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Tunisia Design Report 2018-2020

To develop Tunisia’s third action plan, the country increased participation of CSOs, however, they did so without deepening their involvement to share in the decision-making power and increasing the ambition of the plan. It contains four notable reforms to carry forward on extending the OGP process to 10 municipalities, facilitating access to information in the extractives industry and on anticorruption measures to protect whistleblowers. Moving forward, Tunisia could consider expanding the scope of commitments to include other relevant national priorities, like opening the budget process for COVID-19 recovery efforts, contributing to tracking expenditures, tax benefits, and focus on transparent and accountable delivery of public services.

Table 1. At a glance

Participating since: 2014

Action plan under review: 3

Report type: Design

Number of commitments: 13

Action plan development

Is there a Multistakeholder forum: yes

Level of public influence:  involve

Acted contrary to OGP process: no

Action plan design

Commitments relevant to OGP values    13 (100%)

Transformative commitments       1

Potentially starred:                          1

Action plan implementation

Starred commitments: N/A

Completed commitments: N/A

Commitments with Major DIOG*: N/A

Commitments with Outstanding DIOG*: N/A

 

*DIOG: Did it Open Government

The Open Government Partnership (OGP) a global partnership that brings together government reformers and civil society leaders to create action plans that make governments more inclusive, responsive, and accountable. The Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) monitors all action plans to ensure governments follow through on commitments. Tunisia joined OGP in 2014. Since, Tunisia has implemented two action plans. This report evaluates the design of Tunisia’s third action plan.

General overview of action plan

Tunisia formed a multi-stakeholder forum (MSF) that developed the second and third action plan, and has convened monthly meetings from March 2018 until the end of the action plan cycle. The purpose is to review the progress on the implementation of OGP commitments. While Tunisian CSOs actively attended MSF meetings, government representatives, members of parliaments, and private sector were less regular participants. The CSO members of MSF received the OGP’s Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF), which contributed to improving the co-creation process.

The Tunisian third national action plan provides measures to extend the OGP process to 10 municipalities, facilitate access to information in the extractives industry, hydrocarbons, and others, and promote public engagement in the state budgetary process. While some of the commitments are ambiguous in terms of their scope and ambition, overall, they offer relatively robust measures to bring transparency and reduce corruption in the government.

 

Table 2. Noteworthy commitments

Commitment description Moving forward Status at the end of implementation cycle.
Commitment 11: OGP at the local level

establish initiatives on open government at the level of ten (10) municipalities… through adopting the same participatory approach

Consider developing specific strategies to ensure participation from groups such as women, youth, and other marginalized groups to reflect their needs in the resulting open government local actions. Note: this will be assed at the end of action plan cycle.
Commitment 6: Transparency in the extractives industry

preparing to join the EITI initiative” by strengthening the EITI Multi Stakeholder Group (MSG) and expediting the process of submitting a request to EITI

The IRM suggests promoting proactive publication of information on this sector to support CSO and citizen oversight. This would ensure that the multi-stakeholder groups address concerns regarding the private sector’s commitment to participation in the initiative; finding a balance of different interests; and—in accordance with National Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) recommendations—CSOs on the MSG should establish a rigorous communication strategy with wider civil society in order to ensure that priorities truly represent civil society needs and interests. Note: this will be assed at the end of action plan cycle.
Commitment 8: Anticorruption measures

Establish mechanisms contributing to applying integrity in the public sector and combating corruption”

Consider promoting a public consultation process on new legislation to combat corruption; proactively publishing declarations of assets or other relevant information that can contribute to facilitate oversight by civil society organizations; and providing further information on the establishment of the authority of good governance and anticorruption to see if it aims to build on previous work by the INLUCC, a temporary anticorruption body. Note: this will be assed at the end of action plan cycle.

Recommendations

The IRM recommendations aim to inform the development of the next action plan and guide implementation of the current action plan.

Table 3. Five KEY IRM Recommendations

1 During the co-creation process, strengthen ownership of: CSO organizations in drafting commitments and milestones, parliamentarians and private sector members of the MSF and public servants at the ministerial level to improve the sustainability of the OGP process.
2 Use a results-oriented approach to develop commitments by including greater precision in descriptions of the problems and expected outcomes for each commitment.
3 Design commitments as policy solutions for public problems by expanding their focus from developing mechanisms (such as platforms) to include activities to implement the theory of change and address the underlying policy problems.

 

4 Incorporate public participation mechanisms into commitments that aim to engage citizens in dialogue on public policies, programs, or laws. Request their contributions and ensure their use during decision-making processes.
5 Expand efforts to open the budget process in COVID-19 recovery efforts contributing to tracking expenditures, tax benefits, and focus on transparent and accountable delivery of public services.

 

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