Inception Report – Action plan – Salcedo, Dominican Republic, 2023 – 2024

1 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 Application of urban planning regulations

1.1 Is the commitment verifiable?

Yes

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The design of the commitment establishes a set of activities that are identifiable, within the framework of the problem, with the participation of citizens, who are the key actors and at the same time the final beneficiaries of the interventions.
We refer to activities such as vertical and horizontal signage, unoccupied sidewalks, loading and unloading schedules and street lighting. It also contemplates an urban viability plan and a plan for road education and increased control and surveillance.
The results are measurable, as indicators of achievement have been established, such as a reduction in traffic accidents, greater fluidity of vehicular flow and improved pedestrian viability. A system of consequences is also contemplated.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• Approval of the road traffic study by the Municipal Council.
• Approved designs of vertical and horizontal traffic signs and signals
• Proof of financial support from local companies for signage and educational campaigns

1.2 Does the commitment language/activities clearly justify relevanceAccording to the OGP Articles of Governance, OGP commitments should include a clear open government lens. Specifically, they should advance at least one of the OGP values: transparency, citizen partic... to OGP values?

Yes

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

This commitment is aimed at satisfying a priority need of the municipality, standing out as a “public policy” of municipal road planning, through the “institutionalism” of the municipal mayor’s office, making use of a “decision-making process” that highlights OGP values. In this sense, its relevance points to transparency, stating that this road management plan “will be agreed upon by all sectors, which will promote a climate of consensus and transparency”.
It also aims to improve the “governance” of this issue in the municipality, as this problem has “proposed solutions” that consolidate the management initiatives of processes “where stakeholders and beneficiaries go together towards a common goal”. Its relevance is also found in “participation and inclusion”, selecting an issue that affects “pedestrians”, “mainly the elderly and people with some difficulty of movement”.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• Minutes of approval of the Municipal Council and ordinance
• Traffic accident statistics
• Traffic ticket statistics

1.3 Please select one option that best describes the commitment:

a continuation of ongoing practice in line with existing legislationCreating and passing legislation is one of the most effective ways of ensuring open government reforms have long-lasting effects on government practices. Technical specifications: Act of creating or r..., policies or requirements.

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

This commitment constitutes the continuity of a public policy on road planning that must be implemented at the municipal level, and in this particular case of the municipality is aimed at satisfying “collective needs” beyond individual desires and needs.
In addition to the Municipal Mayor’s Office, the National Institute of Transit and Land Transportation (INTRANT) and the Directorate of Security of Transit and Land Transportation (DIGESETT) are involved in the discussion of the issue.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• Request for invitations to INTRANT and DIGESETT to assume their role at the municipal level via the Municipal Development Council.
• Minutes of meetings

1.4 Please select one option that best describes the commitment:

will result in a change of the rules, practices or policies that govern a policy area, public sector and/or relationship between citizens and is binding or institutionalized across government or specific institution(s).

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The effort to achieve compliance with the commitment and its intended scope entails an approach that highlights several aspects:
(i) It must be seen as an effort to organize a municipality, at the municipality’s request, and give importance and validity to a public policy with an application at the municipal level.
(ii) It involves stakeholders and beneficiaries who will benefit the most from the road measures to be implemented.
(iii) It should be seen “as a positive change” and as an example to be followed by other municipalities, given the empowerment of the Municipal Development Council, involving government, civil society and other actors such as the Council of the Strategic Plan of Santiago.
(iv) (iv) It has the particularity of being a collective effort of municipal authorities, citizens, central government, local companies such as the participating Cooperatives, civil society organizations, which play a role in making it transparent, under a novel scheme of governance, participatory and inclusive.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• Minutes of approval of the Municipal Council and ordinance
• Minutes of meetings

1.5 Are there any recommended changes to the design of the commitment to help improve its implementation?

In order to fully comply with the commitment, it has been necessary to implement several agreements and work plans that to date and for various reasons have limited the scope of the commitment and its milestones. We highlight:
(i) The flow of financial resources that have prevented INTRANT and DIGESETT from fulfilling their role in the municipality according to the requests processed from the Mayor’s Office.
(ii) To grant a longer execution period, so that the results are visible in stages and the actors and beneficiaries can visualize the achievements and expected impacts through the months following the implemented improvements.
(iii) (iii) As a result of the execution to date, additionally incorporate a set of viable suggestions; which can be summarized as (a) educational campaign by means of perifoneo; (b) public hearings to incorporate the participation of private actors of the municipality (cooperatives); (c) request the support of the churches of the municipality; (d) expand urban public lighting; and (e) signage and lighting in rural areas.

2 Commitment :

Enabling urban parks (especially Parque Lineal and other river canyons) and creation of urban parks by acquiring land by the municipality and creating green spaces with planters and other solutions.

2.1 Is the commitment verifiable?

Yes

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The design of the commitment establishes a set of activities that are identifiable, within the framework of the problem of the elderly, since there are no public services necessary for appropriate care, where citizens, together with civil society, the mayor’s office and the central government are interested in the search for increasingly inclusive collective solutions.
The results are of a measurable nature, since a solution proposal has been established aimed at strengthening the entity “Casa de la Tercera Edad” that has been operating since 2011, where there are indicators of achievement, such as the allocation of personnel to carry out home visits, while strengthening it with cleaning and food services during visits.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• Communications to CONAPE
• Annual Reports and Annual Report

2.2 Does the commitment language/activities clearly justify relevance to OGP values?

Yes

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

This commitment is aimed at meeting a need that has been prioritized since 2011 by the municipality and its authorities, standing out as a “municipal care policy” for adults in particular conditions due to their age and condition, creating an “example and role model with a high level of effectiveness”, and highlighting OGP values.
In this sense, this commitment bets on “transparency”, as it is implemented jointly by civil society, the mayor’s office and agencies (CONAPE) of the central government. It is also “participatory”, since it promotes “an active life of the elderly” and now through the implementation of the commitment seeks to “strengthen home care”.
It is “responsible” to the extent that it focuses on responding to a common need of lack of attention of a public service to properly serve citizens, where the great social changes in recent years find these adults unprepared to face this new stage of their personal life and that makes it difficult for them to have access to a “socially active life”.

• Record number of weekly visits to beneficiaries
• Budget execution report
• Report of activities executed per quarter

2.3 Please select one option that best describes the commitment:

a continuation of ongoing practice in line with existing legislation, policies or requirements.

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

This commitment constitutes the continuity of a successful municipal care policy, already replicated in another municipality (Tenares) in the Hermanas Mirabal province, which testifies to its positive vision of the continuity of a successfully replicated municipal policy.
It is worth noting that this continuation of the ongoing practice in line with Salcedo’s municipal legislation, provides fundamental lessons learned to successfully continue its development and “serve as a model”.
We refer to (i) increased communication with the mayor’s office; (ii) increased communication with donors; (iii) greater visibility of the activities implemented; (iv) visibility in investigative television programs and reports; and (v) serving as a pilot experience through a board of 3 to 5 people to ensure sustainability.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• Technical and financial execution reports
• Annual reports

2.4 Please select one option that best describes the commitment:

will result in a change of the rules, practices or policies that govern a policy area, public sector and/or relationship between citizens and is binding or institutionalized across government or specific institution(s).

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The effort to achieve compliance with the commitment and its intended scope, which models a policy area, entails a particular approach that highlights several aspects:
(i) Recognize it as a fundamentally effective “model of social inclusion” that is well appreciated by the community.
(ii) It should be seen as an effort to validate an experience and make it a pilot project that can be replicated in other municipalities and districts of the province.
(iii) Demonstrate its viability and serve as a reference for CONAPE to “validate a model of care” with the government that can be replicated and improved.
(iv) To put into practice the learning from a 40-hour course offered by INFOTEP on personal care management.
(v) Continue diversifying the offer of learning, fun and healthy entertainment services to project beneficiaries.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• Technical and financial execution reports
• Annual reports

2.5 Are there any recommended changes to the design of the commitment to help improve its implementation?

In order to fully comply with the commitment, it has been necessary to implement several agreements and work plans that to date and for various reasons have limited the scope of the commitment and its milestones. We highlight:
(i) Lack of basic public services that improve the supply of care for the elderly.
(ii) Training of personnel and commitment to undertake formal training through INFOTEP’s course offerings.
(iii) Increased volume of home care, given the volume of demand received in the municipality.
(iv) Increased number of recreational activities.

3 Commitment :

Road management plan

3.1 Is the commitment verifiable?

Yes

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The design of the commitment establishes a set of activities that are identifiable, within the framework of the problem of the supply of green areas for recreation and leisure.
The activities contemplated by the commitment include elements such as (i) equip and condition the Juana Núñez linear park and create another park in the Quebrada Honda stream; (ii) identify urban areas for future interventions; (iii) strengthen and reorganize the Ornamental Department of the Mayor’s Office.
The results are measurable in nature, as a proposed solution has been established aimed at:
– “Improving the road and recreational infrastructure and promoting activities that directly involve the population.”
– Enable an area of 17,000 mts2 on the banks of the Quebrada Honda stream as a public space.
– Efforts are made to carry out educational activities for the population near these parks.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• City Council Resolutions
• Annual Reports and Annual Report of the Mayor’s Office

3.2 Does the commitment language/activities clearly justify relevance to OGP values?

Yes

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

This commitment is aimed at promoting a “decision making process” with the involvement of the communities, both in (i) the decision making of “how to do it” together with the Mayor’s Office and its municipal authorities, and (ii) the decision making of the communities regarding their participation, involvement and promotion.
This decision-making process is aimed primarily at benefiting “healthy lifestyles” that contribute to a better quality of life for the beneficiary population.
In addition, this commitment and its execution should be seen as a “learning with OGP”, as it helps in the achievement of:
– Transforming individual demand into collective demand for the common good and public policy to make it distinct from the participatory budget exercise.
– Providing green areas in urbanizations using the legal regulations in force in urbanization processes.
– Strengthening of the Ornamental Department of the Mayor’s Office.
– Success is related to the values that are promoted such as transparency, participation and responsibility, in accordance with OGP values.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• Annual Reports and Annual Report of the Mayor’s Office

3.3 Please select one option that best describes the commitment:

a continuation of ongoing practice in line with existing legislation, policies or requirements.

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

This commitment constitutes the continuity of a municipal care policy, which shows deficiencies in its full application as a municipal regulationGovernment reformers are developing regulations that enshrine values of transparency, participation, and accountability in government practices. Technical specifications: Act of creating or reforming ... and therefore needs to reinforce its implementation and application for the benefit of the community and its municipality.
In fact, its implementation is in line to take advantage of the habilitation that had already been carried out in the Mayor’s Office together with the Provincial Technical Office and the Provincial Office for the Development of Women and that requires better efforts to provide the city of Salcedo with sufficient recreation and leisure areas, that is to say, to go ahead and give continuity to the effort already initiated.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• Technical and financial execution reports
• Annual reports
• Minutes of meetings
• Financial execution report

3.4 Please select one option that best describes the commitment:

will result in a change of the rules, practices or policies that govern a policy area, public sector and/or relationship between citizens and is binding or institutionalized across government or specific institution(s).

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The effort to achieve compliance with the commitment and its intended scope, which models a policy area, entails a particular approach that highlights several aspects:
(i) It should be seen as an effort to improve road and recreational infrastructure, while promoting activities that directly involve the population, while carrying out educational activities for the population residing in the vicinity of these parks.
(ii) Social aggregation activities will be promoted in the conditioned areas to involve the population and promote healthy lifestyles.
(iii) (iii) It is a citizen exercise that we want to make visible and become a replicable model with the involvement of the population itself, which “involves sports and social practice” together and at the same time.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• Technical and financial execution reports

3.5 Are there any recommended changes to the design of the commitment to help improve its implementation?

In order to fully comply with the commitment, it has been necessary to implement several agreements and work plans that to date and for various reasons have limited the scope of the commitment and its milestones. We highlight:
(i) It is necessary to strengthen the Urban Planning Department, so that it can fully assume the process and the commitment itself.
(ii) The financial resources required for its fulfillment must be made available.
(iii) The Department of Ornato should continue to receive support from the Mayor’s Office so that it can fulfill its role and complement the work of urban planning in the municipality.

4 Commitment :

Consolidate assistance programs for the elderly with health promotion activities and home accompaniment.

4.1 Is the commitment verifiable?

Yes

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The design of the commitment establishes a set of activities that are identifiable, within the framework of the problem of the weak relationship between local authorities and the population, which translates into a diminished sense of territorial relevance and social cohesion.
The activities contemplated by the commitment constitute elements such as:
– The establishment of a communication program with the community through the Neighborhood Councils.
– Creation of the Municipal Registry of Non-Profit Organizations provided for in Article 228 of Law 176-07 of the National District and Municipalities.
– Training plan for the population to strengthen the neighborhood councils through courses, workshops and periodic accompaniment.
– Institutional strengthening of the Community Participation Department of the Mayor’s Office.
– The results are of a measurable nature, since a solution proposal has been established aimed at:
– Achieve the consolidation of the 22 Neighborhood Boards identified with the democratic restructuring of their directive instances and their entry in the Municipal Registry.
– Create another 20 organizations in those localities where they no longer exist.
– The restructured Neighborhood Councils will be able to accompany the Municipal Council in the creation of the Community Councils foreseen by the Law, to collaborate with public and private entities in the identification of community problems and their solutions.
– The municipal administration will have valid interlocutors both to act positively in the community and to consolidate the transparency of its actions.
– The municipal administration will have valid interlocutors both to act positively in the community and to consolidate the transparency of its actions.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• Resolutions of the Municipal Council
• Annual Reports and Annual Report of the Community Participation Department of the Mayor’s Office.
• Minutes of meetings

4.2 Does the commitment language/activities clearly justify relevance to OGP values?

Yes

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

This commitment is aimed at promoting transparency in the relationship between the “mayor’s office – society”, in the process of strengthening the citizen information systems of the municipality of Salcedo.
This process of strengthening the Neighborhood Councils will contribute to:
– Increased 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 the instruments of control and monitoring, both of the execution of works of the participatory budget and more broadly in the institutional life of the municipality.
– Establishment of informative instruments such as the radio program and a physical and electronic bulletin for the organized groups.
– The already existing institutional instruments will be strengthened through the Citizen Forum implemented in the framework of the Open Government process, first in the co-creation process and in 2023 onwards with the independent monitoring process.
The success is related to the values that are promoted such as “transparency” of a participatory process of the neighborhood councils, “participation” through the promotion of accountability; and “responsibility”, which will be verified through the monitoring of the process by the contracted specialist, always in accordance with OGP values.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• List of Neighborhood Council activities

4.3 Please select one option that best describes the commitment:

a continuation of ongoing practice in line with existing legislation, policies or requirements.

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

This commitment constitutes an effort to recover “the continuity of the relationship between local authorities and the population”, which is currently affected by the lack of interlocutors who are truly representative of the community and by the community’s lack of capacity to monitor and make transparent the actions of local authorities”.
In this context, a policy of municipal attention is aimed at “seeking the involvement of all political sectors to ensure the continuity of efforts beyond the period of local government”.
It also seeks the “institutionalization of social and community organizations through the establishment of a municipal registry that will favor their consolidation and permanence over time”, since currently only 22 neighborhood councils are registered, a sign of “the weakness of their possibilities of claims and of the representation of these sectors before the Mayor’s Office”, which in the past was much more robust and representative of the communities and their feelings.

Provide evidence for your answer:

•  Technical and financial execution reports
•  Annual reports
• Minutes of meetings

4.4 Please select one option that best describes the commitment:

is a positive change to a process, practice or policy but will not generate a binding or institutionalized change across government or specific institution(s).

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The effort to achieve the fulfillment of the commitment and its expected scope, which represents a positive change in a process, practice or policy, entails a particular approach that highlights several aspects:
– It is expected to achieve the consolidation of the 22 Neighborhood Boards identified with the democratic restructuring of their governing bodies and their entry in the Municipal Registry.
– Create another 20 organizations in those localities where they do not already exist.
– Restructured Neighborhood Councils will be able to (i) accompany the Municipal Council in the creation of the Community Councils foreseen by the Law, (ii) collaborate with public and private entities in the identification of community problems and their solutions.
– The municipal administration will have valid interlocutors both to act positively in the community and to consolidate the transparency of its actions.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• Technical and financial execution reports
• Annual reports of the Municipal Council
• Minutes of meetings

4.5 Are there any recommended changes to the design of the commitment to help improve its implementation?

(i) To continue with the work program carried out with the Dominican Federation of Municipalities (FEDOMU), the Dominican Municipal League (LMD) and the Provincial Technical Office.
(ii) Continue with the Training Plan, since it is necessary to work on the empowerment of citizens to claim their needs.
(iii) Update the registry and database of the neighborhood councils.
(iv) Continue with the work of consolidating the 22 neighborhood councils that currently exist.
(v) Continue the effort to depoliticize the neighborhood councils.
(vi) Continue the effort to increase the amount of the budget available for the Participatory Budget.
(vii) To continue working to recover the trust and credibility of the neighborhood councils and their expectations
(viii) Continue working to regain the trust and credibility of the neighborhood councils and their expectations for the fulfillment of the commitments over which they have been empowered.