme of subnational entities, in midApril 2016, the City acquired a strong leadership in Open Government initiatives
Throughout the process, twenty-seven face-to-face workshops were held, with the participation of twenty-one civil society organizations, sixteen areas of government from the three branches of state, two research institutes and a university. Both the co-creation process and the implementation of the initiatives were evaluated by the IRM, in its final report, published in early 201818

Summary

The value of Open Government at the local level

Two years after the launch of the OGP Local Government programme, which set as objectives; the promotion of innovations and reforms of open government at the local level, where governments can participate more directly with citizens and provide many crucial public services, we access the Final reports of the Independent Review Mechanism (IRM), which evaluated the participation of the 15 local governments that formed the first subnational pioneer cohort (today 30 local governments are part of the Programme) These reports conclude that these first exercises of co-creation of action plans have been successful in generating a favourable climate for the implementation of open government reforms and the capture of political will for these issues to be included in government planning. Including: get new actors involved in participatory processes, going beyond the usual candidates; moving from data to "data in use"; promoting the use of the platforms; disseminating them and generating various instances of awareness; contemplating Civil Society Organizations as executing partners in the implementation of the commitments to obtain better results; formalising multi sectorial forums as much as possible; aligning the priorities of the Action Plan with those of the Citizenship

Objectives and Expectations

First Action Plan

Second Action Plan

Findings

The impact in the City of Buenos Aires