Strengthening Access to Information across Territories (MO0045)

CHALLENGE A number of territorial collectivities do not have a website that would enable effective communication with citizens, and their participation in public affairs as well as the proactive publication of information; • There is no single electronic platform enabling the online submission of access to information requests intended for territorial collectivities .

PROPOSED SOLUTION Develop a website model, in both Arabic and French versions, to be used by territorial collectivities in order to provide different services such as: - Communication and interaction with the citizens ; - Proactive publication of information ; - Citizen participation ; • ▪Include territorial collectivities in the national portal for access to information «www.chafafiya.ma» to enable the online submission and processing of access to information requests.

EXPECTED RESULTS ▪Have available digital spaces for communication and interaction with citizens ; • ▪Facilitate the submission, the processing and the follow-up processes of access to information requests addressed to the territorial collectivities ; • ▪Facilitate the participation of citizens in the management of local affairs ; • ▪Have a centralized database of the access to information requests sent to territorial collectivities, organized by subject, field.. etc, in order to take the effectively assist territorial collectivities and promote proactive publication.

PERFORMANCE INDICATORS Number of territorial collectivities adhering to the chafafafiya.ma platform ; • ▪Number of territorial collectivities using the website model ; • Number of trained people in charge of providing information ; • Number of trained information officers in charge of managing the website.

IMPACT INDICATORS Number of submitted requests for access to information either in paper or electronic formats ; • Number and subject area of information proactively published; • ▪Number of public consultations conducted through the web sites of territorial collectivities ; • ▪Number of communication and interaction actions performed with citizens through the websites of the territorial collectivities

See action plan for milestone activities.

Action Plan Review

Commitment 21. Strengthening Access to Information and Citizen Participation at the Territorial Collectivities

● Verifiable: Yes

● Does it have an open government lens? Yes

● Potential for results: Substantial

(Implementing agency: Ministry of Interior, Directorate General of Territorial Collectivities)

For a complete description of the commitment, see Commitment 21 in the action plan: https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/morocco-action-plan-2021-2023/

Context and objectives

Morocco has continuously made efforts to implement its 2018 Right to Access Information Law, [103] including through Commitments 1, 2 and 6 in the previous action plan. [104] This commitment introduces a new focus on access to information at the territorial level. This commitment was proposed by the Directorate General of Territorial Collectivities (DGCT) in the Ministry of the Interior. [105]

Fatiha Zanniby and Naima El Oukid from DGCT note that the commitment is composed of two main pillars: integration of all local authorities in Morocco’s access to information portal chafafiya.ma and the creation of a model website for communes to adopt. The commitment is thus aimed at improving access to information from communes both upon requests through the chafafiya portal and by laying the basis for proactive publication of information through the portal and the websites of communes. [106]

Potential for results: Substantial

Moroccan citizens currently face barriers in accessing government-held information, particularly at the subnational level. As Morocco's 2018-2020 IRM Transitional Results Report states, Morocco’s access to information rules need further alignment with international standards and best practices. [107] A World Bank report found that the access to information law strays from international best practice in many respects, including the time period for response, by limiting the scope of the right to Moroccan citizens, and by setting restrictions on the reuse of public sector information, which risks having a significant chilling effect on use and reuse of public information and public sector data. [108] Furthermore, in a 2020 campaign, [109] the civil society organization Sim Sim established that the chafafiya.ma portal’s requests procedure had a low efficiency, and the appeals mechanism was practically not functioning (for more details see Commitment 6 in the Transitional Results Report 2018-2020). [110] “SMIIG Data,” a 2020-2021 survey of the information published on a limited number of commune websites by the civil society organization Tafra showed that more than half of the municipalities in Morocco do not have a website, 85% of Moroccan citizens do not have online access to their respective municipal budgets, 43% of Moroccan citizens do not have online access to the contact details of their respective commune, 88% do not have online access to the decisions and deliberations of their municipal councils, and only one out 46 surveyed municipalities— Ait Melloul— covers the standards of proactive publication of information used by the survey and based on the respective legislation. [111] These percentages might even be higher, since the survey did not take into account the population’s access to the internet. It should also be noted that a lack of statistical data on access to information requests submitted and responded to at the national and municipal levels presents a challenge to establishing a baseline for this and similar commitments.

The Directorate General of Territorial Collectivities has provided some support for ATI implementation prior to this commitment. Zanniby and El Oukid from DGCT explained that the role of their administration in the Ministry of Interior is to provide technical, legal, and financial assistance to the nearly 1600 territorial collectivities—regions, prefectures and provinces, and communes. [112] They added that prior to the commitment, the Directorate General provided information on ATI to local authorities, encouraged appointment of AI officers, amassed data and formulated an action plan on ATI training, and also published a guide on the right of access to information [113] on the National Portal for Territorial Collectivities. [114]

Zanniby and El Oukid stated that as part of the implementation of the commitment, the Directorate General will continue to assist all local authorities to integrate and set up their accounts in chafafiya.ma. To this end, the central administration will provide a future guide on the back-office functioning of the platform, and, in 2022, will add a statistical module to the platform. [115] According to both experts from the Ministry of Interior, this statistical module would allow the preparation of reports on how local authorities are handling requests received through the platform, whether they respect the legal time period for responses, and so on. These statistics and reports are intended to enable following the processing of access to information requests to local authorities from reception to response. [116]

DGCT and the civil society organization Tafra are optimistic that implementation of this commitment will result in many communes developing websites to provide information to the public. Zanniby and El Oukid noted the importance of communes’ compliance with proactive publication legal obligations under the ATI law. DGCT has developed a model website that sets the minimum standard for information provision and prioritize citizen needs. For example, the website will include sections on citizen participation and legal petitions, administrative services, and the commune council and its executive bureau. [117] The Directorate General should support 15 urban and rural municipalities to adopt the model site and adapt it to their own needs. In mid-2022, DGCT will open the use of the model website to all interested communes and launch a training program on managing the websites. [118] Zakaria El Haddaoui and Sara Mejdoubi from Tafra noted that, though it was Tafra’s initial idea to provide a model website for communes, [119] the Directorate General’s commitment could have big traction and involve many if not all communes. [120] They added that the DGCT is the local authorities’ supporting body and the administrations will follow its lead. [121]

In conclusion, in view of the legal framework and its current implementation which do not provide guarantees for citizens to obtain access to information upon requests in practice, the commitment has the potential to be a game changer. This commitment has the potential to significantly strengthen access to information within the confines of the current law. If fully implemented, and provided that it involves a large number of local authorities, especially communes, the commitment could result in a substantial improvement in ATI and increased provision of information both through the proactive publication on the websites of local authorities and through the stimulus provided by the oversight of statistics on handling requests that higher administrations could support through the chafafiya.ma portal.

Opportunities, challenges and recommendations during implementation

Government and civil society interviewees noted that limited technical, financial, and human resources at the municipal level present the greatest potential challenge to implementation. Zanniby and El Oukid note that the right to information officers require more training on access to information and the chafafiya.ma portal. [122] Haddaoui and Mejdoubi shared that public information officers have multiple other responsibilities which inhibit their participation in the reform. [123] The diversity among communes also presents a challenge. In particular, small and rural communes might lack the budget or internet connectivity to build a functioning website. [124]

This commitment has the potential to institutionalize proactive publication of information across communes and to strength accountability for compliance with the ATI law through the chafafiya.ma portal. The Directorate General could achieve the potential of the commitment by:

● Going beyond the 15 pilot communes and working to find resources to engage a much bigger group of local authorities;

● Prioritizing outreach to administrations which lack human or financial resources, but could benefit from assistance;

● Engaging with other institutions and civil society in its awareness-raising activities by, for example: stimulating a race to the top between local authorities through surveys and ratings of their proactive publication and/or handling of ATI requests.

● Provide best practices guidance to support communes’ timely and comprehensive response to access to information requests and resolution processes for denied requests.

Results Report

Commitment 21. Strengthening Access to Information and Citizen Participation at the Territorial Collectivities

Commitment 21: Strengthening Access to Information and Citizen Participation at the Territorial Collectivities [Directorate General of Territorial Collectivities]

Contexts and Objectives:

This commitment aimed to improve access to information across local governments. The commitment sought to integrate regions, prefectures, provinces, and communes into the national access to information portal to enable local authorities to respond electronically to information requests. ^[166] It also aimed to support communes in establishing websites with features for proactive publication of information and online citizen engagement. This reform therefore builds on previous commitments to operationalize the 2018 Access to Information Law. ^[167]

Early Results: Moderate Results

There has been notable improvement in access to information at the local government level as a result of implementation. All subnational governments (regions, prefectures, provinces, and communes) are now integrated into the national access to information portal, chafafiya.ma. There has also been a significant increase in the number of communes with a website and the scope of information proactively published at the commune level. This commitment was fully completed and work to expand access to information at the local level is ongoing. ^[168]

Moroccans can now request information from local governments through the national access to information portal. DGCT identified and trained Right of Access to Information Officers across local governments in using the Chafafiya platform. Officers received a link and password to access a management space in the platform for proactive publication and responding to requests. Officers also received contact information to report any problems when using the platform. Local governments were provided a user manual ^[169] for the platform and a training video. The use of the Chafafiya platform by local authorities was officially launched on 12 January 2022. ^[170] DGCT sent circulars to invite local authorities to sign up and spread awareness in the media. ^[171] DGCT reports that 1,590 local authorities have accounts on chafafiya.ma, including 1,503 communes, 75 prefectures and provinces and 12 regions. ^[172] This represents most local authorities in Morocco. ^[173]

The Ministry of Digital Transition and Administration Reform developed a supervision and statistics module for managing requests for access to information via the Chafafiya portal in 2023. However, the module is currently being revised. ^[174] Therefore, information on the number of requests submitted to national governments and their status were not available at the time of writing.

DGCT has successfully aided 15 pilot communes in establishing websites and made the website template available to 45 additional communes. ^[175] DGCT held virtual meetings in April 2021 ^[176] and November 2022 ^[177] to launch the standard website project for local authorities. DGCT sent letters to the 15 pilot communes, who appointed focal points to manage the website. These individuals received support to adapt the template website to the needs of their commune and received training on site management and writing for the web. ^[178] DGCT provides technical assistance to ensure the smooth management of the websites. ^[179]

On sustainability, representatives in government and civil society had noted that limited resources (technical, financial and human at municipal level) represented the greatest potential challenge to this reform. ^[180] To address this potential challenge, DGCT is "making websites available to all communes wishing to adopt it, without financial consideration" and providing "hosting, upkeep and technical maintenance of the websites." ^[181]

The civil society organization TAFRA has collected data on the compliance of communes with greater than 50,000 inhabitants (81 communes) with access to information obligations since 2020. From 2020 to 2023, the number of communes surveyed with websites increased from 37 to 63 (or 43% to 78%). There has also been a notable increase in the scope of information available on these websites. Out of 100 possible points, communes surveyed improved from a score of 32 to a score of 54 in the same period. The report highlights DGCT's Tadafor and open data projects and the Moroccan Network for Open Local governments (REMACTO) as initiatives that have driven improvements in access to information at the commune level. ^[182]

Improvement from 2022 to 2023 was driven by the creation of websites in 15 communes and the expansion of information available on existing websites for 31 communes. The top scoring communes in 2023 included Ait Melloul, Larache, and Moulay Abdellah. Most published information across communes includes council and commissions' composition, commune contact and organizational charts. There is also a positive increase in the availability of budget information, such as communes' budgets and financial information. However, few communes publish information on evaluations or audits, commune assets, or financial reports. ^[183]

The template websites are designed to facilitate public participation through the inclusions of sections such as "citizen participation" and "open budget." A review of the websites for the 15 pilot communes indicates that the public can make comments or suggestions, launch petitions, carry out consultations and obtain information on participatory budgets online.

Civil society representatives consider this reform a significant step forward in access to information. For one of its representatives in the commune of Larache, "it's important for communes to have their own website. Two years ago, our commune didn't have a website, and access to information wasn't easy." ^[184] There is a strong desire among civil society for access to information at the local level, particularly around budget and financial information. The representative from Larache observed there is a lot of interesting information, but hopes for greater information around budget transparency. ^[185] A civil society representative from Fès also noted that financial information remains an important area for greater proactive publication. ^[186] He also noted that information officers also have other responsibilities, which can make it difficult for them to process requests and communicate with the public. ^[187] Finally, most websites are currently only available in Arabic. Therefore, there is opportunity to provide a Standard Moroccan Berber translation to equal access to information. 

Looking Ahead:

Reformers are encouraged to continue the positive momentum of increasing access to information at the local level. Such transparency lays important groundwork for public participation and accountability in the government bodies that most impact their daily lives. As this reform is continued, civil society interviewees and the TAFRA report recommend that DGCT: