Charaka Portal (MO0013)

Strengthening mechanisms to promote transparency on public funding of civil society organisation using the “Charaka” portal
30 June 2018 – 30 June 2020
Lead implementing agency/actor
Ministry delegate to the Head of Government, in charge of Relations with Parliament and Civil Society, Government Spokesperson.
Commitment description
What is the public problem that the commitment will address?
The Ministry delegate to the Head of Government, in charge of Relations with Parliament and Civil Society launched the Charaka portal in 2017 to increase transparency and good governance in the system for publicly financing associations by publishing all data on civil projects financed with public funds on this portal. Even though the portal has been operational for more than one year, the anticipated goal of this project has not been achieved. The uploading to the portal of continuous, reliable data by institutional actors has not taken place, despite the existence of the Prime Minister’s Circular No. 7/2003, which sought to lay the groundwork for a new partnership policy, understood as the whole of relations with associations, the participation and sharing of human, material, and financial resources to provide social services, the carrying out of development projects, and the provision of services in the collective interest. The goal now sought to resolve this problem is to give new strength and momentum to this instrument so that government actors respond with greater seriousness, responsibility, and assiduousness, and to achieve the goals set by the government program through the regular uploading of data on public financing to the Charaka portal.
What is the commitment?
The Ministry delegate to the Head of Government, in charge of Relations with Parliament and Civil Society launched the “Charaka” portal to translate the Government’s willingness to promote partnerships with civil society organisations, considered as a solid instrument to Spearhead the new policy of proximity. It also facilitates access to information through support provided by the state to nongovernmental organisations and publication of the Partnership’s call for proposals. This commitment seeks increased involvement by all the government actors involved in the disbursement of public funding to civil society organisations. It also enables civil society actors and other stakeholders to receive useful information on public funding awarded to civil society organisations. The indicators for this commitment are: ▪ Drafting and adopting the Executive decree on partnership between the state and civil society organisations, ▪ Increasing the number of government bodies involved in public funding of civil society organisations from 20% to 70%, ▪ Increasing the number of government bodies committed to publication in the Portal from 20% to 70%, ▪ Mapping the distribution of public funds by region, type of project financed, and contact details of the beneficiary associations; ▪ Ensuring the publication of calls for proposals at (50%), to reach (80%) by 2020; ▪ Drafting and publishing an annual report that assesses public funding awarded to civil society organisations.
How will the commitment contribute to solve the public problem?
▪ The adoption of an Executive Decree on the partnership between the state and civil society will have a legally imperative force that will oblige institutional actors to upload data regularly to the portal related to public funding of civil society organisations, ▪ Supporting the portal’s regulatory and technical functioning with a mixed committee (government departments and civil society) to oversee and assess the “Charaka” portal will incite institutional and civil actors to respond to requests from the portal’s direct managers; ▪ The publication of an annual, large-scale assessment report will hold institutional actors responsible, and provide civil actors with means to apply additional pressure to demand greater compliance with the goals set and to hold the government accountable.
Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values?
The commitment is relevant to integrity and fighting corruption: ▪ Achieving accountability and holding public and civil actors responsible by applying imperative rules and adequate mechanisms on the forms and manners of public spending allocated to civil society organisations.
The commitment is relevant to access to information: ▪ The commitment helps the dissemination of information on public funds granted to civil society organisations, ▪ Opening the data allows for its reuse by citizens and civil society. The commitment is relevant to budget transparency: ▪ It creates greater transparency on the spending of public funds allocated to civil society organisations; ▪ It ensures equitable access to public funding granted to civil society organisations; ▪ It guarantees good financial governance in terms of public funds. The commitment is relevant to civic participation: ▪ Information on public funding improves the public offering and the good governance of publicly funded projects by involving civil society actors ▪ The standardisation of rules on public funding provides significant opportunities to citizens and civil society organisations to participate to the monitoring, implementation, and assessment of public projects steered by public or civil actors.
Additional information
The commitment’s budget is covered by the Ministry in charge of Relations with Parliament and Civil Society, and it also receives funding and technical support from the European Union to improve the Charaka project (state-civil society partnership); ▪ Direct link with the first axis (promotion of the role of civil society) and the second axis (consolidation of good governance) of the government’s programme; ▪ Link to the Country/OECD Programme; ▪ Link with the National anti-corruption Strategy; ▪ Link with SDG goals 16 and 17; ▪ Link with the European Union programme “Success for Advanced Statute II” regarding the support for the process of institutional convergence and reinforcement.
Milestone Activity with a verifiable deliverable
Drafting and adopting the Executive decree on partnership between the state and civil society organisations
January 2019 January 2020
Mapping the distribution of public funds by region, type of project financed, and contact details of the beneficiary associations
February 2020
August 2020
Drafting and publishing an annual report that assesses public funding awarded to civil society organisations.
October2018/2019
Contact information for the focal point
Name of focal point (Project manager)
Mr Nour Eddine ZAALAMI
Title and department
Ministry delegate to the Head of Government, in charge of Relations with Parliament and Civil Society. Government Spokesperson.
Email and telephone
zaalaminoureddine2020@gmail.com, n.zaalami@mcrpsc.gov.ma 00212661796552
Other actors involved
Head of Government, ▪ Government departments, ▪ Public institutions,
Civil society

Commitment 13: Civil Society Public Funding Transparency

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

“The Ministry delegate to the Head of Government, in charge of Relations with Parliament and Civil Society launched the “Charaka” portal to translate the Government’s willingness to promote partnerships with civil society organizations, considered as a solid instrument to spearhead the new policy of proximity. It also facilitates access to information through support provided by the state to nongovernmental organizations and publication of the Partnership’s call for proposals.

This commitment seeks increased involvement by all the government actors involved in the disbursement of public funding to civil society organizations.

It also enables civil society actors and other stakeholders to receive useful information on public funding awarded to civil society organizations.

The indicators for this commitment are:

• Drafting and adopting the Executive decree on partnership between the state and civil society organizations,
• Increasing the number of government bodies involved in public funding of civil society organizations from 20% to 70%,
• Increasing the number of government bodies committed to publication in the portal from 20% to 70%,
• Mapping the distribution of public funds by region, type of project financed, and contact details of the beneficiary associations;
• Ensuring the publication of calls for proposals at (50%), to reach (80%) by 2020;
• Drafting and publishing an annual report that assesses public funding awarded to civil society organizations.

Milestones:

• Drafting and adopting the Executive decree on partnership between the state and civil society organizations,
• mapping the distribution of public funds by region, type of project financed, and contact details of the beneficiary associations
• Drafting and publishing an annual report that assesses public funding awarded to civil society organizations.”

Start Date: 30 June 2018

End Date: 30 June 2020

Editorial Note: the commitment description provided above is an abridged version of the commitment text, please see the full action plan here: https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/morocco-action-plan-2018-2020/

Context and objectives

The Moroccan state has granted the right to create and participate in associations since 1958. ^[123] A 2003 circular from the Head of Government sought to facilitate and promote state partnership and funding to civil society, laying the groundwork for the ‘Charaka’ website. The website aims to serve as a centralized, transparent and regularly updated database on government funding opportunities for civil society organizations (CSOs) by region, theme, and field of activity.

In 2016, public funding for CSOs was around 6 million Moroccan dirhams, compared to 7 billion Moroccan dirhams from international sources. Public funding generally goes towards associations working on socioeconomic and income-generating activities in rural and semi-urban areas. While organizations working in human rights and advocacy generally receive international funding, there is a lack of transparency around funding and a perception that funding is highly influenced by favoritism. [124] Sofia Rais from the CSO Droit et Justice adds that government funding remains opaque, limited, with inconsistent standards for eligibility. ^[125] The amount allocated is not sufficient to fund the large number of CSOs, around at 160,000. She also states that there is a regional disparity, with most funding going to the big cities such as Casablanca and Rabat. ^[126] The government notes that public funding for civil society is governed by Circular No. 07/2003 and that organizations determined not eligible for funding may appeal the decision. [127]

This commitment seeks to solve this problem through proactive publication of the funding opportunities for CSOs online. It also aims to increase the number of government departments that publish calls for projects and annual reports of ongoing projects and activities on the platform. The government states that a new decree on the state and CSOs' partnership will obligate state actors to publish their CSO financing data and therefore enable the mapping of funds indicated in milestone 2. [128] This commitment is verifiable and relevant to the OGP value of access to information as it seeks to publish all the information related to the financing of CSOs and the procedures to follow, as well as the list of all CSOs that receive funding.

This commitment carries a minor potential to increase transparency of public funding for CSOs. This commitment aims to make the Charaka website more dynamic and comprehensive, with a wider range of data such as funding by region and city. As a result, this commitment may create a more level playing field to access funding and increase competitiveness among funding applicants. However, this commitment is of limited ambition as it only seeks to update an existing portal and publish a report. Activities to ensure equal public funding across types of CSOs and regions would have raised the level of ambition. Additionally, the design of this commitment could have been strengthened through incentives to encourage government bodies to publish funding data and a communication campaign to increase awareness of the platform.

Next steps:

The IRM recommends that implementors take the following into consideration:

• Partner with civil society to review laws and regulations around CSOs' use of funding, operations, and licensing process to broaden the operational space of CSOs;
• Explore options for preferential tax treatment for CSOs;
• Create incentives for government bodies to upload CSO funding opportunities and data and offer a channel for CSOs to supplement government data on funding sources;
• Partner with civil society to continuously improve the useability of the platform, such as enabling search by field of activity;
• Establish guidelines and procedures to promote equal distribution of public funds across various types of CSOs;
• Consider creating a central portal within the website for all applications for grants and funding across government bodies to facilitate oversight.

13. Civil Society Public Funding Transparency

Limited:

The government sought to increase transparency on public funding for civil society by upgrading the Chakara Portal through proactive publication of the funding opportunities for CSOs online and of the increase in the number of government departments that publish calls for projects. [143] It also aimed to publish annual reports of ongoing projects and activities on the platform. [144] However, the portal was not upgraded.

The Department in charge of Relations with Parliament of the Ministry of Human Rights and Relations with Parliament drafted a report on public financing for civil society for 2016-2017, but has not published it. [145] The commitment will be continued in Morocco’s upcoming OGP action plan. [146]