Action plan – Córdoba (Province), Argentina, 2024 – 2027

At-a-Glance

Duration

September 2027

Date Submitted

September 2024

Foreword(s)

For nearly a decade, the government of the Province of Córdoba has been convinced of the positive benefits of implementing public policies aligned with the pillars of Open Government. In this sense, the Province has undertaken internal transformation processes within the state to embed the principles of 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, citizen participationAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, citizen participation occurs when “governments seek to mobilize citizens to engage in public debate, provide input, and make contributions that lead to m... More, and collaboration in the co-creation of public policies.

Previous administrations have demonstrated this 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... by designing and implementing goals at both subnational (Third National Action Plan,  2017-2019) and local levels (First Local Action Plan, 2021-2023). This new administration takes up these efforts to go further in identifying the needs of citizens and addressing them through the application of the Open Government paradigm.

It is in this context that the Province of Córdoba, through the Ministry of Government, has decided to develop the Second Open Government Action Plan, in line with the standards set by the Open Government PartnershipThe Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving government transparency, ensuring opportunities for citizen participation in public matters, and strengthen... More (OGP) for local governments. To design and implement a plan that effectively addresses the identified challenges, this plan seeks to foster an active involvement of organized civil society and academia.

The development and implementation of this Action Plan is based on a co-creation approach with citizens represented by various institutions. The process includes working groups, periodic meetings, direct communication, recording, collaboration, and feedback from interested parties.

Open Government Challenges, Opportunities and Strategic Vision

What is the long-term vision for open government in your context and jurisdiction?

The long-term vision of Córdoba Provincial Government for Open Government is to create a public administration distinguished by its transparency, accessibility, effective collaboration with citizens, and accountability. The aim is to develop an ecosystem where Open Government is at the heart of public policies, leveraging the collective intelligence of the entire community. The provincial government aspires a new type of political leadership that places citizens and civil society organizations at the center of the decision-making process, fostering more inclusive, collaborative, and responsive governance to repair and rebuild public trust in institutions and public officials.

What are the achievements in open government to date (for example, recent open government reforms)?

The Province of Córdoba has a long tradition of implementing open government practices. This includes actions with other government organizations, private sector stakeholders, academia, and civil society, within the framework of maintaining collaborative and ongoing cooperation. Some examples include the Province-Municipality Working Unit, the Liaison Table, and the Constitution of Boards of Directors of State Agencies. For information access, there are resources like the IDECOR portal, Statistics and Censuses, and the Budget Transparency Portal. Additionally, concerning the pillar of accountability, there are management reports and SDG reports.

In 2017, the Province was part of the Third National OGP Action Plan in Argentina and, together with civil society organizations that participated in the working groups, defined a goal that consisted of institutionalizing open government policies in the Province of Córdoba through training processes and the creation of an Open Management Portal. This portal, named Portal de Gestión Abierta, is currently accessible online.

In 2020, the Province formally joined the alliance as an OGP Local member, and in its First Action Plan (2021-2023) the work was based on Open Government oriented toward achieving the SDGs. The focus was the promotion of processes of adoption and territorialization of the 2030 Agenda at the local level with the municipalities of Freyre, Alta Gracia, Vicuña Mackenna, and San José de la Dormida.

What are the current challenges/areas for improvement in open government that the jurisdiction wishes to tackle?

• Create spaces for collaboration and citizen participation, generating engagement and guaranteeing equitable access and channels appropriate for different stakeholders, with the aim of achieving citizen involvement in the co-creation of public policies.
• Refurbish the Open Management Portal, Portal de Gestión Abierta, into a Data Portal that complies with basic open dataBy opening up data and making it sharable and reusable, governments can enable informed debate, better decision making, and the development of innovative new services. Technical specifications: Polici... guidelines and standards, becomes a meeting point between the provincial government and citizens, and promotes a culture of data as a service, useful and reusable by citizens.
• Foster a cultural change in management, making the open government policy transversal to the Executive Branch and the public administration in general, and turning it into a strategic resource that requires a new type of leadership, one that is more horizontal, for decision-making.
• Work with municipalities and communes in the Province, with the challenge of generating collaborative governance processes among the different levels of government.

What are the medium-term open government goals that the government wants to achieve?

The medium-term open government goals are:

• Consolidate the opening of data and information as a state policy: ensure that active transparency is maintained as a sustained practice backed by legal and administrative frameworks.
• Promote the principles of open government and work on them at the territorial level: establish training and support networks and programs for municipalities and communes to implement open government practices and collaborative governance.
• Promote a process of inter-jurisdictional and multi-level collaborative governance with universities, civil society organizations, municipalities, communes, and the provincial government, to foster political innovation and efficiency in public management through collaboration and knowledge exchange.

How does this action plan contribute to achieve the Open Government Strategic Vision?

The commitments that make up the plan are closely linked to the pillars that underpin the open government paradigm. The plan seeks to satisfy, through concrete actions, the establishment of its principles within public administrations at both the provincial and municipal levels. Transparency, participation, and collaboration, as well as the integration of accountability and innovation processes, can be easily identified in the actions that make up each commitment.

How does the open government strategic vision contribute to the accomplishment of the current administration’s overall policy goals?

The Open Government Strategic Vision of this Action Plan contributes to the consolidation of a more transparent and accessible administration, fostering citizens’ trust in public institutions. This trust can be strengthened with the achievement of more inclusive and collaborative governance through the generation of a government ecosystem that leverages the collective intelligence of its community.

In addition, promoting and supporting the implementation of Open Government practices at the territorial level, through the establishment of training networks and programs, contributes to strengthening the capability of municipalities and communes to foster political innovation and efficiency in public management through collaboration and knowledge exchange.

Engagement and Coordination in the Open Government Strategic Vision and OGP Action Plan

Please list the lead institutions responsible for the implementation of this OGP action plan.

• Open Government Secretariat of the Ministry of Government, Government of the Province of Córdoba

What kind of institutional arrangements are in place to coordinate between government agencies and departments to implement the OGP action plan?

As the entity responsible for the OGP Agenda, the co-creation of the Action Plan, and its implementation, the Open Government Secretariat, through the highest authority of its Ministry, called for the designation of representatives from each ministry and agency within the Provincial Executive Branch. The purpose of this call was to establish a direct channel of dialogue with each government area to ensure coordinated efforts during this implementation. Another goal was to foster a collaborative network that facilitates the exchange of information, as well as the coordination and the monitoring of the Action Plan.

What kind of spaces have you used or created to enable the collaboration between government and civil society in the co-creation and implementation of this action plan? Mention both offline and online spaces.

The Open Government Secretariat, as the responsible government body, convened various representative sectors of both civil society and academia to establish an intersectoral and interdisciplinary roundtable for the co-creation of the Action Plan. For this purpose, in-person and virtual meetings were held using collaborative tools, in which:

• New participants were identified and added to the roundtable;
• The definition of the strategic vision, identification of problems and challenges, and co-creation of each commitment were discussed;
• The monitoring body was defined;
• The methodological tool for validation of the Action Plan with citizens was co-created.

What measures did you take to ensure diversity of representation (including vulnerable or marginalized populations) in these spaces?

The call sought to include as diverse a range of representatives as possible. To this end, civil society organizations that have been working on the open government paradigm at the territorial level were invited, along with the 12 universities of the Province of Córdoba, as the maximum exponents in the scientific dissemination of the principles. Both sectors encompass a diverse range of representatives, including young people, and vulnerable and marginalized groups.

Who participated in these spaces?

During 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..., 12 universities of the Province participated, as well as civil society organizations linked to human rightsAn essential part of open government includes protecting the sacred freedoms and rights of all citizens, including the most vulnerable groups, and holding those who violate human rights accountable. T..., the development of IT tools, and plural collective actions.

How many groups participated in these spaces?

16

How many public-facing meetings were held in the co-creation process?

8

How will government and non-governmental stakeholders continue to collaborate through the implementation of the action plan?

The Open Government Secretariat will be responsible for the implementation of the Action Plan as a governmental body. The non-governmental organizations that participated in the co-creation process of the plan were proposed to actively participate in its implementation with a support/monitoring role. These organizations will get periodic communication, execution schedules, and progress updates for each commitment.

Please describe the independent Monitoring Body you have identified for this plan.

During the co-creation process, the roundtable agreed that the organization responsible for monitoring the Action Plan will be the Secretariat of University Welfare and Modernization, which belongs to the National University of Córdoba. The proposal and consideration arise from the Secretariat’s extensive experience and knowledge of the OGP monitoring methodological tool.

Provide the contact details for the independent monitoring body.

• Facundo Barrionuevo, Project Leader, facundo.barrionuevo@unc.edu.ar

What types of activities will you have in place to discuss progress on commitments with stakeholders?

There will be regular meetings among the implementers, the Monitoring Body, and the roundtable members who have participated in the co-creation process. In these meetings, the actions carried out in each of the commitments will be discussed and the level of progress of the plan will be validated. The Government of the Province of Córdoba will present a progress report on each of the commitments every quarter, which will be uploaded to this website.  If the Monitoring Body deems it necessary to hold meetings outside of those scheduled, it may request or suggest another roundtable discussion of the points that the Monitoring Body requires.

How will you regularly check in on progress with implementing agencies?

Within the website, an Open Government Secretariat contact email and a contact form will be made available to receive specific inquiries from citizens or organizations/institutions regarding the progress of the Action Plan. In addition, the activities that are part of the plan, as well as their general progress, will be published on the website. These progress consultation mechanisms are complementary to the official OGP Local mechanisms. The status of each commitment and milestone will be updated on the official OGP platform.

How will you share the results of your monitoring efforts with the public?

The results of monitoring reports, including both partial and final learning, will be published on the official OGP platform. They will also be shared through the official social media accounts of the Ministry of Government of the Province of Córdoba and the website. Additionally, they will be made available to each of the organizations that participated in the drafting of the plan, so that they can also share the results on their respective social media and websites.

Endorsement from Non-Governmental Stakeholders

• Nina Sibilla, Democracy Coordinator, Fundeps
• Franco Rovaretti, Member, Minka Digital
• Emilse Carrizo, Member, Red Ciudadana Nuestra Córdoba
• Fernando Guevara, Member, Asociación Civil Crear
• María Florencia Perez Gaudio, Director of the Higher Technical Degree in Journalism, Colegio Universitario Politecnico
• Mariano Mosquera, Director of the Master in Business Administration (MBA), ICDA – Escuela de Negocios UCC
• María del Huerto Allub, Director of Academic Management, Instituto Universitario Aeronáutico de Córdoba
• Pamela Cáceres, Vice-Rector of Research, Innovation, and Postgraduate Studies, Universidad Blas Pascal
• Griselda Ibaña, Director of the Federal Institute of Government, Universidad Católica de Córdoba
• Mónica Cingolani, Dean of the Faculty of Political Science and International Relations, Universidad Católica de Córdoba
• Jaschele Burijovich, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba
• Mariana Lerchundi, University Professor, Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto
• Daniela Kunz, University Professor, Universidad Nacional de Villa María
• Virginia Tomassini, Coordinator of the Political Science Program, Universidad Nacional de Villa María
• Julio Romero, Academic Coordinator of the Specialization in Public Management and University Professor, Universidad Provincial de Córdoba
• Gabriel Suárez, Dean of the Pedagogical Academic Institute of Social Sciences, Universidad Nacional de Villa María

Letter of Support