OGP Forum (DK0060)

Table 11 Commitment 3.3 Open Government Partnership Forum / OGP Forum November 2017 – June 2018 Lead implementing agency/actor The Danish Ministry of Finance What is the public problem that the commitment will address? Denmark’s participation in OGP is currently coordinated by the Danish Agency for Digitisation. To create a better framework for a common effort and build a platform for dialogue with civil society, it is necessary to establish a forum that can facilitate a dialogue between the state and civil society, in which Denmark’s participation in OGP can be discussed. What is the commitment? As part of the implementation of the action plan, a forum will be established consisting of stakeholders from civil society and possibly ministries and/or local governments. The forum will be entrusted with the task of contributing regularly with input to Denmark’s participation in OGP at a strategic level as well as in relation to the development and evaluation of the Open Government action plans. How will the commitment contribute to solve the public problem? By setting up a formal forum, a framework is established to support a close and continuous dialogue between the state and civil society about Denmark’s participation in OGP. Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values? The forum will contribute to openness and civic participation related to Denmark’s Open Government activities. Additional information Milestone activity with a verifiable deliverable Start date End date Identification of potential members August 2017 4th quarter 2017 Dialogue with potential members End of 2017 1st quarter 2018 Establishment of forum 1st quarter 2018 2nd quarter 2018 Start-up meeting - Mid-2018

Commitment 11: Open Government Partnership Forum / OGP Forum

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

"As part of the implementation of the action plan, a forum will be established consisting of stakeholders from civil society and possibly ministries and/or local governments. The forum will be entrusted with the task of contributing regularly with input to Denmark's participation in OGP at a strategic level as well as in relation to the development and evaluation of the Open Government action plans."

Milestones:

11.1 Identification of potential members

11.2 Dialogue with potential members

11.3 Establishment of forum

11.4 Start-up meeting

Editorial note: For the full text of this commitment, see "The Danish OGP National Action Plan 2017–2019," Danish Agency for Digitisation, https://en.digst.dk/policy-and-strategy/open-government/open-government-partnership-ogp-action-plan/, p. 25.

Context and Objectives

This commitment seeks to strengthen dialogue between the government and civil society on Denmark's involvement in OGP. The commitment will create a multi-stakeholder forum to serve as a platform for open network meetings. The forum would involve both the state and members of civil society to discuss Denmark's involvement in OGP. The inclusion of this commitment in Denmark's 2017–2019 action plan follows up on a previous IRM recommendation to promote regular stakeholder meetings to assure stakeholder ownership of OGP values and challenges.^{[Note : Mads Kæmsgaard Eberholst, "Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) Progress Report 2014–2015: Denmark," Independent Reporting Mechanism, https://en.digst.dk/media/17717/26-denmark_irm-progress-report-2014-15_final_eng.pdf, p. 51.]}

In terms of relevance to OGP values, the commitment aims to strengthen civic participation by providing a regular forum for citizen views on government initiatives.

As written, the milestones related to the creation of the multi-stakeholder forum and the inclusion of civil society can be verified. However, the commitment text could further specify how potential members will be identified and the rules for participating.

While civil society representatives have welcomed the establishment of the forum, they expressed concern that the dialogue primarily involves coordination rather than issues of high political relevance, such as the freedom of information act.^{[Note : Niels Erik Kaaber Rasmussen (Open Knowledge Denmark), interview by IRM researcher, 1 November 2018. ]}

The IRM researcher deems the potential impact to be minor. The forum largely provides a formalisation and regularisation of engagement with civil society—one that is expected by OGP—rather than significant change. Furthermore, in this forum, civil society representatives are expected to provide input on the OGP process, rather than contribute to setting or changing its agenda. Thus, the scope of the change from their involvement is limited.

Next steps

· This commitment has concluded with the launch of the first multi-stakeholder forum on 22 August 2018. Therefore, it does not need to be carried forward in the next action plan.

· However, the IRM researcher recommends that future forums include discussion on the role and relevance of the forum and its ambition (e.g., high-policy versus low-policy issues).

· While the IRM calls for the forum to be held at least every quarter (see Annex I), minutes from the first forum indicate that participants wish to meet only around concrete activities (e.g., action plans and evaluations).^{[Note : "Notat," Danish Agency for Digitisation, 23 August 2018, https://digst.dk/media/17855/34-referat-fra-ogp-netvaerksmoede-d-22-august.pdf. ]} The IRM researcher suggests that the Agency for Digitisation clarify on its website how often it expects the forum to meet moving forward, within the local Danish context.

11. Open Government Partnership-network meetings/OGP network meetings

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

“As part of the implementation of the action plan, a forum will be established consisting of stakeholders from civil society and possibly ministries and/or local governments. The forum will be entrusted with the task of contributing regularly with input to Denmark’s participation in OGP at a strategic level as well as in relation to the development and evaluation of the Open Government action plans.”

Milestones:

11.1 Identification of potential members

11.2 Dialogue with potential members

11.3 Establishment of forum

11.4 Start-up meeting

Editorial note: For the full text of this commitment, see “The Danish OGP National Action Plan 2017–2019,” Danish Agency for Digitisation, p. 25, https://en.digst.dk/policy-and-strategy/open-government/open-government-partnership-ogp-action-plan/.

This commitment planned to create a formal multi-stakeholder forum to serve as a platform for the government and civil society to discuss Denmark’s involvement in OGP. This commitment followed a previous IRM recommendation to open up OGP forums for all interested members. [41]

The commitment’s milestones have been carried out. The Agency of Digitisation (AFD) organized the forum (the OGP Network Meeting), which met for the first time on 22 August 2018 in Copenhagen. [42] The forum remains situated within the AFD, but all who are interested can participate and provide inputs.

The OGP process in Denmark primarily focuses on digitization of the public administration. In contrast, civil society organizations in Denmark tend to be more directly engaged in high-policy issues such as anti-corruption. According to minutes from the latest forum held in September 2019, only two stakeholders participated: the AFD (from government) and Open Knowledge Denmark (from civil society). [43] By contrast, in 2018, the forum saw the participation of Transparency International Denmark, Open Knowledge Denmark, the National Archives, the Ministry of Children and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the AFD.

Formalizing the OGP forum as an open and regular event has not yet increased participation from civil society. However, it has created an opportunity to bring on board additional stakeholders that may be central to promoting OGP in Denmark looking ahead. It should be noted that by introducing the multi-stakeholder forum for the first time in the current cycle, Denmark now meets all mandatory requirements for the OGP process. [44]

[41] “Denmark Design Report 2017–2019”, Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM), https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Denmark_Design-Report_2017-2019_EN.pdf.

[42] “Denmark Design Report 2017–2019”, Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM), https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Denmark_Design-Report_2017-2019_EN.pdf.

[43] For a resumé of the meeting, see Denmark’s OGP website at: “OGP-network meetings”, Digitaliseringsstyrelsen, available [in Danish] at https://digst.dk/strategier/internationalt-samarbejde/open-government/ogp-netvaerksmoeder/.

[44] “OGP Participation & Co-Creation Standards”, Open Government Partnership, 2017, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/OGP_Participation-Cocreation-Standards20170207.pdf.