Mobile Application for Citizens Feedback and Requests (MN0022)

Status quo or problem addressed by the commitment: The government 11:11 center has been operating and receiving feedback from the public since 2013. Thus far it has been a successful project and received a Star” rating in 2013 for the implementation of the NPA of the OGP of Mongolia. The 11:11 Call Centre responds to complaints and feedback from citizens, but currently it is unable to take action on these complaints and improve government service. Therefore, there is a need to establish a reporting system for citizens to rate provision, quality and transparency of services provided by the 11:11 Call Centre and make reports by the service providers by using modern technological innovations. Main Objective: The introduction of the mobile application for the 11-11 Call Centre and Service Centre of the government, the government service will become more transparent and efficient, and the quality of the service will improve. Brief Description of commitment (140 character limit): Introduce a mobile application for the Government 11-11 Center and advocate and mobilise its usage by promoting the application to the public.

1. Mobile Application for Government 11-11 center to receive citizen feedback and requests

Commitment Text:

Introduce a mobile application for the Government 11-11 Center and advocate and mobilize its usage by promoting the application to the public.

Status quo or problem addressed:

The government 11:11 center has been operating and receiving feedback from the public since 2013. Thus far it has been a successful project and received a 'Star' rating in 2013 for the implementation of the NPA of the OGP of Mongolia. The 11:11 Call Centre responds to complaints and feedback from citizens, but currently is unable to take action on these complaints and improve government service. Therefore, there is a need to establish a reporting system for citizens to rate provision, quality, and transparency of services provided by the 11:11 Call Centre and make reports by the service providers using modern technological innovations.

Main Objective:

The introduction of the mobile application for the 11-11 Call Centre and Service Centre of the government. As a result, the government service will become more transparent and efficient, and the quality of service will be improved.

Milestones:

1.1. Audit the last two years’ activities of the Government 11-11 Center.

1.2. Identify technological solutions and alternatives efficiently to deliver services and outcomes of the Government 11-11 center for the public.

1.3. Prepare and develop contents and technology to introduce the special application for the Government 11-11 center.

1.4. Test the application for the Government 11- 11 center.

1.5. Update the application for the Government 11-11 center.

1.6. Announce service launch of the mobile application for Government 11-11 center.

1.7. Provide and promote the user instructions of the mobile application for the Government 11- 11 center for the public.

1.8. Sustain the operation of the services provided by the mobile application for the Government 11-11 center for the public.

1.9. Conduct an evaluation and develop concluding observations of the activities of the application for the Government 11-11 center through an independent NGO and disseminate the findings to the public.

Responsible institution: Cabinet Secretariat of the Government of Mongolia

Supporting institutions: Government authorities and local municipals, all ministries and agencies, Governors Office of the Capital city, aimags, soums, and districts, Democracy Education Centre NGO, Partnership for Social Accountability, other relevant CSOs.

Start date: 30 June 2016

End date: 30 June 2018

Context and Objectives

The Mongolian government established the '11-11' Call Center to register complaints and feedback on government services from citizens and to transfer the information to the relevant government body for further action. However, while the 11-11 Center provides complete access to the complaints themselves (including recordings of the telephone calls), it lacks a mechanism to oblige the government to take remedial action in response, and it does not allow users to track the government’s response to complaints. To make government service more efficient and transparent, this commitment proposes to introduce a mobile application for the 11-11 Center. In addition, the government proposes general improvements to the operation of the 11-11 Center, such as user instructions, an independent CSO evaluation of the application’s performance, and an audit of the last two years, among others. This commitment builds on Commitment 3.3.2.6 from the previous action plan, which sought to expand the reporting of public feedback on the 11-11 Center and to establish a data system that responds to and tracks public inquires.

This commitment is relevant to the OGP values of access to information, civic participation, public accountability, and technology and innovation. The commitment is relevant to access to information because the government expects to provide more guidance on how to use the 11-11 Center and publish information on how it is used. It is relevant to civic participation in that the mobile application offers a new channel for members of the public to provide feedback and directly influence the policy process. In terms of public accountability, while there is not a direct system for compelling government officials to respond and react to citizen feedback, the commitment does improve the possibility for citizens to indirectly offer feedback and receive responses from the government. Specifically, the mobile application expands the opportunities for the public to engage with government and hear responses to common concerns.

While the commitment’s primary objective is verifiable—the introduction of a mobile application for the 11-11 Center, —most of the milestones are vague and difficult to measure, such as identifying technological solutions or testing the application. Also, the commitment does not define the overall purpose of the application, thus making it difficult to determine the extent to which the milestones address this purpose. Therefore, the commitment has a low level of specificity. While the mobile application would be more accessible to the public than just the 11-11 Center, the commitment does not fully address the fundamental problem identified above, namely that there is no guarantee that the government will take actions in response to citizen feedback. In this sense, the activities outlined above will likely only provide minor improvements to the already existing system.

Completion

While the 11-11 Center has registered feedback, registering over 130,000 pieces of feedback from citizens as of the time of writing this report (January 2018), it is unclear if the Center’s website has changed since the previous action plan period in terms of services provided.[Note41: The IRM compared the current website, http://www.11-11.mn, with earlier archived versions of the website, such as versions from September 2016 (available at: https://bit.ly/2jHNgye) and from June 2017 (available at: https://bit.ly/2K3GIoP).] The last update for the mobile application was in June 2015.[Note42: See the 11-11 Center’s application on the ITunes App Store, where the latest version is from 23 June 2015: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/11-11-t-v/id579541331?ls=1&mt=8.] The IRM has requested information on new developments for the activities for this commitment from the Cabinet Secretariat such as the audit, development of user instructions, and the independent NGO evaluation of the application’s performance, but has not received a response. For more information, see Section VI: Methodology and Sources. The commitment is considered not started at the end of the first year of the action plan cycle.

Next Steps

If this commitment is carried forward to future action plans, the government should specify steps it will take to enhance the existing mobile application for the 11-11 Center and to align the future activities with the overall scope of the commitment.

1. Mobile Application for Government 11-11 center to receive citizen feedback and requests

Commitment Text:

Introduce a mobile application for the Government 11-11 Center and advocate and mobilize its usage by promoting the application to the public.

Status quo or problem addressed:

The government 11:11 center has been operating and receiving feedback from the public since 2013. Thus far it has been a successful project and received a “Star” rating in 2013 for the implementation of the NPA of the OGP of Mongolia. The 11:11 Call Centre responds to complaints and feedback from citizens, but currently is unable to take action on these complaints and improve government service. Therefore, there is a need to establish a reporting system for citizens to rate provision, quality, and transparency of services provided by the 11:11 Call Centre and make reports by the service providers using modern technological innovations.

Main Objective:

The introduction of the mobile application for the 11-11 Call Centre and Service Centre of the government. As a result, the government service will become more transparent and efficient, and the quality of service will be improved.

Milestones:

1.1. Audit the last two years’ activities of the Government 11-11 Center.

1.2. Identify technological solutions and alternatives efficiently to deliver services and outcomes of the Government 11-11 center for the public.

1.3. Prepare and develop contents and technology to introduce the special application for the Government 11-11 center.

1.4. Test the application for the Government 11- 11 center.

1.5. Update the application for the Government 11-11 center.

1.6. Announce service launch of the mobile application for Government 11-11 center.

1.7. Provide and promote the user instructions of the mobile application for the Government 11- 11 center for the public.

1.8. Sustain the operation of the services provided by the mobile application for the Government 11-11 center for the public.

1.9. Conduct an evaluation and develop concluding observations of the activities of the application for the Government 11-11 center through an independent NGO and disseminate the findings to the public.

Responsible institution: Cabinet Secretariat of the Government of Mongolia

Supporting institutions: Government authorities and local municipals, all ministries and agencies, Governors Office of the Capital city, aimags, soums, and districts, Democracy Education Centre NGO, Partnership for Social Accountability, other relevant CSOs.

Start date: 30 June 2016

End date: 30 June 2018

Editorial Note: This is an abridged version of the commitment text. For the full commitment text from the Mongolian National Action Plan, see: https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Mongolia-NAP2-Final-Eng_0.pdf

Commitment Aim

This commitment aimed to improve the transparency of government services by introducing a mobile application for the government’s 11-11 Call Center and Service Center. The 11-11 Center was established to register complaints and feedback on government services from citizens and to forward them to the relevant government body for further action. The center provides complete access to feedback but does not have a mechanism to compel the government to respond or for citizens to track a response. In addition, the commitment planned to carry out an independent civil society evaluation of the application’s performance, as well as an audit of the past two years, among other general improvements to the usability.

Status

Midterm: Not Started

This commitment was not started by the end of the first year of the action plan. The last update for the mobile application was in June 2015, before the start of the action plan. [1] While the 11-11 Center continued to register feedback, the center’s website had not changed since the previous action plan period in terms of services provided. [2]

For more information, please see the IRM 2016-2017 Progress Report. [3]

End of term: Limited

Following the 2016 parliamentary elections, the new government decided to close the 11-11 Center and cease its activities. [4] However, the government later decided to recommence operations, and the center continued to receive citizen suggestions and complaints. Complaints from citizens are regularly published on the website (http://www.11-11.mn/) as text and audio files. Despite the continuation of operations, the government did not take any new steps towards the completion of milestones under this commitment.

The government did not complete an audit of the 11-11 Center (Milestone 1.1); did not provide more detailed guidance on how to use the 11-11 Center (Milestone 1.7); and did not conduct an evaluation of the mobile application (Milestone 1.9). Although the government created a mobile application for the Center (Milestones 1.2-1.5), this was completed prior to the introduction of this commitment. The mobile application has not been updated since 2015 [5] (Milestones 1.7 and 1.8).

However, independent of government, civil society helped advance components associated with this commitment. The Democracy Education Center (DEMO), an independent Mongolian CSO, took the initiative to develop a parallel mobile application on municipal government service delivery in the capital city, Ulaanbaatar. According to civil society, 80 percent [6] of complaints received by the 11-11 Center came from Ulaanbaatar.

DEMO presented an agenda to the Capital City Governor’s Office and raised funding from the Australian Government’s Direct Aid Program. It also developed the “Check My Service” mobile application that connects to the Municipality Public Service Center’s server with the support of the Capital City Governor’s Office. [7] On 31 January 2018, the official opening ceremony of the “Check My Service” application was held in the Municipality Public Service Center, with the participation of 100 representatives from the capital city management, local administration, private sector, media, and civil society. [8]

From January to June 2018, DEMO disseminated a short video presentation and promotional materials on how to use the “Check My Service” application to television channels, social networks [9] and promoted it at public places. DEMO also conducted independent monitoring by having monthly reports of citizens’ complaints and feedback sent through the “Check My Service” application from the Municipality Public Service Center. DEMO also developed a user guide for the application, which explains how to use it to follow government responses to public feedback. Complaints submitted to the application are classified according to the status of response from government organizations, such as new, under consideration, and responded.

The role of the municipal government in the implementation of this application is to assist in sharing complaints with relevant government authorities and notifying them of the requirement to respond. Although this was not led by government, the development and implementation of this application, with the support of the municipal government, represents limited completion of Milestone 1.2.

Did It Open Government?

Access to Information: Marginal

Civic Participation: Marginal

Public Accountability: Marginal

During the first year after its launch, the ‘Check My Services’ application received about 1,000 complaints from citizens. Relevant government authorities are required to act on these complaints, and provide clear responses with information on how they solved complaints assigned to them.

Although the mobile application for the 11-11 Center was not developed through this commitment, the development and implementation of the “Check My Service” application enables citizens to provide feedback and receive responses on government services. According to the Facebook page of the application, around 60-70 percent of complaints were addressed and solved by responsible organizations between January 2018 and January 2019. [10] This indicates marginal improvements in open government in the areas of access to information, civic participation, and public accountability.

Carried Forward?

The commitment is not included in Mongolia’s third action plan.