Inception Report – Action plan – San Pedro Garza García, Mexico, 2022 – 2024
Overview
Name of Evaluator
Eduardo Espinosa Cravioto
Member Name
San Pedro Garza García, Mexico
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 – San Pedro Garza García, Mexico, 2022 – 2024
Section 1.
Compliance with
co-creation requirements
1.1 Does a forum exist?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
Derived from the official announcement of the integration by the Jurisdiction as a member of the OGP-Local program on May 17, 2022, the integration of the Nuevo León Abierto Coalition was announced, consolidated by:
- Gobierno del Estado de Nuevo León
- Gobierno del Municipio de Monterrey
- Gobierno del Municipio de San Pedro Garza García
- Accountability Lab México
- Cómo Vamos Nuevo León
- Consejo Nuevo León Para la Planeación Estratégica
- Comisión de Transparencia y Acceso a la Información del Estado de Nuevo León.
To carry out the co-creation actions of the Local Action Plan, on August 9, 2022, the first ordinary meeting of 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... of the Nuevo León Abierto Coalition was held.
Provide references here (e.g. interviews):
- Announcement from the Nuevo León Abierto Coalition
- Link to evidence of communication of the multi-stakeholder forum session
- Evidence of the first regular meeting of the Multi-stakeholder Forum of the Nuevo León Abierto Coalition
1.2 Is the forum multi-stakeholder?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
At the time of making In this evaluation, the forum includes different organizations, both governmental and non-governmental. In other words, we can find state and municipal government actors, civil society organizations, academia, the private sectorGovernments are working to open private sector practices as well — including through beneficial ownership transparency, open contracting, and regulating environmental standards. Technical specificat..., organizations international, and the body that guarantees access to the entity’s information. In this sense, the structure of the forum is integrated by:
- Gobierno del Estado de Nuevo León
- Municipio de Monterrey
- Municipio de San Pedro Garza García
- Instituto Estatal de Transparencia, Acceso a la Información y Protección de Datos Personales (INFO-NL)
- Consejo Nuevo León para la Planeación Estratégica
- Iniciativa de Transparencia, Anticorrupción y Digitalización de la Escuela de Gobierno y Transformación Pública del Tecnológico de Monterrey
- Coparmex Nuevo León
- Coordinador del Núcleo de la Sociedad Civil; representado por Accountability Lab México.
- Co-coordinador del Núcleo de la Sociedad Civil; representado por Cómo Vamos Nuevo León
- Observador internacional como es el: PNUD (a fecha de esta evaluación inactivo)
- Observador local: Instituto Estatal Electoral y Participación Ciudadana de Nuevo León
Provide references here (e.g. interviews):
1.3 Does the forum hold at least one meeting with civil society and non-governmental stakeholders during the co-creation of the action plan?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
The multi-stakeholder forum held 4 regular meetings, where different topics were discussed in relation to the co-creation route of the Local Action Plan. In this sense, the assistance of civil society organizations through the representatives of the NOSC stands out.
Provide references here (e.g. interviews):
- Documentation and minutes of the regular meetings of the multi-stakeholder forum:
1.4 Has the action plan been endorsed by the stakeholders of the forum or steering committeeThe Steering Committee is OGP’s executive decision-making body. Its role is to develop, promote and safeguard OGP’s values, principles and interests; establish OGP’s core ideas, policies, and ru.../group?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
The commitments that make up the Local Action Plan were specifically discussed at the third and fourth ordinary meetings of the multi-stakeholder forum according to the available evidence; leaving foreseen that the existing areas of opportunity could be refined in the co-creation stage of the roadmaps. It is foreseen, as a recommendation, to establish in the minutes a section of “agreements” to be able to distinguish more easily the decision-making of the forum.
In this order of ideas, it is possible to identify that in the roadmaps of the commitments, the responsible and involved actors in the implementation were established. Where members of the multi-stakeholder forum, civil society organizations, and public institutions can be identified.
Provide references here (e.g. interviews):
- Evidence of the 3rd ordinary meeting of the multi-stakeholder forum
- Evidence of the 4th regular meeting of the multi-stakeholder forum
- Evidence of roadmaps
Section 2.
Recommended practices
in co-creation
2.1 Does the government maintain a Local OGP website or webpage on a government website where information on the OGP Local process (co-creation and implementation) is proactively published?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
The Nuevo León Abierto Coalition has made available to the public a web page that includes information related to the process of the Local OGP Program of the Alliance for Open Government, to which Nuevo León belongs, as well as, links to the inputs or materials that record the activities such as minutes, photographic material, technical sheets, among others.
Provide references here (e.g. interviews):
- Link to the website of the Nuevo León Abierto Coalition.
2.2 Did the government provide information to stakeholders in advance to facilitate informed and prepared participation in the 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...?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
During the pre-processing phase of co-creation members of the Multi-stakeholder Forum promoted the “Open Dialogues” with the purpose of disseminating among civil society organizations and the student body the results of the Public Consultation for the elaboration of the Local Action Plan of Open Government of Nuevo León 2022-2024.
In this sense, through the members of the Nucleus of Civil Society Organizations for the Open Government of Nuevo León (NOSC NL), the event WhatOWhat about the Open Government? on September 23, 2022, aimed at civil society organizations with the purpose of socializing the results as well as raising awareness and inviting co-creation tables. On the other hand, on October 6 and 7, 2022, the university dialogues were held, where the results of the public consultation were shared within the framework of the co-creation of the Open Government Local Action Plan 2022-2024 de Nuevo León, and they were invited to participate in the co-creation tables. The above was addressed to students from the Autonomous University of Nuevo León (UANL) as well as from the Tecnológico de Monterrey (Campus Monterrey).
On the other hand, prior to the start of the exercises, the members of the Nuevo León Abierto Coalition sent direct invitations, via email, to various actors, including government entities, private companies, academic institutions, and civil society organizations, among others. Likewise, an information kit was shared with the purpose of providing relevant information on the problem to be dealt with.
Provide references here (e.g. interviews):
Link to the co-creation processes section:
2.3 Did the government ensure that any interested member of the public could make inputs into the action plan and observe or have access to decision-making documentation?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
The Multi-stakeholder Forum developed a methodology for the co-creation, implementation, and evaluation of the Local Action Plan, which includes a “public review” stage. To this end, a mechanism was set up so that people could make comments and suggestions on the draft of the Local Action Plan.
Provide references here (e.g. interviews):
2.4 Did the government proactively report back or provide written feedback to stakeholders on how their contributions were considered during the creation of the action plan?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
There is evidence of a public review process where institutional positions were issued and comments and/or suggestions were received from the roadmaps of the commitments. Nevertheless, with records on the website not all comments received feedback in this regard. Likewise, a legend was located that describes that the comments “were not considered relevant for these to be used as routing modifications in any of the appointments” so it is recommended to be able to delve into the reasons why they were not taken into account.
Provide references here (e.g. interviews):
2.5 Was there an iterative dialogue and shared ownership between government and non-governmental stakeholders during the decision making process, including setting the agenda?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
During the development of the meetings of the Multi-stakeholder Forum, it was able to observe the exchange of opinions and suggestions of civil organizations with government entities. In particular, the problems to be addressed in the Local Action Plan were prioritized and the formulation of commitments was strengthened.
The co-creation tables addressed a defined problem and were carried out through a methodology based on consultation, dialogue, and the formulation of commitments, in which the participants played an active role.
Finally, the forum shares between its different members a method of shared documents in order to consult, edit and comment on the generated documents in real-time, thus guaranteeing co-creation among all members.
In addition to this, there was a public review process.
Provide references here (e.g. interviews):
2.6 Would you consider the forum to be inclusive and diverse?
Very
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
The multi-stakeholder forum is made up of various actors, such as civil society organizations, academia, and the private sector, among others. The development of the meetings has been in person and remotely so that anyone can attend. In this sense, it is recommended to explore the possibility of transmitting the sessions to the general public by digital means and make an open call for its development. Likewise, their work and dissemination on the website overcome accessibility and digital gaps.
Provide references here (e.g. interviews):
Section 3.
Initial evaluation
of commitments
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... :
Open Government Strategy on Active and Inclusive Metropolitan Mobility – Green Corridors
1.1 Is the commitment verifiable?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
The established Roadmap indicates that the creation of a report on green corridors will allow 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 in this matter by detecting the lack of information.
Provide evidence for your answer:
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:
In accordance with the established Roadmap, there is no clear information regarding the issue of green corridors. The creation of this report will allow transparency on the matter. In turn, citizen collaboration through consultations will allow the creation of an innovative instrument on the subject. Therefore, it is intended to impact the values of 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, transparency, and innovation while having an impact on accountability in terms of mobility.
Provide evidence for your answer:
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:
It is to be recognized the mobility problem in the Monterrey Metropolitan Area. The Así Vamos 2021 Survey reveals three major mobility challenges for Nuevo León, particularly for the Metropolitan Area: 1) reverse the drop in public transport users, 2) improve efficiency in transfer times, especially for users of trucks, and 3) promote the adequate infrastructure conditions for greater use of the bicycle. Therefore, in addition to being a priority issue for public consultation prior to the design of the LAP, it affects a public problem that demands priority attention from citizens.
Provide evidence for your answer:
1.4 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 document in question presents a diagnosis of the problem that has already been pointed out by other sectors and citizen practice. Although the development of the Roadmap, at the time of consultation, they meet with dialogs open, it is recommended to generate active participation and materialize the milestones more clearly and easily. Highlighting that the contributions of the commitment will be valuable and will allow us to make informed decisions in the future.
Provide evidence for your answer:
1.5 Are there any recommended changes to the design of the commitment to help improve its implementation?
No. Although the commitment is clear and defined, since this is a problem that affects multiple actors and levels of government, it would be worthwhile to involve more actors in order to have a metropolitan panorama that allows knowing the implications of mobility floating.
2 Commitment :
Making transparency proactive in Nuevo León
2.1 Is the commitment verifiable?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
The design of the instrument, in this case, a Proactive Transparency Guide, will include in the first period a public consultation and reviews to corroborate public information needs, as well as socialization mechanisms that allow improvements to the instrument. In the medium term, it will facilitate the sharing of information through the creation of didactic content. In the long term, it is expected to monitor its implementation as a result of the voluntary manifestation of the regulated entities.
Provide evidence for your answer:
2.2 Does the commitment language/activities clearly justify relevance to OGP values?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
The guide directly addresses the importance of transparency for access to information and, therefore, accountability to citizens. Similarly, according to the milestones raised, there will be citizen participation in the development of these, so it is intended to generate a collaborative instrument that affects the public information needs of citizens while facilitating the understanding of its instrumentalization so that it is carried out voluntarily.
Provide evidence for your answer:
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:
Currently, the Law of Transparency and Access to Public Information of the State of Nuevo León contemplates that obligated subjects must promote and implement proactive transparency policies seeking their accessibility. Similarly, at the national level, guidelines are established to determine the catalogs and publication of information of public interest; and for the issuance and evaluation of proactive transparency policies, which should set the standard for the characteristics and criteria applicable to proactive transparency.
Provide evidence for your answer:
2.4 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:
Pursuant to what is described in the roadmap, the instrument of the”Guideof proactive transparency”, joins the actions to promote the implementation of proactive transparency that the same law provides. However, by the very nature of “proactive” guidelines and in accordance with what is established by current regulations, does not generate a commitment to its execution beyond disclosure and socialization to the regulated entities so that they can implement its use.
Provide evidence for your answer:
2.5 Are there any recommended changes to the design of the commitment to help improve its implementation?
No, certainly, it is a product with positive value in terms of proactive transparency. However and the added value that this instrument can provide requires simple language, channeling accessibility mechanisms, and, above all, maintaining an interdisciplinary perspective that allows easy understanding to carry out its execution and thereby encourage more obligated subjects to use the instrument.
3 Commitment :
Re-engineering of citizen public service reporting tools in San Pedro Garza García
3.1 Is the commitment verifiable?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
The municipality of San Pedro Garza García intends to carry out activities that allow improve care from citizenship regarding public services that the municipality offers and in the same way build control panels to verify the efficiency of the operation. With this interpretation, the scope of the objective of the commitment seems to be clear, although in the Roadmap the information is expanded in order to address a problematic situation that is: the improvement of accountability processes before citizen reports.
Regarding the milestones set out in the roadmap for the commitment associated with Public Services in the Municipality, it is considered pertinent to establish more clearly the products that will be obtained from each intervention.
Provide evidence for your answer:
3.2 Does the commitment language/activities clearly justify relevance to OGP values?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
This is an effort to make the administration of resources in the provision of public services more efficient; however, it is more pertinent to highlight thecitizen participation in the decision-making process. The commitment to a technological tool to guarantee accountability environments is progress for the parties involved (citizens and city council).
Also, it becomes a challenge establish a process that makes it possible to guarantee that the destination of the resources is directly linked to the provision or improvement of a public service.
For this reason, it is important to point out that, although support for technological tools is key to improving public service, it is essential not to limit citizen participation to said technologies. On the other hand, an element that would be worth introducing to this commitment is the possibility of linking other government bodies such as government or social controllers to denounce potential acts of corruption that are identified by the users
Provide evidence for your answer:
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:
The commitment states that it is about of a reengineering exercise for the municipal attention of the selected city council. In this sense, the efforts of the entities involved are recognized to renew a system aimed at facilitating the monitoring of citizen requirements and that the actions of the municipal entities responsible for the provision of certain services are carried out more efficiently.
It is suggested that the commitment be more ambitious in the search to establish two additional activities: i) establish effective collaboration mechanisms so that citizens can influence public decision-making and not limit their participation exclusively to granting reports and; (ii) link the platform to the competent authorities to report acts of corruption in the provision of services.
Provide evidence for your answer:
3.4 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 commitment is a new practice that will facilitate the interaction between the government and the citizenry so that, potentially, effective environments of accountability are oriented towards the improvement and provision of public services that, in this case, are provided by the Municipality of San Pedro Garza. Garcia. The commitment in the medium term can evolve to move to actions that modify the legislation and that serve to identify areas of corruption before the scrutiny of the public services that are provided in the aforementioned territory.
Provide evidence for your answer:
3.5 Are there any recommended changes to the design of the commitment to help improve its implementation?
No. As part of the actions indicated in the Roadmap, the construction of an exercise to identify good practices is established. Although it is an exercise that will facilitate the future construction of actions where areas for improvement are identified, initially the commitment is limited to actions that occur only in the municipality’s constituency. The Commitment could have other actions that link and facilitate the exchange of information between this and other municipalities in the region. On the other hand, if actions are no identified to guarantee the intervention of citizens beyond the inputs that they contribute to job applications by the city council, and actions of institutional opening such as coordinated work tables are not guaranteed between society and authorities, the commitment is limited to just one pillar of open government: transparency.
In the medium term, it is recommended that the commitment evolves to three actions that could be key: the use and publication of 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... and common licenses so that other municipalities can make use of the technological tool that is built and enable a space for the denunciation of acts of corruption. In this sense, the evolution of the commitment may have an impact on the rest of the fundamental pillars of open government.
4 Commitment :
Open contractingA transparent procurement process, known as open contracting, increases competition, improves public service delivery, and ensures governments better value for their money. Technical specifications: C... system for participatory budgeting in San Pedro Garza García
4.1 Is the commitment verifiable?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
The commitment has the objective of establishing a digital tool capable of making the procurement process transparent through the open contracting standard. In the first stage of construction of the commitment, it is planned to generate an open procurement system for participatory budget projects. In the medium term, it is observed that the platform will acquire greater public value in order to build an interconnection mechanism between two existing participatory processes in the municipality, namely: Decide San Pedro and the Open Contracting System.
It is important to say that, at the time of assessing this commitment, the Roadmap contains comments from the people involved in its construction. It is considered relevant to have updated or finished versions to provide certainty to the people who can consult the information and carry out an effective exercise of accountability of the process of implementation of the Action Plan and in particular the Commitment.
Provide evidence for your answer:
4.2 Does the commitment language/activities clearly justify relevance to OGP values?
Yes
Provide a brief explanation of your answer:
The commitment is a practice to contribute to the construction of accountability environments.
The commitment considers a series of activities aimed at addressing a priority issue that emerges from a citizen consultation process called Public Consultation for the elaboration of the Local Action Plan for Open Government of Nuevo León 2022-2024. During this participation exercise, in which just over 800 people were involved in different parts of the federal entity, challenges were identified that are part of the work axis called Effective Government.
It is important to point out that, as part of the first stage, the commitment faces a challenge related to the storage and maintenance of the platform that is enabled to create environments of accountability. In this sense, in the long term, it will be necessary to designate a responsible public institution for maintenance and updating of the digital tool and preferably enable functionalities so that citizens can report some acts of corruption that occur around certain public contracts and it is not simply an exercise in information transparency.
Provide evidence for your answer:
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:
It is important to point out that, although it is a collective effort to make the use of public resources transparent, in practice it is an exercise that should be strengthened in order to influence other spaces or areas of public policy. The commitment must contemplate in the future a space for citizen complaints to hold public servants accountable for their actions. In other words, the commitment has great potential to ensure, on the one hand, transparency in the use of public resources and interoperability between programs, and on the other, in the long term, ensure that the exercise of the public function is subject to public scrutiny.
Provide evidence for your answer:
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:
As mentioned, it is important that the long-term commitment considers the willingness to establish effective participation channels and accountability mechanisms aimed at institutionalizing practices that inhibit potential areas of corruption. Another of the challenges observed -in the medium term- is to ensure interoperability between the systems and that, as they are constantly updated work schemes, they must be assigned to a responsible link or area that ensures continuity.
Provide evidence for your answer:
4.5 Are there any recommended changes to the design of the commitment to help improve its implementation?
No. Although changes in the design of the commitment are not recommended, it is important to clearly establish the scope of the person responsible for the programming of the digital tool and that a manual or elements be considered that, at the end of their contract, allow the rest of the team ensure the continuity of the exercise in the medium term and after the load of the first information on project contracting. Part of the success of the commitment will depend on the constant task of updating and uploading updated information to society.
As already mentioned in previous lines, it is relevant to have the most up-to-date versions of the roadmaps to ensure that the company can verify compliance with the activities provided or, to indicate on the web portal that the roadmaps will be updated on a certain future date.
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