Transparency and the right to understand: improving the usability and communication of the administration (ESVAC0002)

Commitment ID

ESVAC0002

Commitment Title

“Transparency and the right to understand”: improving the usability and communication of the administration for real and effective accountability

Problem

The transparency law obliges administrations to publish information to render accounts through their web portals or transparency portals. Many times, in digital communications and services, information is presented in an excessively technical or complex way, thus making it difficult to understand the texts by using jargon that is far from common uses or writing the information in a complex way.

In order for transparency to fulfil the objective of facilitating real and effective accountability, it is necessary not only for the information to be published but also for citizens to be able to access it and to be able to understand it easily. In other words, the right to know must also include the right to understand. The use of unclear communication in digital communications and services is an obstacle for people to access public services, exercise their rights or oversee the action of governments, and affects the entire population and, above all, the groups of people affected by the digital divide or far from public administrations.

Status quo

The Generalitat Valenciana has a transparency portal, GVA Oberta, in which it publishes the information to render accounts of its activity, and which has become an increasingly well-known and consulted tool by the citizens. Among many other contents, GVA Oberta also includes the register of Regia interest groups and all the information related to senior administration officials. There is also an open data portal, where the Generalitat publishes the data it generates in open formats so that citizens can reuse it and generate value.

Law 1/2022, of Transparency and Good Governance of the Comunitat Valenciana provides, as a general criterion, the use of search engines and graphics to facilitate the consultation of information by citizens, and the idea is for this to be progressively incorporated into GVA Oberta to the extent permitted by the corresponding information systems. In addition, comprehensibility and clarity are some of the general principles of the law. On the other hand, since the existing need has already been detected, a line of work of the Atent-A 2023 Plan for citizen service is clear communication in administrative information, and it has been reflected in a training course for public employees.

Action

The commitment consists in promoting the right to understand by improving the usability and communication of the administration for real and effective accountability.

This translates, into the improvement and expansion of the information of the high officials of the Generalitat in GVA Oberta, including a search engine that allows easy consultation of the meetings that are held with the interest groups in which they intend to influence public decision making. These changes will make it easier to consult and facilitate the possibilities of analysis, including, among other things, information search engines, data in a reusable format, and greater links between the contents.

Along with this, and to comprehensively improve the effectiveness of the transparency and open data portals, an evaluation of the usability and accessibility of these portals will be carried out. Thus, it is about establishing a roadmap for improvements in the portals so that they can be progressively implemented, so that citizens can easily access and better understand the contents of the portals and thus strengthen accountability.

On the other hand, in order to prepare content and communicate it clearly to the public, it is also necessary to train and raise awareness among public employees. For this reason, a clear communication guide will be prepared for the preparation and communication of administrative information in the Generalitat, which will serve as a reference in the administration.

How will the commitment contribute to solving the public problem described above?

The commitment responds to the identified problem, which is general in public administrations. The commitment seeks not only to limit itself to compliance with transparency of a formal nature, focused only on making the information required by law available, but also to commit to real and effective transparency in which the information reaches the citizens and they understand it easily. To this end, the commitment includes, on the one hand, an evaluation of the usability and accessibility of the portals in order to be able to introduce improvements in their design and content. It also involves improving a section of the transparency portal, such as the one related to the activity of senior officials and their relationship with interest groups, with new functionalities and search engines that facilitate access to information. Likewise, it is also necessary to train and sensitise public employees to share the diagnosis of the problem and work to solve it, and for this reason, a clear communication guide for the preparation and communication of administrative information will be produced.

What long-term goal as identified in your Open Government Strategy does this commitment relate to?

The commitment contributes to the long-term vision, because it is aimed at enhancing transparency and bringing it closer to all citizens through an improvement in the form of communication. The commitment looks forward to transparency, but one that is not only formal but also real and effective, reaching citizens to render accounts. This contributes to rooting the culture of open government among citizens and generating trust in the institutions.

Likewise, the improvement of usability and clear communication contributes to more inclusive and accessible digital services, since it reduces barriers to access the administration. It is, therefore, consistent with a vision of open government that, while taking advantage of the possibilities of digitisation, is committed to democratisation, equality, and the fight against the digital divide.

Primary Policy Area

Open Data, Right to Information

Primary Sector

Public Services (general)

What OGP value is this commitment relevant to?