Open Etat Forum (FR0041)

Develop new formats for exchanging ideas with civil society: the "Open d’Etat" Forum
Lead institution(s):
Minister of State for the Digital Sector, attached to the Prime Minister
Other stakeholders:
Datactivist and Vraiment Vraiment
The open government community (civil society organisation, startups, civic tech, researchers, think tanks)
New commitment
OGP principles with which the commitment is associated:
Accountability, opening of digital resources, civic participation, open innovation
Challenges
Open government is grounded in the principles of accountability and dialogue between citizens and civil society. The aim of the "Open d’Etat" (open government multi-stakeholder) forums is to offer an informal discussion space where citizens and State officials can discuss a given theme, share knowledge, practices and experiences.
Their format was designed in liaison with citizens and public officials during an open participatory workshop on 12 March 2018.
"Open d'Etat" Forums are a community of stakeholders who meet to help expedite public action reform. This community brings together public officials working on innovative projects as well as civil society stakeholders with an interest in tangible projects aimed at transforming public action.
The intention is for this format to be improved in line with participants' feedback.
Ambitions
Set in motion the first cycle of "Open d'Etat" Forums on five main work packages of the National Action Plan;
Expand and consolidate the "Open d’Etat" community;
Develop an online dialogue space to enable progress on the work packages outside of the Forums;
Improve the format as and when results and feedback come in from participants, civil society and the authorities.
The road map in detail

Trial a discussion forum format by organising 5 "Open d’Etat" forums so as to monitor implementation of France's National Action Plan for the OGP Semester 2 2018
Develop an online dialogue space to enable progress on the work packages outside of the Forums Semester 2 2018
Document the format of the "Open d’Etat" forums to enable the authorities to give feedback 2019
Keepthe"Opend’Etat"Forumsgoing Semester 2 2019

12. Develop new formats for exchanging ideas with civil society: the "Open d’Etat" Forum

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

Open government is grounded in the principles of accountability and dialogue between citizens and civil society. The aim of the "Open d’Etat" (open government multi-stakeholder) forums is to offer an informal discussion space where citizens and State officials can discuss a given theme, share knowledge, practices and experiences.

Their format was designed in liaison with citizens and public officials during an open participatory workshop on 12 March 2018.

"Open d'Etat" Forums are a community of stakeholders who meet to help expedite public action reform. This community brings together public officials working on innovative projects as well as civil society stakeholders with an interest in tangible projects aimed at transforming public action.

The intention is for this format to be improved in line with participants' feedback.

Set in motion the first cycle of "Open d'Etat" Forums on five main work packages of the National Action Plan;

Expand and consolidate the "Open d’Etat" community;

Develop an online dialogue space to enable progress on the work packages outside of the Forums;

Improve the format as and when results and feedback come in from participants, civil society and the authorities. [51]

Milestones

12.1 Trial a discussion forum format by organising 5 "Open d’Etat" forums so as to monitor implementation of France's National Action Plan for the OGP

12.2 Develop an online dialogue space to enable progress on the work packages outside of the Forums

12.3 Document the format of the "Open d’Etat" forums to enable the authorities to give feedback

12.4 Keep the "Open d’Etat" Forums going

Start Date: 2018

End Date: 2019

Context and Objectives

In the OGP framework, co-production and the participation of civil society constitute core principles. France has not established a traditional multi-stakeholder forum for the development of the action plan and the follow-up of its implementation. Instead, France opted to establish the Forum Open d’Etat, which consists of thematic forums that are open to civil society and public officials. Etalab justifies the choice to make the forums thematic by pointing to the diversity of topics within the action plan – these topics not mobilizing the same publics. [52] Establishing a platform for dialogue with civil society contributes to the core of the OGP process and is a component of the country’s fulfillment of the OGP requirements for co-creation. Thus, it is not necessary to include formation of such a platform as a commitment of the action plan.

This commitment aims to facilitate the inclusion of civil society in the implementation of various commitments. It intends to do so through disseminating information and promoting active participation in solving problems identified by relevant government agencies. The commitment aims to make the model of the Forum Open d’Etat replicable outside of the monitoring of the OGP action plan. It also plans to bring the Forum online to build on the in-person discussions during the physical forums.

The IRM researcher considers this commitment to be relevant to civic participation. The Forum constitutes an opportunity for citizens, companies, and other public officials to take part in shaping the work of government agencies in commitments. Etalab develops accessible documentation for each of the forums, according to the participants’ knowledge level. The format of the Forum was developed together with civil society actors. The Forum could potentially represent an opportunity for the public to hold the government and the administration accountable, even if the commitment text does not clearly require any public accountability mechanism. The Forum Open d’Etat aims not to monitor the advancement of the commitments but rather to create a space where different groups can meet, learn from each other, and work together around different themes.

Overall, this commitment is verifiable. The first two milestones contain concrete actions (e.g., organize five forums, develop an online platform). The third and fourth milestones provide fewer details about the activities envisaged. (E.g., what is meant by “document the format”? should the Forum Open d’Etat exist outside the implementation of the OGP action plan?)

The IRM researcher deems this initiative to have a potential minor effect. If fully implemented, the commitment could change government practice. It could lead to the involvement of relevant groups from civil society and the business sector. These parties could help solve problems and overcome obstacles that the administration identifies and seeks assistance with (e.g., how to best present data, how to make it user-friendly, among others). Moreover, the hands-on activities of the forums enable relevant government agencies to integrate participants’ feedback in their projects, sometimes on the spot. [53] As previously mentioned, such a platform should be considered as part of the core requirements and not as a stand-alone commitment.

Next steps                                                                                                                 

Given that this commitment is already significantly underway, the IRM researcher suggests that this commitment not be carried forward to the next action plan. The government could, however:

• Generalize this original format to areas outside open government themes, to avoid limiting its scope; and
• Formalize the Forum Open d’Etat as France’s multi-stakeholder forum to develop future action plans and monitor their implementation.

12. Develop new formats for exchanging ideas with civil society: the "Open d’Etat" Forum

Completion: Limited

Six "Open d’Etat" forums were organized during the implementation period to create a space for public officials, business representatives and civil society to exchange on various themes of the action plan. These forums did however not serve as platforms to include civil society in monitoring the implementation of the action plan. They rather served as a channel for the administration to include civil society in certain open data projects. Etalab, together with Datactivist, created an online dialogue space [xlv] but it does not appear to be frequently used (there are only two comments and no updates since 2018). The government self-assessment indicates that the DINUM did not wish to organize any additional forums.