Involving Civil Society in Monitoring of Environmental Policy (MO0044)

CHALLENGE Due to the lack of technical capacities and mechanisms for the involvement and participation, civil society in general and environmental associations in particular don’t entirely fulfil their constitutional role in the participation on the design, implementation and assessment of public policies, as well as contribution to the implementation of local activities and the promotion of environment friendly citizenship. This is mainly due to : • The lack of expertise • The limited technical capacities • The insufficient human and financial capacity • The unavailability of updated information about major projects and programs related to the environment.

PROPOSED SOLUTION Strengthen technical capacities of civil society organizations and provide them with various environmental data. Which in turn will support their interventions and participate in advisory committees on the various issues related to the environment and sustainable development through: 1. The organization of online training sessions intended for environmental associations covering the following topics: • Global issues related to the environment and sustainable development. • National and local environmental issues. • The implementation of the National Strategy of Sustainable Development at the territorial level. • Financial and technical management of projects. 2. The involvement of NGOs in the processes of consultation and coordination related to the environment and sustainable development, through : • The representation of 5 associations as members of the National Commission for Integrated Management of the Littoral. ; • The representation of 3 associations as members of the National Commission for Climate and Biodiversity ;For these two commissions, a call for applications was launched. The selection was made by a committee based on pre-established criteria. The constitution of these committees and the missions of their members were fixed in accordance with the regulatory texts establishing them. • ▪ The representation of NGOs in the different national (2 committees) and regional (12 committees) thematic committees which are determined based on their experiences and reports in relation to the themes targeted by the committees mentioned above. 3. Proactive publication of information and data on environmental programs: • The Department of Environment proactively publishes through its website (www.environnement. gov.ma) the different environmental programs and activities, regional and national reports about the situation of the environment, as well as environmental legal texts 4. Supporting environmental associations’ initiatives through : • ▪Institutional support for the activities of associations through the participation of the Department of the Environment in the facilitation of meetings of associations relating to the environment and sustainable development, put the environmental caravan at their disposal and contribute to the dissemination of awareness material ; • Logistical support through the creation of environmental clubs within schools, youth centers and NGOs, and providing various audiovisual and computer equipment.

EXPECTED RESULTS • NGO empowerment and promotion of their participation in the design, implementation and assessment of environmental public policies.

PERFORMANCE INDICATORS Number of NGOs that have received training sessions ; • Number of NGOs who are members of the national consultation and coordination committees ; • Rate of proactively published information compared to the information listed in article 10 of law 31.13 • Number of published statistical data ; • Number of published reports and studies ; • Number of actions in terms of institutional and logistical support given to of environmental associations

IMPACT INDICATORS • ▪Number of NGOs taking part in national environmental programs.

See action plan for milestone activities.

Action Plan Review

Commitment 20. Mobilization and Capacity Building of CSOs to Improve Participatory Monitoring and Implementation of Environmental Policy

● Verifiable: Yes

● Does it have an open government lens? Yes

● Potential for results: Modest

Results Report

Commitment 20. Mobilization and Capacity Building of CSOs to Improve Participatory Monitoring and Implementation of Environmental Policy

This commitment aimed to enhance civil society organizations' participation in monitoring and implementing environmental policies by mobilizing and building their capacity. However, the IRM researcher did not find any evidence for the implementation of the milestones. The national OGP portal states that the first milestone, "Proactive publication of environmental data," was achieved. However, no data is available on the national open data platform. Regarding the organization of online training courses for environmental associations, the OGP Steering Committee (milestone 4), in their march 2023 meeting report ^[165], propose to use the NGO training portal http://www.tacharokia.ma (from commitment 17) to integrate these training, creating a bridge of cross-cooperation between the two ministries. However, no evidence was available as to whether this was carried out.