Macedonia End-of-Term Report 2016-2018

Implementation of Macedonia’s third 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... was collaborative, with 14 public institutions and several civil society organizations involved. Despite political instability and a change of government, more than half of its 33 commitments were substantially completed by end of term. Achievements include publication of financial data for several local governments and improved national budget 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. Progress was limited on transparency in 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... and asset declarations.

The Open Government PartnershipThe Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving government transparency, ensuring opportunities for citizen participation in public matters, and strengthen... More (OGP) is a voluntary international initiative that aims to secure commitments from governments to their citizenry to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance. The Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM)The Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) is OGP’s accountability arm and the main means of tracking progress in participating countries. The IRM provides independent, evidence-based, and objective ... carries out a review of the activities of each OGP-participating country. This report summarizes the results of the period July 2016 to July 2018 and includes some relevant developments up to August 2018.

The Ministry of Information Society and Administration (MIOA) is coordinating OGP activities in the country. MIOA was in charge of development and implementation of the third action plan for the 2016–2018 period. MIOA organized a consultative process through working groups of each of the topics. Civil society organizations (CSOs) also played a vital role, mostly during the design phase and, to a lesser extent, during implementation. In several commitments, they were the primary organizations in charge of coordinating the implementation of activities. Working alongside the CSOs were 14 public institutions, including seven ministries, three state commissions, two secretariats and two agencies.

The action plan 2016–2018 focused mostly on 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..., access to information, openness on a local level, and climate change. It included 34 commitments grouped by eight thematic areas. By the end of the reporting period, two commitments led to major changes in government practice.

In Novemeber 2018, MIOA published an end-of-term self-assessment for the 2016-2018 action plan.[1] In July 2018, MOIA published the fourth action plan for the 2018-2020 period.[2]

Consultation with Civil Society during Implementation

Countries participating in OGP follow a process for consultation during development and implementation of their action plan.

The consultation process during the second year of implementation of the action plan was less effective compared to the first year. In the first year, the Macedonian government (MIOA) formed six working groups, each focusing on a different thematic area, to address and consult on 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... implementation. During the second year, however, none of the working groups gathered to consult on implementation of commitments. Additionally, there was no structured or systematic forum through which working group members could exchange information or consult on their shared commitments.

Instead, there are several examples where state institutions bilaterally communicated with CSOs regarding specific commitment activities. In regard to Commitment 3.1 (Freedom of Information), there was no channel of communication or consultation with all members of the relevant working group. However, the Commission for Protection of the Rights to Free Access to Public Information (CPRFAPI) conducted meetings with some CSOs (in particular with the Association for Equality, Solidarity and Equality of Women, ESE) to plan an awareness-raising media campaign,. When implementing Commitment 5.4 (Involve CSOs when planning IPA2), the Secretariat for European Affairs invited some CSOs to participate in nine sectorial working groups, but other working group members assigned to this commitment were not involved. Similar examples include the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning and Republic of North Macedonia (UNDP), regarding the eighth chapter of the 2016–2018 action plan about climate change. Overall, government institutions consulted CSOs on a number of commitments during implementation, but the multistakeholder forum itself was inactive.

Table 2: Consultation during Implementation

Table 3: Level of Public Influence during Implementation

The IRM has adapted the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) “Spectrum of Participation” to apply to OGP.[3] This spectrum shows the potential level of public influence on the contents of the action plan. In the spirit of OGP, most countries should aspire for “collaborative.”

[1] Available here: http://www.mioa.gov.mk/sites/default/files/pbl_files/documents/ogp/en-finalen_izvestaj_ap_ovp3_2016-2018.pdf.

[2] The 2018-2020 actioon plan is available in Macedonian and English, and contains 23 commitments. See Republic of Macedonia Action Plan 2018-2020 at https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/macedonia-action-plan-2018-2020.

[3] For more information, see: “IAP2 Spectrum of Public Participation”, IAP2, 2018, https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.iap2.org/resource/resmgr/pillars/Spectrum_8.5x11_Print.pdf.