Open Government Expertise Centre (LEOO) (NL0027)

The Leer- en Expertisepunt Open Overheid (Open Government Expertise Centre; LEOO) identifies relevant issues and assists public sector organisations in arriving at an appropriate response. LEOO collates and disseminates relevant knowledge and (co-) organises various meetings about Open Government. Through LEOO, the Ministry of BZK wishes to strengthen the position of all public sector organisations as they implement policy and legislation. LEOO will provide support based on three distinct functions: knowledge broker, facilitator and platform which helps to increase the visibility of Open Government activities.

9. Support to other public sector organizations: Expertise Centre (LEOO)

Commitment Text:

The Leer- en Expertisepunt Open Overheid (Open Government Expertise Centre; LEOO) identifies relevant issues and assists public sector organizations in arriving at an appropriate response. LEOO collates and disseminates relevant knowledge and (co-) organises various meetings about Open Government. Through LEOO, the Ministry of BZK wishes to strengthen the position of all public sector organizations as they implement policy and legislation. LEOO will provide support based on three distinct functions: knowledge broker, facilitator and platform which helps to increase the visibility of Open Government activities.

Milestones:

1. 10 (2016) and 6 (2017) further knowledge instruments, such as a factsheet about the new Reuse of Government Information Act 2015 and a self-scan Open Government. All knowledge instruments are published on the website http://www.openoverheid.nl/

2. 40 meetings to include one major conference attended by at least four hundred delegates, a year event Open Government (in 2017) and meetings for all lead implementing agencies.

3. Personal coaching processes and one-to-one meetings for managers and government staff.

4. 5 (2016) and 4 (2017) training modules and support programmes for educational institutes.

5. 120 additional national or international initiatives dealing with Open Government.

6. New interviews and other content to be published on the Open Government website every two or three weeks.

Responsible institution: Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations

Supporting institution(s): ICTU, civil society organisations, various provincial and local authorities, and other ministries

Start date: 1 January 2016 End date: 30 June 2018

Editorial Note: This is a truncated version of the milestone text. For the full commitment text, please see The Netherlands National Action Plan (https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2001/01/Netherlands_NAP-Appendix_2016-2018_EN_revised-with-changes.pdf)

Context and Objectives

Governments of all levels have questions and issues related to open government and how to implement more transparency and accountability in their organization. The Open Government Expertise Centre (Leer- en Expertisepunt Open Overheid, LEOO) identifies relevant issues in the field of open government and assists public sector organizations to deal with these issues. The main goal of LEOO is to support lead agencies in the action plan and other public sector organizations by brokering information, advising, and increasing the visibility of open government activities.

This commitment lists six milestones: develop knowledge instruments with local authorities and/or other partners; host meetings, a major conference and yearly event; establish personal coaching processes; support programs interested in open government; include national and international open government initiatives; and publish content on the open government website.

It is not clear what the government means by ‘self-scan.’ Additionally, with the exception of the first milestone, the commitment text identifies deliverables but does not provide specifics on the focus or topic for many of these activities. It is not clear what area these initiatives would be in. As such, the overall specificity for this commitment is low.

Due to the low specificity of the commitment text, and the largely internal focus of these milestones, the potential impact is assessed as minor. Although the commitment lists several deliverables, the text does not indicate what change in government practice will take place.

Completion

This commitment has been substantially completed and is on time. Milestone one is nearly completed: 10 knowledge instruments were published in 2016 and four (out of the anticipated six) were published by July 2017. Only the self-scan has not been disclosed yet. All knowledge instruments are published on open-overheid.nl, and specific links are located in the government self-assessment. The second milestone is fully complete: in 2016 the How Open? Festival was organized in Tivoli Vredenburg. Also, a meeting was held to kick off the implementation of the action plan. XX[Note106: Implementation meeting for the action plan, open-overheid.nl/open-overheid/5922.]XX In 2017, lead institutions participated in a meeting at the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. XX[Note107: Meeting with the Ministry, open-overheid.nl/open-overheid/open-overheid-moet-echt-in-de-vingers-gaan-zitten.]XX The number of meetings exceeds the numbers mentioned in the milestones by far, and links can be found in the self-assessment report. The researcher received an anonymized spreadsheet of 229 meetings with a large variety of organizations, from ministries, provinces and municipalities to universities and foreign parties, including dates and topics. The same spreadsheet also includes one-on-one meetings, so milestone three is assessed as completed. Some of them can be found online as well. XX[Note108: Completed milestones, open-overheid.nl/geen-categorie/10-x-tijd-open-overheid.]XX Milestone four is under way: LEOO has participated in learning networks on municipalities and open data and natural gas-free city districts. XX[Note109: Learning networks, kl.nl/projecten/gemeentelijk-leernetwerk-open-data, kl.nl/projecten/open-overheid-de-praktijk-aardgasvrije- wijken, open-overheid.nl/open-overheid/we-hebben-iedereen-nodig, https://twitter.com/stadsLAB_Saxion/status/862236764592668672; https://twitter.com/Palinuro/status/866998174560526336; Challenging Government, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ingrp7DblAU.]XX Milestones five and six are also fully complete. More than 350 initiatives were put on the Open Map. XX[Note110: Network Map, open-overheid.nl/netwerk/netwerkkaart.]XX LEOO published 80 articles on open-overheid.nl/actueel, including an article about political parties that included open government topics in their general election programs in 2017 and SODA.

Apart from the milestones, LEOO has organized many other activities, such as hackathons and meetings. It has also published many documents. The lead institution’s manager told the IRM researcher that LEOO will, unlike last time, play an important and active role in the preparation of the next action plan.

Next Steps

Moving forward, LEOO should continue to assist public sector organizations in implementing OGP activities, but it does not need to be included as a separate commitment. OGP commitments should be specific and ambitiously set out to change government practice.

In the next action plan, the IRM researcher recommends the government take action to raise the profile of open government as a policy field and increase the political and top-level engagement.

Commitment 9. Support to other public sector organizations: Expertise Centre (LEOO)

Commitment Text:

The Leer- en Expertisepunt Open Overheid (Open Government Expertise Centre; LEOO) identifies relevant issues and assists public sector organizations in arriving at an appropriate response. LEOO collates and disseminates relevant knowledge and (co-) organises various meetings about Open Government. Through LEOO, the Ministry of BZK wishes to strengthen the position of all public sector organizations as they implement policy and legislation. LEOO will provide support based on three distinct functions: knowledge broker, facilitator and platform which helps to increase the visibility of Open Government activities.

Milestones:

1. 10 (2016) and 6 (2017) further knowledge instruments, such as a factsheet about the new Reuse of Government Information Act 2015 and a self-scan Open Government. All knowledge instruments are published on the website http://www.openoverheid.nl/
2. 40 meetings to include one major conference attended by at least four hundred delegates, a year event Open Government (in 2017) and meetings for all lead implementing agencies.
3. Personal coaching processes and one-to-one meetings for managers and government staff.
4. 5 (2016) and 4 (2017) training modules and support programmes for educational institutes.
5. 120 additional national or international initiatives dealing with Open Government.
6. New interviews and other content to be published on the Open Government website every two or three weeks.

Editorial Note: This is a truncated version of the milestone text. For the full commitment text, please see The Netherlands national action plan (https://bit.ly/30UBDHL).

Commitment Aim

The Open Government Expertise Centre (Leer- en Expertisepunt Open Overheid, LEOO) aims to identify relevant issues in the field of open government and assists public sector organizations to deal with these issues. The main goal of LEOO is to support lead agencies in the action plan and other public sector organizations by brokering information, advising, and increasing the visibility of open government activities.

Status

Midterm: Substantial

All knowledge instruments were published on open-overheid.nl. The How Open? Festival was organized. The number of meetings exceeded the numbers mentioned in the milestones by far. Milestone 4 was under way; LEOO had participated in learning networks. Milestones 5 and 6 were also fully complete.

End of term: Substantial

Milestones 2, 3, 5, and 6 were already completed at midterm, which left Milestones 1 and 4 to be assessed. The former IRM researcher received information on a self-scan from the lead institution’s spokesperson. This was the only pending knowledge instrument from the year-one implementation assessment. [42] According to the implementing entity the commitment intended the five training modules and support programs already underway during the midterm assessment. During the second year of implementation, blogs, entries, and other content continued to be placed on the Open Government website.

Did It Open Government?

Access to Information: Did Not Change

LEOO’s activities orient toward other public sector organizations. The government did not directly disclose more information or improve the quality of the information disclosed to the public. While this commitment intended to improve the government’s capacity and knowledge around open government and the Reuse of Government Information Act, actual changes in practices as a result of this capacity building are not yet evident.

Carried Forward?

This commitment is not carried over to the next action plan. Nonetheless, the LEOO will continue to support new commitments in the 2018–2020 action plan, like the Pioneer Network of Open Government Municipalities.