International Transparency and Citizen Participation (FR0045)

Supporting the implementation of the principles of transparency and citizen participation at the international level
Lead institution(s):
Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Agence française de développement (AFD)
Other stakeholders:
Expertise France, French Agency for Media Cooperation (CFI
New commitment
OGP principles with which the commitment is associated:
Access to information, participation, accountability, innovation and technology at the service of openness
Challenges
One of France’s objectives as co-Chair of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) was to extend the partnership to new countries, French-speaking countries in particular. OGP membership is both an acknowledgment of countries’ efforts to foster greater transparency and a commitment to continuing to promote openness, with and for the population.
Becoming a member of the OGP also means joining a global network of public-action reformers that have already tested out a range of innovative reforms and tools affecting all areas of public life and sustainable development, including public officials’ integrity, countering corruption, ecological transition and citizen participation. Each member benefits from and contributes to an ongoing dynamic of exchange between peers.
The OGP takes on special importance in such States as Tunisia and Burkina Faso, which have recently undergone major democratic transitions and whose citizens are demanding the right to participate in public life.
Ambitions
Support the French-speaking countries in implementation of the principles of transparency in public action and citizen participation
The Agence française de développement (AFD) has launched the Projet d’Appui aux Gouvernements Ouverts dans les Pays en Développement Francophones (PAGOF – Project on Open Governments in French-speaking Developing Countries). The project aims to improve governance in several French-speaking countries that are OGP members or nearing eligibility for membership, by assisting them in implementing institutional procedures and frameworks for consultations that comply with Open Government principles.
The project has been granted a €4.5-million subsidy and will assist French-speaking countries in two ways:
Extending administrations’ and civil society’s capacities (NGOs, associations, media, digital community, etc.) in target countries, through sharing knowhow, funding external expertise, networking players and building on successful experiments.
Expertise France and Canal France International (CFI) will be the expert operators responsible for implementing this part of the project, for a total of 3.5 million euros.
The AFD’s participation in the Multi-Donor Trust Fund set up in the context of the OGP and managed by the World Bank. The fund will be used to finance projects and technological assistance enabling implementation of Open Government reforms in OGP member countries, accompany countries that do not yet meet the criteria for OGP membership, and support research on Open Government. This part of the project has been allocated 1 million euros.
The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs is supplementing this financial support to innovative projects on transparency with an “innovative digital solution” prize. Awarded in partnership with Transparency International, the prize is meant to reward three projects bearing on opening of data or digital solutions that facilitate interaction between the Government and citizens or help combat corruption. It will encourage emergence of digital tools in support of democratic governance as well as make best use of and motivate the network of French- speaking “civic tech” players to collect and disseminate best practices. The prize is set to be awarded every other year.
1The road map in detail

Provide technical and financial support, via the PAGOF, to achievement of OGP member countries’ National Action Plans (Tunisia, Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast) and network countries intending to join the OGP December 2017 to December 2020
Participate in the OGP’s Multi-Donor Fund through the PAGOF, funding projects enabling better implementation of Open Government principles, in particular in countries that have just become eligible for OGP membership, and research projects on open government December 2017 to December 2020
Perpetuate the “innovative digital solution” prize rewarding 3 projects on countering corruption to the tune of 10,000 euros per project, and monitor their implementation (first edition in 2017) September 2017 to December 2020

16. Supporting the implementation of the principles of transparency and citizen participation at the international level

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

Support the French-speaking countries in implementation of the principles of transparency in public action and citizen participation

The Agence française de développement (AFD) has launched the Projet d’Appui aux Gouvernements Ouverts dans les Pays en Développement Francophones (PAGOF – Project on Open Governments in French-speaking Developing Countries). The project aims to improve governance in several French-speaking countries that are OGP members or nearing eligibility for membership, by assisting them in implementing institutional procedures and frameworks for consultations that comply with Open Government principles.

The project has been granted a €4.5-million subsidy and will assist French-speaking countries in two ways:

• Extending administrations’ and civil society’s capacities (NGOs, associations, media, digital community, etc.) in target countries, through sharing knowhow, funding external expertise, networking players and building on successful experiments. Expertise France and Canal France International (CFI) will be the expert operators responsible for implementing this part of the project, for a total of 3.5 million euros.
• The AFD’s participation in the Multi-Donor Trust Fund set up in the context of the OGP and managed by the World Bank. The fund will be used to finance projects and technological assistance enabling implementation of Open Government reforms in OGP member countries, accompany countries that do not yet meet the criteria for OGP membership, and support research on Open Government. This part of the project has been allocated 1 million euros.

The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs is supplementing this financial support to innovative projects on transparency with an “innovative digital solution” prize. Awarded in partnership with Transparency International, the prize is meant to reward three projects bearing on opening of data or digital solutions that facilitate interaction between the Government and citizens or help combat corruption. It will encourage emergence of digital tools in support of democratic governance as well as make best use of and motivate the network of French- speaking “civic tech” players to collect and disseminate best practices. The prize is set to be awarded every other year. [62]

Milestones

16.1 Provide technical and financial support, via the PAGOF, to achievement of OGP member countries’ National Action Plans (Tunisia, Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast) and network countries intending to join the OGP

16.2 Participate in the OGP’s Multi-Donor Fund through the PAGOF, funding projects enabling better implementation of Open Government principles, in particular in countries that have just become eligible for OGP membership, and research projects on open government

16.3 Perpetuate the “innovative digital solution” prize rewarding 3 projects on countering corruption to the tune of 10,000 euros per project, and monitor their implementation (first edition in 2017)

Start Date: 2018

End Date: 2020

Context and Objectives

Since its co-chairmanship of OGP 2016-2018, France has worked to broaden the scope of the partnership to include new countries, focusing particularly on French-speaking countries. Having English and Spanish as the official languages of OGP has acted as an obstacle to French-speaking countries joining OGP. This commitment aims to open the partnership to new members by breaking language barriers and providing financial and technical support to governments and civil society.

France will work through the Agence Française de Développement’s Project on Open Governments in French-speaking Developing Countries. This commitment seeks to improve governance in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, and Tunisia, which are already members of the OGP. It also seeks to improvement governance in new OGP countries, such as Morocco and Senegal, and assist them in complying with OGP principles, methodologies, and procedures.

The relevant government agencies plan to achieve these goals firstly by raising awareness about open government and OGP within the target countries and secondly by supporting the technical implementation of four to five commitments per national action plan. [63] The commitment also requires France’s participation in the OGP Multi-Donor Fund and in the continuation of the “innovative digital solution” prize. That prize rewards anti-corruption and transparency projects of citizens from French-speaking partner countries.

The commitment aims to make a relevant contribution to solving the problem of OGP accessibility in French-speaking countries. However, as written, the commitment does not improve access to information or citizen participation, nor does it create new opportunities to hold public officials accountable in the French context. Despite the commitment being important for the OGP platform and the different country members, it does not include enough domestic components to judge its relevance to OGP values.

The commitment, as written, is specific enough to be verifiable. However, the text has a low level of specificity. As written, the milestones read as objectives rather than activities. It would be useful, for future action plans, to add details about the type of technical support envisaged or the geographic scope of the commitment.

The IRM researcher deems this initiative to have a minor potential impact. The commitment text does not provide sufficient information about the governance problems within the different countries to be able to evaluate the effect that the support activities would have. More importantly, the IRM researcher highlights that, as written, the commitment could have effects on other countries’ efforts to open government, but it is not clear how the commitment could have an impact on domestic practices.

Next steps

Given the exclusively international focus of this commitment, the IRM researcher recommends that this commitment not be carried forward into the next action plan. International collaboration is a main feature of OGP and France’s efforts to facilitate French-speaking countries’ access to the partnership. However, OGP action plans are typically meant to focus domestically rather than building other countries’ open government initiatives. The government could, however, merge the commitments that concern development aid, to make them overall relevant to France’s domestic OGP objectives.

16. Supporting the implementation of the principles of transparency and citizen participation at the international level

Completion: Complete

The project to support open government efforts in developing Francophone countries (PAGOF) supported Tunisia, Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast in the development and implementation of their action plans, through financial aid (€3.5 million) and a number of regional thematic workshops on transportation, on budgets and on data collection and usage. [l] France contributed €1 million to OGP’s Multi-Donor Fund, according to the government self-assessment. The “innovative digital solution” prize was integrated into the Connexions citoyennes project, aimed at supporting youth civic tech projects, led by CFI (a public operator financed largely by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs), in 2020. The focus of the prize changes from countering corruption to promoting citizenship in African countries.