End of Commitment Report – Application of open government in processes of spatial planning, strategic planning, and environmental management

Name of Evaluator

Katarína Vitálišová, Ivana Hačková, Mária Vavrušová, Artur Ivan

Email

katarina.vitalisova@umb.sk

Member Name

Banská Bystrica, Slovak Republic

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... Title

Action plan – Banská Bystrica, Slovak Republic, 2021 – 2022

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...

Application of open government system in processes of spatial planning, strategic planning, and environmental management of the city, building up skilled employees of the BB Municipal Authority in the application of the open government system.

Action

The commitment aims to set up and improve the open government system and strengthen the skills, capabilities, and attitudes of the Municipal Authority’s staff towards implementing open government, which will include: Creation and regular meeting with an analytical-work group composed of officials who will be in specific live, or running processes/projects (in fields of spatial/strategic planning/environmental management) analyze and identify key places and phases, where and how to use the principles of open government – specifically participation, communication, and 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. Following this work, it will also be experimented with organizing communication meetings of the municipality with citizens about living urban themes. The meetings will be combined with relevant experts’ entries and educational activities. Design, meeting activities, and some learning inputs will ensure the coordinator of participation/open government, with the help of other employees of the administration and relevant experts for professional inputs and educationAccountability within the public education system is key to improving outcomes and attainment, and accountability is nearly impossible without transparent policies and opportunities for participation ....

Problem

The commitment responds to the problem that is the deficit of culture of open government and the use of its system (principles such as participation, communication, transparency/information), namely the processes and creation of policies in areas that are crucial for residents and overall development of the city. These areas are namely spatial planning, strategic planning, environmental management, and processes that have an environmental impact. These processes are characterized by complexity not only in their content security but also in procedural security. The application of open government principles in these areas is deficient, which leads to unwelcome surprises, frustration, polarization, possibly also anger – i.e. factors that can negatively impact the relationship between the city and residents and the prospective development of open government and the overall development of the City.

1.1 What was the overall level of progress in the commitment implementation at the time of this assessment?

Substantial

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The below-mentioned source demonstrates that the city of Banská Bystrica has significantly advanced in the implementation of the first commitment under the Action Plan for Open Government at Local Level – Banská Bystrica, especially in terms of meeting six individual milestones of this commitment. All of the milestones had been met at the time of the evaluation. However, some of the milestones have not been met to the previsioned extent or there is no clear evidence for their full completionImplementers must follow through on their commitments for them to achieve impact. For each commitment, OGP’s Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) evaluates the degree to which the activities outlin.... Conversely, some milestones have been met above target. It is not entirely clear whether the creation of an open government analysis and a working group made up of the office employees can be equated with the employees who were actively involved in the implementation of the first projects identified or with the OG ambassadors at the Municipal Office.

Provide evidence that supports and justifies your answer: 
Implementation of Banská Bystrica action plan – Miro

1.2 Describe the main external or internal factors that impacted implementation of this commitment and how they were addressed (or not).

Internal factors that influenced the implementation of this commitment include mainly the underdevelopment of the open government system and the promotion of the use of its principles in the city of Banská Bystrica. Other factors comprise the absence of systemic support for communication with the public, which cannot be performed by 1-2 employees, and to some extent the skills, abilities, and attitudes of the Municipal Office employees in applying the principles of open government. The external factor is the need for change and support in creating the absent open government approach in Banská Bystrica for the citizens and the creation of a modern local government that will record institutional improvements, apply the open government system, build the capacity of the employees of the Municipal Office and set up a system of using its principles in the processes of policy-making or implementation of open government and projects related to the processes of spatial, strategic planning and environmental management of the city at the Municipal Office of Banská Bystrica in a participatory manner.

1.3 Was the commitment implemented as originally planned?

Most of the commitment milestones were implemented as planned

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

6 planned milestones of the first commitment were implemented as originally previsioned. However, some milestones were not implemented within the set timeframe – for this reason, the implementation of the plan was extended by 4 months, until 31 December 2022. They constitute the creation of pilot methodological recommendations for improving open government in spatial, strategic planning, and environmental governance processes; a final focus group to reflect and evaluate the process and the effect of the activities. One milestone has not been met in terms of quantity, namely: a minimum of 10 Open Government Think Tank meetings, of which 6 have been implemented, however, at the time of the evaluation this milestone has also been met. Some milestones have been met above the target, namely: min. 2 dialogues/meetings of the City with citizens, of which more than 30 had been implemented at the time of the evaluation.

Provide evidence that supports and justifies your answer: 
Implementation of Banská Bystrica action plan – Miro

2.1.1. – Did the government disclose more information; improve the quality of the information (new or existing); improve the value of the information; improve the channels to disclose or request information or improve accessibility to information?

Yes

Degree of result:

Major

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

The City of Banská Bystrica has created an innovative way of cooperation with the general public with a focus on increasing the level of information, transparency, and participation. This was executed through participatory planning projects and other projects of cooperation between the municipality and citizens. The Open Government Platform of the City of Banská Bystrica makes information about the OGP Local BB, the city’s cooperation, participatory budget, live participatory projects, or the OGP Action Plan and strategies at the level of the city of Banská Bystrica available. The city also conducts discussions about the aforementioned and thus involves the subjects in their implementation. OGP Local BB regularly communicates information on its website – on a separate link below, where it communicates the publicly available results of the implementation of the Open Government Action Plan at the local level – Banská Bystrica. It is also important to point out the changes within the Municipal Office and the approach of the employees to practically implement the principles of OGP Local through selected projects, capacity buildingEnhancing the skills, abilities, and processes of public servants, civil society, and citizens is essential to achieving long-lasting results in opening government. Technical specifications: Set of ac... through training on OGP Local, and providing regular consultations with the Participation Coordinator.
Evidence:
Implementation of Banská Bystrica action plan – Miro
Open Government Initiative – Website

2.1.2. – Did the government create new opportunities to seek feedback from citizens/enable participation inform or influence decisions; improve existing channels or spaces to seek feedback from citizens/enable participation/ inform or influence decisions; create or improve capabilities in the government or the public aimed to improve how the government seeks feedback from citizens/enables participation/ or allows for the public to inform or influence decisions?

Yes

Degree of result:

Major

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

The rate of implementation of activities with citizens through various participatory planning projects in Banská Bystrica increased significantly. The city has organized and implemented more than 30 meetings with citizens during the implementation of the Action Plan. The City of Banská Bystrica has created opportunities for them to express their opinions, get feedback, or participate and make decisions within the framework of the above-mentioned projects. The conditions and capacities of the government but also of the public to improve the way the government gets feedback, allows participation, and allows the public to inform or influence decisions have been created and the level of their quality has been increased. At the same time, new opportunities for 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... were created specifically according to each project through participatory processes, e.g. the city park revitalization project used questionnaire surveys, conference organization, focus groups, cultural strategy development questionnaire surveys, world cafe method meetings, etc.

Provide evidence that supports and justifies your answer: 
Implementation of Banská Bystrica action plan – Miro

2.1.3 Did the government create or improve channels, opportunities, or capabilities to hold officials answerable to their actions?

Unclear

2.1.4 Other Results

Yes

Degree of result:

Major

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

The City of Banská Bystrica, in addition to the planned activities under the Commitment, has also implemented other activities. Their successful implementation will contribute to the fulfillment of the OGP Local principles. It has established cooperation with the OECD and the World Bank to learn from experts and improve open government processes in the city. It has actively started to develop cooperation with the business community, which has so far been the weaker side of public engagement, with local universities. To strengthen institutional open government, it actively prepared a project of the Institute for Open and Innovative Local Government, which had a supra-local scope, in cooperation with Matej Bel University.
Evidence: Implementation of Banská Bystrica action plan – Miro

2.2 Did the commitment address the public policy problem that it intended to address as described in the action plan?

Yes

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The city has implemented participatory public policymaking, which was almost completely absent before the commitment, in areas such as the planning of city park projects and green settlements, an integrated spatial strategy, and the development of a cultural development concept. In addition to citizens, dozens of the Municipal Office employees have been involved in participatory planning through awareness-raising programs and activities, so that they can familiarize with the vision of open government.

Provide evidence that supports and justifies your answer: 
City park; Green developments
Participatory planning of the Integrated Territorial Strategy – functional urban area of ​​Banská Bystrica
The concept of the development of culture

3. Provide at least one lesson or reflection relating to the implementation of this commitment. It can be the identification of key barriers to implementation, an unexpected help/hindrance, recommendations for future commitments, or if the commitment should be taken forward to the next action plan.

The commitment in relation to public education and engagement was met to a high standard. The implementation of the commitment in relation to the employees of the Municipal Office appears to be challenging. Therefore, attention should be paid to improving the processes of the Municipal Office – in terms of functionality and communication, focusing on the interoperability of the different departments and municipal institutions as well as internal systems, also in the next period. This can reduce the time needed to carry out tasks and also increase the quality of the services provided. We also recommend further systematic training of employees in open government and the development of their skills in teamwork and project activities.