Consultative Process (MO0014)

Dynamize the consultative process at the national and regional levels
August 2018 – August 2019
Lead implementing agency/actor
Ministry delegate to the Head of Government, in charge of Relations with Parliament and Civil Society
Commitment description
What is the public problem that the commitment will address?
The non-accomplishment of the implementation of the legal framework for a participatory democracy at the national and local levels (system of petitions at the level of local government councils, consultation and dialogue bodies); ▪ The non-accomplishment of the creation of nationally and locally mechanisms for consultation and dialogue that enable civil society organisations to participate in the drafting, execution, and assessment of public policies; ▪ Weak communication and awareness raising among civil society organisations and citizens regarding the new legal framework for citizen participation.
What is the commitment?
This commitment consists of: ▪ Raising civil society organisations and citizens’ awareness to the ways in which they can participate in day-to-day public management by organising a national communication and awareness-raising campaign to this end and by formulating a communication plan on citizen participation; ▪ Improving services of call and support centre provided civil society organisations, ▪ Organising regional meetings in partnership with the Kingdom’s 12 regions to promote participatory democracy and to initiate the creation of consultation and dialogue bodies at the level of local government councils, ▪ Developing simplified guides that facilitate the work of consultation bodies and check the availability of resources, ▪ Coordinating the consultation and dialogue actions initiated by constitutional institutions and the various committees created for this purpose; ▪ Setting up and testing “sample” mechanisms at the level a pilot site to encourage citizen participation and to apply them on a widespread basis in all other towns, prefectures and provinces.
How will the commitment contribute to solve the public problem?
This commitment will encourage the participation of civil society organisations in the drafting, execution, and assessment of public policies;
Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values?
This commitment will improve citizens and civil society organisations’ participation in the drafting, execution, and assessment of public policies.
Additional information
Related commitments: • Commitment 15 • Commitment 16
Milestone Activity with a verifiable deliverable
Launch a communication campaign on the legal framework for participatory democracy
September 2018 November 2018
Improving call and support centre services, provided to civil society organisations, and creating an e-library on participatory democracy
October 2018 December 2018
Publicising of the platform in the 12 regions and the various trainings organised by the Ministry for associations
October 2018 July 2019
Organising regional events in partnership with the Kingdom’s 12 regions to promote participatory democracy and to initiate the creation of consultation and dialogue bodies at the level of local community councils
5 meetings have been organised The other meetings will be held in 2018-2020, that is, an event to be held every 2 months
Preparing simplified guides to facilitate the work of consultation bodies
January 2019 August 2020
Setting up and testing “sample” mechanisms at the level a pilot site to encourage citizen participation and to apply them on a widespread basis in all other towns, prefectures and provinces.
January 2019 August 2020
Contact information for the focal point
Name of focal point (project manager)
Ms Halima GHIATE
Title and department
Head of Legal Affairs and Public Relations Division at the Ministry delegate to the Head of Government, in charge of Relations with Parliament and Civil Society
Email and telephone
+212608853612, +2126654090783 h.ghiate@mcrpsc.gov.ma, ghiatehalima69@gmail.com
Other actors involved
Government departments ▪ The Parliament ▪ Local governments
Civil society

Commitment 14: National and Regional Consultation Bodies

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

“This commitment consists of:

• Raising civil society organizations and citizens’ awareness to the ways in which they can participate in day-to-day public management by organizing a national communication and awareness-raising campaign to this end and by formulating a communication plan on citizen participation;
• Improving services of call and support center provided civil society organizations,
• Organising regional meetings in partnership with the Kingdom’s 12 regions to promote participatory democracy and to initiate the creation of consultation and dialogue bodies at the level of local government councils,
• Developing simplified guides that facilitate the work of consultation bodies and check the availability of resources,
• Coordinating the consultation and dialogue actions initiated by constitutional institutions and the various committees created for this purpose;
• Setting up and testing “sample” mechanisms at the level a pilot site to encourage citizen participation and to apply them on a widespread basis in all other towns, prefectures and provinces.

Milestones:

• Launch a communication campaign on the legal framework for participatory democracy,
• Improving call and support center services, provided to civil society organizations, and creating an e-library on participatory democracy,
• Publicising of the platform in the 12 regions and the various trainings organized by the Ministry for associations;
• Organising regional events in partnership with the Kingdom’s 12 regions to promote participatory democracy and to initiate the creation of consultation and dialogue bodies at the level of local community councils,
• Preparing simplified guides to facilitate the work of consultation bodies
• Setting up and testing “sample” mechanisms at the level a pilot site to encourage citizen participation and to apply them on a widespread basis in all other towns, prefectures and provinces."

Start Date: August 2018

End Date: August 2019

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

This commitment aims to revitalize and expand public consultation mechanisms at the regional level. The 2011 Moroccan Constitution laid the foundation for greater civic participation as well as increased decentralization among the country's 12 regions. ^[129] While some of the legal and institutional framework has been put in place, regional and local consultation bodies have not reached their full potential. [130]

The government passed Organic Law 111.14 in 2015, which established elected Regional Councils to oversee regional investment and planning, such as developing Regional Development Plans. [131] Relatedly, Organic Law 112.14 promoted participatory democracy in prefectures and provinces and Organic Law 113.14 in communes. [132] These municipal and regional councils were requested to establish consultation bodies to facilitate dialogue with civil society and the public. [133] However, as of 2018, Regional Councils were struggling to create and implement development plans. [134] Youssef Ladmasni reports that when consultations occur, local administrations often invite CSOs that are sympathetic to their agenda to participate in events. ^[135] OECD therefore recommended reinvigorating public consultation bodies at the national, regional, and municipal levels. [136]

The government of Morocco has undertaken some civil society dialogues and trainings on participatory democracy over the last decade. In 2013, the government initiated a national dialogue on civil society, which aimed to consult 10,000 CSOs on its new role and prerogatives gained in the 2011 Constitution. ^[137] The consultation resulted in 18 regional meetings with civil society and 140 recommendations based on civil society input. ^[138]

If implemented as written, this commitment carries a moderate potential to increase civic participation in policymaking through the establishment and strengthening of regional consultative bodies. In particular, this commitment aims to address civil society's lack of opportunities, awareness, and capabilities to participate in policymaking. If fully implemented, this commitment could serve to further institutionalize participatory democracy as called for in the constitution and subsequent organic laws. According to Nourredine Achemlal from Tanmia, consultation with national NGOs can lend credibility to government policy. ^[139]

This commitment has moderate ambition as it only goes so far as creating the foundations and testing a pilot consultative body. However, this commitment will result in ambitious open government reforms if permanent and inclusive consultation bodies are established in all 12 regions. Documentation that the government considered and acted on civil society input collected during consultations would be evidence of laudable open government gains.

Additionally, this commitment primarily focuses on the role and capacities of civil society to engage in a participatory process. Including provisions to inform local government bodies of their obligations to consult and respond to public input would strengthen the ambition of this commitment. Ensuring that government authorities consider and respond to civil society feedback in a timely manner is essential to fostering citizen trust in government.

This commitment includes verifiable activities such as the creation of legal guides for civil society regarding participatory democracy. More specificity could be provided on the pilot consultative bodies in terms of reach, location, and number of successful mechanisms, as well as specifying the number of meetings that will take place regionally. This commitment is relevant to the OGP value of civic participation as it offers civil society tools to use local and national mechanisms of participatory democracy to engage in policy debate and formation.

Next steps:

As participatory democracy reforms are continued in Morocco, implementors should consider the following:

• Continue to strengthen participatory democracy channels in future action plans, with a focus on including youth in policy consultations and ensuring government authorities consider and respond to consultation feedback;
• Consider indicators of successful implementation in terms of the quality and quantity of public consultation collected and evidence that public feedback resulted in policy changes;
• Provide guidance and technical support to regional authorities to strengthen government capacity and encourage an openness to civic participation among public officials;
• Create materials on participatory democracy and existing tools in easily accessible formats, such as various languages and media formats.

14. National and Regional Consultation Bodies

Limited:

This commitment aimed to revitalize and expand public consultation mechanisms at the regional level. [147] The Department in charge of Relations with Parliament of the Ministry of Human Rights and Relations with Parliament organized seven regional meetings in Rabat, Casablanca, Marrakech, Fès, Agadir, Dakhla, and Errachidia, and signed memoranda of understanding with seven regions, seven municipalities and seven universities. [148] The Department also organized consultation meetings with civil society organizations and signed nine memoranda of understanding with regions, municipalities and universities on building civil society capacity to fight drugs. [149] Fourteen CSOs were involved in capacity building on fighting drugs. [150]According to the self-assessment report, no meetings were organized in the other five regions because of the COVID-19 crisis. [151]

The Department in charge of Relations with Parliament carried out an awareness-raising campaign on the legal framework of participative democracy. [152] The work was started on improving service centers and support for civil society, on the creation of an electronic library on participative democracy, and on drafting guides for the local consultative bodies, and the results will be made public by September 2021, according to Halima Ghiate, Director of Directorate in the Ministry. [153] According to the self-assessment, the testing of a pilot consultative body in the municipality of Salé saw its first steps, but was not carried out. [154] Hence, while some awareness-raising and preparatory work on signing memoranda of understanding has been carried out, the core elements of the commitment, such as the e-library, guides, and a fully functional pilot project, are yet to be completed, and the level of implementation by the end of the action plan period is limited.

Meanwhile, a number of local initiatives on participative democracy, some of which overlap with this commitment, were started in Morocco. In December 2018, the Ministry of Human Rights and Relations with Parliament and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) launched [155] a project on implementing Morocco’s National Action Plan for Democracy and Human Rights (2018-2021), [156] which features measures on improving access to information and civic participation at the regional and local levels. Houdna Bennani from the Democratic Association of Women of Morocco [157] explained that her civil society organization, like others, acted at the local level in training and supporting participation in local consultative bodies. Their work yielded some results, but the lack of a culture of participation and support among local government bodies, like in Tetouan, is so far hampering the stable functioning of local consultative bodies, and sustained future efforts will be needed.