Establishing a Joint Government-Civil Society Venture (IL0037)

What is the current situation or problem that the commitment addresses?

The relationship between civil society and government is one where from the outset collaboration is complex since civil society is responsible for criticizing the work of government. Therefore, creating an ongoing collaboration between the two entities is a challenge, and even more so when it comes to joint ventures/projects. This commitment is intended to create a joint workspace for civil society and government on open data issues in specific projects, to create optimal cooperation. Government employees who develop and implement the programs are not always those who have been in dialogue with civil society and are not always involved in the programs that are implemented. The programs can sometimes involve government units such as legal advice, finance and procurement, who are not familiar with the discourse or with civil society organizations and can delay a process. Another challenge is that there are few NGOs that can achieve dedicated and effective communication with relevant government officials. For most civil society organizations, it is difficult to communicate with government and to initiate processes that represent its needs, and therefore it is crucial to create a joint work model that various NGOs can employ.

What is the commitment?

The National Digital Agency is launching a joint venture with the “Public Knowledge Workshop,” an NGO that specializes in social and public activities in the field of open data, to promote a first-of-its-kind work and partnership model between government and civil society. The joint work of government and civil society will promote an Open Government policy of transparency and accountability and the use of databases by the public and will encourage government ministries to make data accessible and create initiatives to improve government service to the public through data-based innovation. The project is anchored under a - contract for a period of two years, with an option to extend for another two years, and with a budget for the entire period of activity.

How will the commitment address the problem?

Cross-sector partnerships are seen as a central tool for solving complex social challenges faced by the state, and for dealing with large-scale social problems. Partnership between government and civil society is perceived as addressing the failures of each sector; it enables flexibility, containment, and better adaptation to changing situations, faster response time than cumbersome bureaucratic solutions, offers greater public participation and creates collaborations between the public and business sectors, academia and civil society. The joint venture proposed here will also promote increasing transparency and making data accessible in an organized manner, hence, assisting civil organizations to work better; the joint projects under this commitment – fiscal and procurement transparency – will enable civil organizations and citizens to derive insights in a convenient manner from the budgets of government ministries and how they are implemented and will reflect to the public what has been done with the funds. This will lead to a deeper understanding of what happens with budgets, where they are being allocated, who are the companies that win tenders, how the budgets are implemented, which companies win which ministries, etc. This joint venture will serve as a foundation for additional collaborations between government ministries and civil society in Israel. Through tedious work, different government units such as legal advisory, procurement and budgets were able to remove barriers to this work model, allowing this model to be duplicated in the future.

Why is the commitment relevant to OGP?

This unique collaboration between a civilian entity and the government, which brings into being all four principles of Open Government, will promote transparency and accountability in the work of government, will give civil society a place to make its voice heard and operate under contract and budget, will upgrade service to citizens and enhance work with government data and its use for the needs of various populations and for the benefit of citizens. The project focuses on improving government effectiveness using public data to implement the principles of collaboration accountability and public participation and a change in the government paradigm from transparency as a value, to open data as a work tool that enables analysis and action on a broad spectrum of issues.

How does the commitment contribute to inclusion and equality?

As part of the project, the sites will be made accessible to people with disabilities and translated into Arabic and English.

Milestone with deliverable | Start date - End date

Establishment of a steering committee with all the partners, led by the National Digital Agency. The committee will meet quarterly to advance the project and ensure that it is being properly implemented. | September 2023 - December 2025

Modelling of the joint venture process with the goal of future use of various government ministries for collaboration with civil society | September 2023 - December 2025

Expansion of the “Budget Key” project – a website running on open-source code that promotes fiscal transparency and presents insights into the state budget based on raw data, in order to reflect to the public, the allocation of resources in the budget such as information about state revenues, improving the system's "Smart Agent" system, expansion of “calls for proposals” etc. | October 2023 - December 2025

Translating the “Budget Key” website into additional languages (Arabic and English) and making it accessible to people with disabilities, as per the decision of the steering committee and the requisite derivatives. | April 2024 - December 2025

Expansion of the "Social Procurement" project, using government data to reflect to the public the use and spending of outsourced social services by ministries. The project will analyze the implementation of government decisions, deepening the mapping of government data, adding new data, and improving existing databases, building models that will enable the public to derive insights into the current state of sustainability. | October 2023 - December 2025

Adding a measurement module, in which the website will reflect to the public data on the implementation of government decisions on social procurement, with an emphasis on assimilating government principles in tenders for social services | 2024 - December 2025

Public participation regarding the work products of the process, such as a roundtable or survey with the various stakeholders – with an emphasis on civil society – to receive feedback and encourage use. The mode of action will be decided upon by the steering committee and will take place towards the mid-point of the venture. | 2024 - December 2025