Côte d’Ivoire Action Plan Review 2022-2024

Côte d’Ivoire’s fourth 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... continues reforms such as budget 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, asset declaration, and the fight against corruption. It introduces aims to increase 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 in decision-making around inflation and land ownership, as well as greater accountability in public service. Strengthening commitments’ direct contribution to government transparency, civic participation, and public accountabilityAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, public accountability occurs when ”rules, regulations, and mechanisms in place call upon government actors to justify their actions, act upon criticisms ... More could increase the action plan’s potential to achieve open government results.

Côte d’Ivoire has developed a 2022–2024 Action Plan with 11 commitments covering 7 policy areas. Four commitments have evolved from the previous Action Plan, namely commitments on open budgets (1 and 2), the fight against corruption (4) and the asset transparency (5). The remaining commitments cover new policy areas such as the fight against inflation, the environment code, the building act, laborTransparent workforce data and increased representation of workers in labor policy-making lead to policies that better protect workers’ rights and remove barriers for underrepresented groups in the ... legislation, and security. All commitments align with the Côte d’Ivoire’s 2021–2025 National Development Plan, particularly pillar No. 6 concerning strengthening governance and modernization of the State. The fourth action plan is similar in length, content, and level of ambitionAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, OGP commitments should “stretch government practice beyond its current baseline with respect to key areas of open government.” Ambition captures the po... as the previous.

Côte d’Ivoire continued to broaden participation in the co-creation process through regional public consultations. Public consultations were held across several regions to gather proposals on topics to be addressed in the fourth action plan.[1] The Ivorian Civil Society Platform for OGP (PSCI-OGP) and the Technical Committee documented and analyzed public input. A meeting was then held with relevant government institutions to consider and refine the proposals.[2] The Technical Committee drafted and validated the final action plan based on the consultations with citizens and relevant government institutions.[3]

PSCI-OGP noted that synthesizing a large amount of public input in a short timeframe presented a challenge. Mariama Koné, President of the Technical Committee, also noted the lack of resources to develop a website to collect proposals online and house a wide range of information. Koné added that the Technical Committee members were not always available, and their proxies were not always able to provide up-to-date information.[4]

Commitments 1, 3, and 6 were identified by IRM as having the potential for promising results and are therefore assessed in detail. Commitments 1, 3, and 6 concern, respectively, the institutionalization of the participatory budgeting, participation in the fight against high living costs, and transparency in public administration through user satisfaction surveys. As currently written, these commitments have the greatest potential to generate binding and institutionalized changes within the Government.

The IRM was unable to assess whether Commitments 4 and 10 have significant potential to open government due to a lack of available information. Regarding Commitment 4, the content of the draft anti-corruption strategy is not available for review. Regarding Commitment 10, the IRM did not receive sufficient information to assess the nature of civil society’s involvement in denouncing acts of uncivil behavior or potential accountability mechanisms in the construction sector.

Commitments 5 and 8, while having an open government lens, were assessed as having modest ambition. These commitments concern the declaration of assets and the establishment of community policing and do not bring significant changes compared to current practices. Finally, Commitments 7, 9, and 11 do not have clear links with the values of transparency, accountability, or citizen participation in government as currently written and therefore have an unclear potential to open government.

Promising Commitments in Côte d’Ivoire’s 2022–2024 Action Plan

The following review looks at the three commitments 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] See public consultations reports: https://ogp.gouv.ci/documentation/.

[2] Government member of OGP Côte d’Ivoire, exchange with the IRM researcher, March 2023.

[3] Civil society members of PSCI-OGP platform, interview exchange with IRM researcher, February 2023.

[4] Mariama KONÉ, representative of the ministerial focal point for OGP and Chair of the Technical Committee, interviewed by the IRM researcher by WhatsApp call in March 2023.