End of Commitment Report – Make visible the actions and processes developed within the framework of Local OGP Program by local governments and civil society organizations.

Name of Evaluator

Melisa Gorondy Novak

Email

melisa.gorondynovak@cba.gov.ar

Member Name

Córdoba (Province), Argentina

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 – Córdoba (Province), Argentina, 2021 – 2023

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...

Make visible the actions and processes developed within the framework of the Local OGP Program by local governments and civil society organizations.

Action

Generate sustained spaces for communication and visibility of the work carried out with the municipalities and actors involved in the collaborative territorialization of the SDGs, in a way to bring the results of this process closer to society as a whole. Provide tools for a better design of responsible and transparent devices that will monitor and review the implementation of the SDGs.

Problem

The need to unify the information of the entire process of adoption of the 2030 Agenda in the provincial territory in a single place, for greater 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 accessibility. In addition, through the dialogue with the participating localities and organizations, the opportunity to generate data opening about the governance process was detected.

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 province of Córdoba understands that Open Government seeks to generate an environment of and for government openness to address public problems, from initiatives co-constructed between diverse actors in a collaborative, participatory, and transparent manner. Within this project, the purpose was to promote an open government with meaning, that is, oriented towards a common horizon: the sustainable development agenda, and to propose within that framework the territorial appropriation of said agenda in a collaborative manner with all the actors of a community. To accomplish this, we invite pilot municipalities so that they can territorialize the 2030 Agenda and its sustainable development objectives together with their citizens. In this framework, the level of commitment of each municipality was variable when it came to publicizing the progress of the project.

As an example, the Municipal Government of Alta Gracia promoted collaboration and access to information for residents and works with participatory councils, seeking to include the needs and expectations of citizens in the process of territorialization of the Agenda, propelling a collaborative and participatory decision-making process and in the formulation of public policies to improve the provision of goods, services, and regulations. For this, the Digital Municipal Digest was carried out, the Digital Neighbor App was implemented -which allows carrying out procedures and payments online-. However, the Municipality of Freyre, given the progress in working with the 2030 Agenda, did not delve into new instances of negotiation on its adoption at the local level.

Provide evidence that supports and justifies your answer:

• Open Government model sheet
• Open Government sheet 
• Multi-Level Government Actions
• OGP Blog: Toward Gender and Youth-Focused Sustainable Development at the Local Level

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

Within this framework we can mention that in a first stage of the project it focused on prioritizing the SDGs and goals of the 2030 Agenda to the municipal reality with Freire, Alta Gracia, Vicuña Mackenna and San José de la Dormida. Here the pre-existing advances regarding the 2030 Agenda of each municipality were influenced above all. In that sense, Freire, with greater progress disseminated through his platform aimed at reporting on his actions for the SDGs, was not so involved in making visible a new strategy for adopting the Agenda at the territorial level. In a second instance, Alta Gracia, Vicuña Mackenna and San José de la Dormida invited their internal actors to validate the local sustainable development model that they sought to prioritize. This involved an instance of internal promotion and dissemination, which made it possible to strengthen Horizontal Multilevel Governance in working with the Sustainable Development Agenda. Similarly, in the case of Vicuña Mackenna, this internal work of visibility and articulation between the different secretariats could also be seen reflected in the development of its first local voluntary report, which was approached to the United Nations and disseminated in its pages. In a third instance, the municipality of San José de la Dormida, together with Alta Gracia, sought to go further and proposed the co-creation of strategic lines to implement specific public policies that allow the achievement of the SDGs at the local level. To this end, they generated participatory visibility and awareness-raising instances with non-governmental actors and citizens. As for the other municipalities, stagnation was seen in their participation due to having different levels of commitment as well as goals to develop and make visible.

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:

The actions that took place during the entire process of territorialization of the SDGs at the municipal level are found on the Open Management Website (www.gestionabierta.org.ar).
Furthermore, in the same Open Management Portal, in the news section, people can click on “publications made”, and find the milestones achieved, the meetings held and the commitments achieved within the framework of the OGP project, and in general with the municipalities.
To this we must add what was previously mentioned in relation to the participation of the municipalities, since it was quite heterogeneous. While some had advanced with the 2030 Agenda prior to the presentation of the project, and although we would think that they would continue to advance, their participation stagnated. Regarding the most notable case in terms of implementation of the objectives of this commitment, San José de la Dormida and Alta Gracia were the most active municipalities and that presented the greatest commitment in the instances of making visible the progress in terms of territorialization of the SDGs. and Agenda 2030.

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.

Among the management plans rest the possibility of opening the data to civil society. These types of instances were carried out in collaboration with multiple actors, an instance that allows us to deepen the transparency and horizontality of data. The keys to the approach were to develop clear, simple and assertive communication, which offered answers and solutions to the problems diagnosed at the local level, but which was also accessible to citizens. The instances with the municipalities made it possible to extend information in relation to the territorialization of the SDGs in order to generate public policies aimed at solving local problems. Likewise, the participation of civil society in a strategic way in the development of such policies was one of the key instances to be able to open the government. In relation to the publicity of data, the Government Management Report is one of the exemplary formats to make visible the progress in the different areas of interest.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• Management Report 2021
• Local Voluntary Report 2022
• Local Voluntary Report 2023
• Open Management Portal

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.

In line with what was stated in the previous section, the instances of co-creation of methods for addressing problems were extremely valuable in generating trust in civil society. Mainly, 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... was the first instance of participation to address the priority axes for the territorialization of the SDGs. Then, by Municipality, participatory events were carried out, allowing the citizens of the localities to be involved. In San José de la Dormida, for example, participatory mappings could be developed to establish priorities and methodologies for addressing priority axes. They even developed participatory workshops in the neighborhoods to carry out a diagnosis that would serve as input to generate joint proposals. As a result, a program of Short-Term, Low-Budget and High-Impact Actions was developed. In the case of Alta Gracia, meetings were held with representatives of neighborhood centers and youthRecognizing that investing in youth means investing in a better future, OGP participating governments are creating meaningful opportunities for youth to participate in government processes. Technical ... where awareness was raised about the 2030 Agenda, and then participatory instances were used to define the central axes to be addressed in management.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• Participatory Mapping – San José de la Dormida
• Diagnosis and Participatory Planning – San José de la Dormida

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

Yes

Degree of result:

Major

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

Although many media existed, what was prioritized was an efficient and accessible use of information. Channels such as the open management portal were used to communicate and inform both about the publications and the activities carried out in the various areas of management (Sustainable Development, Multilevel Governance, Habitat and Family Economy, etc.). Likewise, another channel was the report of the milestones achieved in the action plan through the Government Management Report and also in the 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... section of the portal, this allows any citizen to know how the axes were addressed. and the results obtained. The Government Management Report details both the axes prioritized by year and the public policies effectively executed and even indicators prepared based on 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... or even recommendations from other international organizations such as the OECD. Likewise, these visibility methods allowed us to address transparency and accountability from a public and accessible platform.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• Management Report 2021
• Local Voluntary Report 2022
• Local Voluntary Report 2023
• Open Management Portal

2.1.4 Other Results

Not Applicable

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

Unclear

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The objective of making visible the actions and processes developed within the framework of the Local OGP Program by local governments and civil society organizations was achieved, but with different intensities. In some way, the open management portals in conjunction with the management reports allowed the publicity of the data and accessibility. However, some municipalities took more prominence than others. We understand that to see results in terms of dissemination, the most important thing is to make proposals effective and then be able to visualize them and that is why Alta Gracia and San José de la Dormida managed to impact the communication of their own agendas and lines of action achieved. However, something positive to highlight is that the project notification channels are visible and allow citizens to learn more about them.

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.

Multilevel governance was a key axis of management. The aim was to make visible the province’s commitment to strengthening its relationship with the municipalities, which is an enormous challenge for the extensive territoriality of Córdoba. Likewise, we sought to improve the organizational culture as a target in the open government paradigm, consolidating the province-municipal link, as actors that jointly impact local sustainable development. Both the open data and the actions carried out in the provincial management report of what was carried out by the municipalities are proof of this. However, it was difficult to incorporate a particular section in the portal to report the specific progress of the action plan. It was possible to communicate meetings, encounters, missions in the territory through the multi-stakeholder forum and delegations from the province with referents of agendas prioritized by the municipalities in order to accompany and co-manage actions in the localities, but no specific data was made visible. This could be developed given that lines of action were drawn up but not implemented to have data on the results of these local public policies.