Latvia Midterm Review 2021-2025

This product reviews Latvia’s refresh process halfway through implementation of their 2021-2025 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.... It evaluates the refresh process, any significantly amended or new commitments, and provides a general update on the status of implementation.

Overview of the 2021-2025 Midterm Review

In February 2022, Latvia submitted a four-year action plan to the Open Government Partnership. At the midpoint, Latvia took stock of the action plan’s progress and context after two years of implementation. Based on this reflection, Latvia submitted a refreshed action plan in July 2024.^[1] This IRM document reviews the refreshed action plan, the status of implementation at the midpoint, and alignment with the minimum requirements under the Participation & Co-Creation Standards.^[2]

Latvia’s refresh process did not substantially change the action plan. Based on input from the multi-stakeholder forumRegular dialogue between government and civil society is a core element of OGP participation. It builds trust, promotes joint problem-solving, and empowers civil society to influence the design, imple... (MSF), the State Chancellery added three milestones to existing commitments. Two pertain to 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... and one to local government openness. The government also pledged in the refresh document to step up the implementation of existing commitments on public communication, civic participation, and open local government.

Senior stakeholders at the State Chancellery, including the point of contact to OGP, saw the refresh process as a valuable opportunity to document the status of the commitments.[3] However, the refresh process itself was not fully participatory. Latvia’s regulatory framework does not allow the government to amend policy planning documents during implementation unless considerable contextual changes have occurred.[4] The rules also require any amendments to go through the same formal co-creation and approval procedures applied to the document’s initial adoption. Since the context around the OGP action plan remained largely the same, the State Chancellery limited the refresh process to consultations within the MSF.[5] The State Chancellery also published the draft refresh plan on the national OGP website for a two-week public consultation in July 2024, receiving two comments from members of the MSF but none from the public.

In the first two years, Latvia has made progress on all six commitments, albeit to different degrees. The State Chancellery has had difficulty securing funding for some commitments and coordinating the commitments that require close collaboration between multiple organizations.[6] For example, the implementation of Commitment 6 (promoting openness and citizen participation in local government) has been difficult because the central government has limited information on local municipalities and little leverage to compel them to implement OGP commitments.[7] The new milestone of Commitment 6 to increase the availability of comparative data on municipalities partly responds to the IRM Action Plan Review’s recommendation to assess local governments’ performance in transparency and participation.[8] While the plan will focus on social, educational, and sustainable development indicators, the government could consider including open governance indicators in the scope of this work.[9] 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 to promote existing public participationGiving citizens opportunities to provide input into government decision-making leads to more effective governance, improved public service delivery, and more equitable outcomes. Technical specificatio... opportunities has progressed the fastest, with three of the five milestones completed by the midterm.

In the remaining two years of the action plan, the government could prioritize implementation of Commitment 6 by harnessing the Local Government Law adopted in 2022. The law establishes a legal framework for citizens’ councils as a new voluntary public participation method at the local level and requires local governments to implement participatory budgeting.[10] Both are among the objectives of Commitment 6. The State Chancellery plans to meet with the Ministry of Smart Administration and Regional Development (MoSARD) and the Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments (LALRG) in 2025 to discuss progress on this commitment.[11] To support completion of this commitment, these meetings could be held regularly. The IRM also reiterates its recommendation to provide institutional support to municipalities in implementing new open government practices like citizens’ councils or participatory budgeting through OGP’s international platform.[12] Furthermore, the State Chancellery, MoSARD, and LALRG could build on the capacity-building activities of this commitment by facilitating permanent peer support for municipalities.[13] The State Chancellery could also provide more opportunities for public monitoring of the action plan during the remaining two years of implementation.

[1] State Chancellery, Latvia’s Open Government National Action Plan 2022-2025: Mid-Term Assessment, July 2024, https://www.mk.gov.lv/en/media/19590/download?attachment; State Chancellery, Fifth National Open Government Partnership Action Plan of Latvia 2022-2025: Information on Four-Year Refresh (Annex to the Plan), July 2024, https://www.mk.gov.lv/en/media/19623/download?attachment

[2] Open Government Partnership, OGP National Handbook 2024, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/ogp-national-handbook-rules-and-guidance-for-participants-2024/; OGP Participation and Co-Creation Standards, 2021, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/ogp-participation-co-creation-standards/

[3] Inese Kušķe and Zane Legzdiņa-Joja (State Chancellery), interview by the IRM, 12 September 2024.

[4] Republic of Latvia, Rules for the development of development planning documents and impact assessment (Attīstības plānošanas dokumentu izstrādes un ietekmes izvērtēšanas noteikumi), Cabinet of Ministers regulation no 737, https://likumi.lv/ta/id/270934-attistibas-planosanas-dokumentu-izstrades-un-ietekmes-izvertesanas-noteikumi

[5] Inese Kušķe and Zane Legzdiņa-Joja (State Chancellery), interview by the IRM, 12 September 2024.

[6] Inese Kušķe and Zane Legzdiņa-Joja (State Chancellery), interview by the IRM, 12 September 2024.

[7] Inese Kušķe and Zane Legzdiņa-Joja (State Chancellery), interview by the IRM, 12 September 2024.

[8] Open Government Partnership, Independent Reporting Mechanism, Action Plan Review: Latvia 2022-2025, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/latvia-action-plan-review-2022-2025/

[9] Viesturs Razumovskis (Ministry of Smart Administration and Regional Development), correspondence with the IRM, 17 September 2024.

[10] Republic of Latvia, Local Government Law (Pašvaldību likums), adopted on 22 October 2022, https://likumi.lv/ta/id/336956-pasvaldibu-likums

[11] Inese Kušķe and Zane Legzdiņa-Joja (State Chancellery), interview by the IRM, 12 September 2024.

[12] Open Government Partnership, Independent Reporting Mechanism, Action Plan Review: Latvia 2022-2025, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/latvia-action-plan-review-2022-2025/

[13] State Chancellery, Latvia’s Open Government National Action Plan 2022-2025 Mid-Term Assessment, 2024, milestone 6.2, pp 58-59, https://www.mk.gov.lv/lv/media/19593/download?attachment