Lithuania Action Plan Review 2023-2025

Lithuania’s sixth action planAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen... includes a promising commitmentThrough the Action Plan Review, OGP’s Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) recognizes promising commitments that address a policy area that is important to stakeholders or the national context. Pro... to establish new regulatory practices around public consultations at the ministerial and subordinate levels. During implementation, the Office of the Government needs to specify the commitments further by identifying what it aims to achieve through each and by setting measurable indicators to ensure accountability.

Lithuania’s sixth action plan has three commitments: establishing well-structured and high-quality legislative processes, building a customer-centric approach in the public sector, and improving the co-creation processCollaboration between government, civil society and other stakeholders (e.g., citizens, academics, private sector) is at the heart of the OGP process. Participating governments must ensure that a dive... on the national level. The previous action plan had commitments from the Public ProcurementTransparency in the procurement process can help combat corruption and waste that plagues a significant portion of public procurement budgets globally. Technical specifications: Commitments that aim t... Office and the Center of Registers. Being independent from the Office of the Government, those institutions were not obliged to follow the timeline of the action plan when implementing their commitments. This time, the working group and the Office of the Government prioritized commitments whose implementation is, in most cases, in the hands of the Office.

On 6 February 2023, the Office of the Government confirmed a new Working Group that operates as a multi-stakeholder forum.[1] The Working Group is mandated to co-create and approve the sixth action plan and monitor its implementation. The Office of the Government addressed previous IRM recommendations by forming a Working Group where most government members have decision-making powers within their institutions.[2] During the previous cycle, the lack of involvement of senior representatives left some agencies unaware of their role in implementing commitments. The Office of the Government reached a wider range of stakeholders, including experts in public policy, as well as lobbying organizations.[3] The IRM welcomes this diversity in the Working Group, as the action plan focuses on improving law-making and acknowledging the experiences of different interest groups.

The drafting of the action plan started with a brainstorming session in the Working Group and an online public consultation launched on 14 March 2023.[4] No proposals came from the public consultation so only the proposals from the Working Group were discussed in later stages. Proposals from the Working Group were discussed during three workshops. The Working Group confirmed the final list of commitments by voting online. After the voting, there were various meetings with stakeholders and the Working Group to specify the commitments. The Office of the Government received several written comments from Working Group members. These comments were discussed with them, and the plan was amended accordingly.[5] However, a few members refrained from voting, saying that the commitments did not fully represent the discussions they had during the workshops.[6] For instance, the action plan mentions a lack of data utilization and evidence-based law-making, but the commitments do not directly address this issue. The Office of the Government noted that the action related to the data utilization was not among the most voted for, but the action plan as a whole was designed to foster greater openness within the public sector, bridging the gap between government and citizens and promoting data-driven decision-making.[7]

The IRM has assessed Commitment 1 as promising. Common standards for drafting legal acts at the ministerial and subordinate levels could facilitate greater engagement in the passing of legal acts by citizens and interest groups. The other two commitments are less ambitious and are framed vaguely. The Office of the Government noted that the Working Group tried to reach a consensus on what as possible to achieve at the time of action plan’s development, rather than aiming for ambition alone.[8] CommitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action... 2’s activities focus on the internal work of civil servants, without clearly aiming to improve the transparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More, participation, or accountability of the government. Commitment 3 foresees developing a library of best practices and learning channels for public officials, and piloting public consultations, but lacks details on the implementation of the pilot or the contents of the library. The success of the action plan will largely depend on how the Office of the Government will specify the commitments and identify what it aims to achieve.

Promising Commitments in Lithuania 2023 – 2025 Action Plan

The following review looks at the one commitment that the IRM identified as having the potential to realize the most promising results. Promising commitments address a policy area that is important to stakeholders or the national context. They must be verifiable, have a relevant open government lens, and have modest or substantial potential for results. This review also provides an analysis of challenges, opportunities, and recommendations to contribute to the learning and implementation process of this action plan.

Table 1. Promising commitments

[1] The Decree of the Chancellor of the Office of the Government, No. V-25.

[2] See https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/lithuania-action-plan-review-2021-2023/

[3] The IRM researcher received a list of attendees via email from the Office of the Government, 31 October 2023. 60 people participated in the three sessions.

[4] Office of the Government, Public consultation for the new action plan, https://epilietis.lrv.lt/lt/konsultacijos/viesoji-konsultacija-del-atviros-vyriausybes-veiksmu-plano

[5] Information provided by the Office of the Government during the pre-publication review, 25 January 2024.

[6] The IRM researcher has depersonalized emails from members of the Working Group, expressing their concerns. Received via email from the Office of the Government, 31 October 2023.

[7] Information provided by the Office of the Government during the pre-publication review, 22 January 2024.

[8] Information provided by the Office of the Government during the pre-publication review, 22 January 2024.