The work on implementing the many open government initiatives and activities presented in this National Action Plan will be launched with an Open Government Camp, which citizens, companies, associations, NGOs and public authorities will be invited to attend. The aim and objective of the Camp is to experiment on how civil society and the public sector can collaborate on performing societal tasks in new ways; on creating innovation and development; and on making use of the digital technologies to make our welfare society even better. At the same time, the Camp is to serve as a source of inspiration to public authorities who wish to organise similar events themselves or in other ways work on co-production and citizen participation. The Camp will consist of a number of workshops serving the purpose of addressing current challenges and issues, and the individual workshops and activities of the Camp will be organised as a joint effort by public authorities, civil society organisations, citizens and companies.

Commitment 14. Open Government Camp 2013

Commitment Text:

The work on promoting open government in Denmark will prove an ongoing and open process which must necessarily extend beyond the initiatives of the National Action Plan. It is very much a matter of changing and developing the mind set in the public sector. The work on open government is, consequently, not a tightly managed project. It is a matter of initiating and supporting fundamental changes in the way the public sector builds relations and collaborates – at national, regional and local level.

The work on implementing the many open government initiatives and activities presented in this National Action Plan will be launched with an Open Government Camp, which citizens, companies, associations, NGOs and public authorities will be invited to attend. The aim and objective of the Camp is to experiment on how civil society and the public sector can collaborate on performing societal tasks in new ways; on creating innovation and development; and on making use of the digital technologies to make our welfare society even better. At the same time, the Camp is to serve as a source of inspiration to public authorities who wish to organise similar events themselves or in other ways work on co production and citizen participation.

The Camp will consist of a number of workshops serving the purpose of addressing current challenges and issues, and the individual workshops and activities of the Camp will be organised as a joint effort by public authorities, civil society organisations, citizens and companies.

Responsible institution: None specified

Supporting institution(s): None specified

Start date: 12 November 2013              End date:  12 November 2013

Commitment Aim:

The AFD held an Open Government Camp on November 12, 2013, for people from the public and private sectors, as well as civil society organizations - 170 people participated.^{[Note 51: http://digitaliser.dk/news/2541335]} The aim was to experiment with ways in which civil society and the public sector can collaborate, performing societal tasks in new ways. The camp represented an effort to spur innovation and development, as well as to make use of digital technologies to improve societal outcomes - it was intended to be a source of inspiration to public authorities wishing to organize similar events.

Status

Mid-term: Complete

This commitment was considered fully implemented at the time of the mid-term evaluation because the camp was held on 12 November 2013.^{[Note 52: Meeting  at Open Gov Camp 2013, Digitaliser.dk, http://digitaliser.dk/news/2541335]} Many of the workshops that addressed challenges identified in the action plan are referred to on the government forum (digitaliser.dk), and a video-documentary was produced and published on Youtube.^{[Note 53: Video from Open Gov Camp 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evEkBpe_DHs&feature=youtu.be]} For further information, please see the mid-term IRM progress report.^{[Note 54: Denmark IRM mid-term report 2014-15, http://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2001/01/Denmark_IRM%20Progress%20Report%202014-15_Final_eng.pdf]}

Did it open government?

Civic participation: Did not change

The open government camp addressed several issues related to the second action plan, but the camp being a one-off event related directly to a standardized OGP process of action plan consultation renders it as having no effect on opening government practice. In addition, the very technical themes and a dearth of the requisite civil society expertise resulted in limiting the scope and usefulness of the forum.

This commitment was considered a positive step regarding improving civic participation and ensuring the implementation of the second action plan’s commitments more broadly. Although this is admirable, it did not impact policy.

Carried forward?

The third Danish action plan has not yet been developed. If the camp is part of the third action plan, the Danish government could improve it in the following ways:

• Define a clear and measurable outcome. Provide detailed guidelines of expected results from the camp, including a report with a recommendations section.
• Enhance the impact of outcomes. Design a mechanism that guarantees the above report’s recommendations are incorporated into policymaking processes.
• Organize additional workshops. Stakeholders reported that a one-time arrangement like the Open Government Camp could have a broader impact if held on a regular basis.
• Increase level of expertise. Stakeholders reported a general lack of expertise among participants in certain areas - meetings that are focused on specific topics could attract experts and generate better results. The camp could be run on a smaller scale, targeting stakeholders by region or expertise.

Thus far, the government created this space to share knowledge, and the government could adapt this structure to improve impact on policymaking.