Development and Support of Education for Open Governance (SK0138)

What is the public problem that the commitment will address? If we want to create space for innovative approaches to governance, it is necessary to respond to several problems and barriers related to public administration. From the experiences of ÚSV ROS mapped in the outputs of the National Project "Support for Partnership and Dialogue in the Field of Participatory Creation" (https://bit.ly/37KKe8Y) financed by Operational Program Effective Public Administration, as well as partners from the Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica (hereinafter referred to as "UMB BB"), it follows that the most significant issues are currently ignorance of, but also lack of interest in open governance among public administration employees, as well as civil society and the public, as there is a lack of knowledge and understanding of the basic principles of open governance - transparency, participation and accountability, despite the many activities developed by various actors from the environment of public administration as well as civil society: Development and support of participation by ÚSV ROS: ÚSV ROS has been supporting the participation in public institutions for a long time through the previous action plans of the Open Government Partnership since 2011, currently through the National Project „Support for Partnership and Dialogue in the Participatory Creation of Public Policies II“ funded by Operational Programme Effective Public Administration. Development of open governance in the city of Banská Bystrica as a member of OGP Local: In October 2020, the city of Banská Bystrica became the first city in Slovakia to become a member of the Open Government Partnership at the local level - OGP Local. In its strategic vision, the OGP Action Plan in the municipality of Banská Bystrica (https://bit.ly/3vdcLvS) lists as one of the key challenges for the development of open governance at the local level "building knowledge capacities - attitudes and skills of people, so that the culture of open governance can flourish, and so that the current relations between self-government and civil society develop towards a more open, confidential and partner-like relationship." They respond to this call with a commitment from their action plan (https://bit.ly/3veDZlC), which aims to build the capacities of officials at the level of the city of Banská Bystrica in cooperation with partners, and which is currently being implemented in partnership with the non-profit organizations Dialogue Center n.o., and IŠUP n.o.. Support of principles of open governance at Matej Bel University The Matej Bel University operating in Banská Bystrica is an important partner of the ÚSV ROS at the national level, as well as the city of Banská Bystrica at the local level, as it supports the principles of open governance, which it also systematically develops during the teaching process. As was the first university in Slovakia to adopt an official open access policy in January 2022, in which it declares its interest in fulfilling the principles of the Budapest and Berlin Declarations, as well as the National Strategy of Open Science in Slovakia for the years 2021-2028 (https://bit.ly/3uxT5Ue). In the subject of Public Policy, which is taught at the UMB BB Faculty of Economics in cooperation with ÚSV ROS, students are trained in the practical use of participation as a tool for creating public policies. Education for open governance in a civil society environment Organization Dialogue center n.o. designs and implements capacities aimed at using the principles of open governance of employees, builds capacities to use the principles of open governance of employees of the city of Banská Bystrica as part of the implementation of the OGP Action Plan in the municipality of Banská Bystrica. In the environment of civil society, it organizes dialogue events for the public aimed at developing the public's capacities in the field of open governance. The activity of the Open Society Foundation reflects the need for education to use open governance in everyday practice. With the Open Schools project (https://bit.ly/3LVi2yO), it supports a democratic environment in schools and citizenship education.

What is the commitment? The commitment of ÚSV ROS and the partner UMB BB is to provide support to the OGP Local Initiative in the city of Banská Bystrica in building capacities for open governance in accordance with the OGP Action Plan in the municipality of Banská Bystrica. Part of the commitment is also to create an educational module on open governance at UMB BB. Based on this experience, ÚSV ROS will first expand and then use the acquired practice of OGP Local in the city of Banská Bystrica and the educational module of UMB BB, and in partnership with the OGP Local initiative in the city of Banská Bystrica and UMB BB will open a discussion on the use of these practices as part of its expansion to other entities of public administration in the context of the next national action plan. Sub-goals: a) Identification of needs in relation to open governance education. b) Improvement and development of awareness, knowledge and practical skills in the segment of public administration employees about the nature of open governance. c) Preparation of students of professional study programs at universities for the practice of open governance - development of theoretical and practical skills. d) Creating practically applicable procedures for the implementation of open governance for the needs of public administration. e) More effective transfer of learning experiences to open governance at various levels. Content of the commitment: a) Mapping of the current state and needs in the field of education in open governance in public administration. b) Creation and implementation of an educational module at UMB BB focused on the development of knowledge and skills for the systematic application of principles, procedures, methods and tools of open governance in public administration, including publication and educational activities. c) Support to the city of Banská Bystrica and UMB BB in building capacities for open governance. d) Discussion on the application of acquired knowledge to the level of state administration. This commitment is closely related to the commitment no. 3 of the current OGP National Action Plan 2022-2024 under the responsibility of ÚSV ROS, which has the potential to develop communities of practice in open government at all levels of the Open Government Partnership from local to national to international and will provide practical experience.

How will the commitment contribute to solving the public problem? a) Mapping of the current state of education about open governance and of the needs i. Providing support to the OGP Local initiative in the city of Banská Bystrica and UMB BB in mapping educational needs and building capacities for open governance, e.g. by sharing relevant educational materials and examples of good practices. b) Creating an educational module: i. Selection and processing of model examples. ii. Processing of methodology, processing of publications. iii. Implementation of educational activities. iv. Creation of an online educational platform using open-source tools (educational texts with a Creative Commons public license) and in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and related documents. v. Research of benefits for the subject institutions and their respective territories. c) Opening the debate on the transfer of education about open governance to the national level i. Launching the education certification process for public administration employees.

Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values? The commitment supports the development of all principles of open governance within the public administration and partially towards the public: Principle of transparency: By mapping needs and publishing teaching materials in a publicly available database, it improves access to information and the principle of transparency. The principle of citizen participation: It supports partnership, mutual learning and the principle of participation between the public, university employees and the academic field. Principle of accountability: It motivates partners to self-reflect and evaluate their own attitudes and knowledge, thereby supporting the principle of internal accountability. It creates a prerequisite for the development of educational activities for the public.

Additional information Relevance to the strategic and partial objectives of the OGP National Action Plan 2022-2024: 1.1.: Improve access to information about the activities of central state administration bodies and promote transparency. 1.2.: Motivate institutions to reevaluate their own practice and learn through mechanisms supporting accountability to different audiences. 2.1.: Identify examples of Slovak and foreign good practice and ensure their exchange. 3.1.: Build the capacities of civil society and the general public to participate in open governance. 3.2.: Raise awareness of the principles of open governance in central state administration bodies. Relevance to other programs/projects of the Slovak government and international documents: a) OGP Action Plan in the municipality of Banská Bystrica b) UN Sustainable Development Goals (Agenda 2030)

Milestone Activity with a verifiable deliverable Start Date: End Date: For the Office of the Plenipotentiary of the Slovak Government for the Development of Civil Society Map the state of education about open governance in public administration in a participatory way -- map the state of education ebout open governance at the level of public administration 1 July 2022 30 June 2023 To prepare space for the development of education about open governance in the state administration environment in a participatory manner 1 June 2023 30 June 2024 For Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica Create an educational module on open governance 1 July 2022 30 June 2024 In cooperation with ÚSV ROS, OGP Local BB and UMB BB Support the mutual development of methodologies and approaches in education about open governance 1 July 2022 30 June 2024

Action Plan Review

Commitment 2. Education for open governance

● Verifiable: Yes

● Does it have an open government lens? Yes

● Potential for results: Modest