Integration of under-represented groups (ESARG0001)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: Action plan – Aragón, Spain, 2021 – 2023
Inception Report: Inception Report – Action plan – Aragón, Spain, 2021 – 2023
Commitment Start: Sep 2021
Commitment End: Mar 2023
Institutions involved:
- Directorate General for Open Government and Social Innovation
- Laboratorio de Aragón Gobierno Abierto [Open Government of Aragon Laboratory]
- Plena Inclusión Aragón [Aragon Full Inclusion]
- UNICEF Aragón
- Plataforma Tercer Sector [Third Sector Platform]
- Instituto Aragonés de la Mujer [Aragonese Institute for Women]
Primary Policy Area:
Primary Sector:
OGP Value:
- Civic Participation
Inception Report Summary
Verifiable: Yes
Relevance to OGP Values: Yes
The commitment is a new regulation, policy, practice or requirement.
The commitment activities 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).
To view the detailed final assessment of this commitment read the End of Commitment Report
Description
Commitment ID
ESARG0001
Commitment Title
Integration of under-represented groups
Problem
Full political engagement and citizen participation have an opportunity cost that only citizens and groups that are better-off can often afford due to the obstacles to access arising from work- and family-related obligations or social integration. In addition, the technical vocabulary and legalese used by the administrations to communicate with citizens is not usually adapted to the different target profiles, thus generating in practice a kind of political and citizen participation that standardises society, excluding certain groups.
Status quo
At present, although citizen participation processes and prior public consultations do exist, the public that attends these events usually do so at a professional level, i.e., they are related to social entities. While these groups are quite balanced in terms of gender, there are difficulties in integrating other communities such as children and adolescents, foreign populations and people with disabilities (other than processes with a subject matter that directly involves them).
In the Aragón Gobierno Abierto [Aragon Open Government] community, there are a total of 2,185 people registered, 1,055 women (48%) and 1,130 men.
Data from Plataforma del Tercer Sector indicate that some 300,000 people in Aragon have some sort of disability, are in situations of social vulnerability or are caretakers of those individuals in their immediate surroundings. Third Sector activities are estimated to represent 1.45% of the region’s GDP.
Action
Launching projects that promote the empowerment of groups that have greater opportunity costs in order to mobilise them in political and citizen participation. One of the opportunities in this field is the combination of open government and social innovation, particularly focusing on fostering and promoting participation among groups that traditionally remain on the fringes of participatory processes and, in general, of public life: women, youths, children and immigrants. Through projects like Aspasia (participation + feminism), Open Kids (children’s participation), Social Impact Academy (youths), Hateblockers (alternative digital narratives) and Gobierno Fácil (disabilities and mental health), a breeding ground of communities is being created, bringing the government to them and vice versa. The objective here is not only open dialogue but also community engagement by creating mixed communities with shared aims.
How will the commitment contribute to solving the public problem described above?
The generation of themed projects aimed at these groups creates spaces of trust and proximity with the administration, thus facilitating their participation in decision-making related to sector-specific and general public policies.
What long-term goal as identified in your Open Government Strategy does this commitment relate to?
Participation and the Right to Decide. The right to express your opinion, to propose ideas for improving a law or plan, to influence public policies and to receive a response.
Primary Policy Area
Civic Space, Other/NA
Primary Sector
Citizenship & Immigration, Cross-sectoral
What OGP value is this commitment relevant to?
| Civic Participation | It actively engages the groups that have the least contact with the administration in shared projects, bolstering their empowerment and the generation of shared languages and spaces of trust. It actively engages the groups that have the least contact with the administration in shared projects, bolstering their empowerment and the generation of shared languages and spaces of trust. |