Ecuador Action Plan Review 2022-2024

Ecuador’s second 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... aims to create an Open State by introducing initiatives in judicial, legislative, and electoral matters, along with enhancing 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 and social control measures from the first plan. The commitments were developed through a 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..., representing significant progress in terms of representation and territorial reach. During implementation, it is crucial to ensure better definition of deadlines and to guarantee consistency between the public problems to be solved and the proposed activities.

Ecuador’s second action plan includes 15 commitments, organized into three thematic groups: Open State, transparency initiatives, and 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. The proposed initiatives prioritize activities aimed at 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..., opportunities for participation, and innovation. While some of the commitments are considered relevant to accountability, the inclusionOGP participating governments are working to create governments that truly serve all people. Commitments in this area may address persons with disabilities, women and girls, lesbian, gay, bisexual, tr... More of activities that meet the OGP definition for said value remains an area of opportunity. This plan’s commitments are linked to the Sustainable Development GoalsOGP countries are experimenting with open government innovations to accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 16+ which includes peaceful, just and inclusive societies... and the Opportunity Creation Plan 2021-2025, promoted by the central Government.

The areas of 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... More, environment, and improvement of public services come from the previous action plan. With an Open State vision, actions from the judicial and legislative bodies are now included. Of these new areas of public policy, the proposal (#2) to improve the quality of data on electoral processes and political parties also stands out, which is considered one of the promising commitments of this action plan.

The co-creation process promoted by the Groupo Núcleo[1] for this plan included virtual and in-person activities in the country’s main cities, allowing an improvement in citizen participation and the inclusion of commitments that responded to their interests and needs. Such is the case of the commitment to transparency in the fishing industry, which, as explained by the representative of Fundación Ciudadanía y Desarrollo, was proposed by civil society organizations that work on these issues in Manta, Guayaquil, and Galapagos[2].

Regarding the characteristics of the process, the representative of one of the international organizations that supports the process through financing for civil society explained that, although participation in the co-creation process was affected as a result of protests and citizen strikes against the Government, the space provided by open government allowed significant approaches for citizens who were looking for a space to be heard[3].

The representative of the Citizenship and Development Foundation considers that the territorial tables, thematic tables, both in-person and virtual, as well as the digital form for collecting proposals, allowed greater involvement, diversity, and scope in the process[4]. Both representatives agreed that having a clear methodology, financing, and support during the facilitation helped improve the quality of this plan’s co-creation process.

The Groupo Núcleo identified a responsible entity from the Government and a counterpart from civil society, academia, or the private sector. This is considered a “best practice” as it allows a definition of roles and expectations for each of the actors involved, as highlighted by the IRM in the results report of the previous cycle[5].

Regarding the commitments’ 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..., although significant changes were targeted in the different areas of public policy, in some cases, the activities were inconsistent with the problems they sought to address. For example, the 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... on open justiceAn open, independent, and impartial justice system serves as a foundation for better access to justice by fulfilling all people’s civil liberties and allowing individuals to more effectively protect... (#1) aims to promote assessments of the efficiency in the administration of justiceTo address barriers that prevent citizens from having their justice needs met, OGP participating governments are working to expand transparency, accountability, and inclusion into all systems of justi..., however, the proposed activities are limited only to the opening of data.

In other cases, there is a gap between the short-term result and the long-term vision. For commitment #3 regarding strengthening citizen participation and accountability, for example, the expected result in the short term is the creation of Citizen Training Schools, while the long-term vision is to promote citizen participation in public policy evaluation processes. In this and other instances, the established deadlines between the different activities are not identified.

Finally, the IRM identified four promising initiatives for this plan due to the opportunity to achieve significant changes in different public policy areas and the consistency between the current public problems and the proposed activities to address them. These are commitments #2, referring to information about electionsImproving transparency in elections and maintaining the independence of electoral commissions is vital for promoting trust in the electoral system, preventing electoral fraud, and upholding the democr... More and political parties; #6 regarding the creation of a portal that centralizes active and passive transparency information; #8 addressing the Government’s budget cycle and, #11 proposing the creation of a Strategy for Ethics and Integrity in Public Procurement.

[1] In Ecuador, the Groupo Núcleo works as a 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... for the open government process. At the date of writing this report it consisted of the following institutions: Presidency of the Republic, Ministry of Telecommunications and the Information Society; Ministry of Production, Foreign Trade, Investments and Fisheries; Ombudsman of Ecuador; Ministry of Women and 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...; Diverse Dialogue Foundation; Datalat Foundation; Citizenship and Development Foundation; Internet Help Foundation; Esquel Foundation; Hemispheres University.

[2] Claudia Vega, Citizenship and Development Foundation, interview with IRM, March 3rd 2023.

[3] Alicia Salgado, Counterpart International, interview with IRM, March 3rd 2023.

[4] Claudia Vega, Citizenship and Development Foundation, interview with IRM, March 3rd 2023.

[5] Ecuador, 2019-2022 Results Report. Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM): https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/ecuador-results-report-2019-2022-for-public-comment