Local Roundup | February 2025

Here’s our monthly roundup of updates from the OGP Local community for February 2025. Check out previous roundups!

At the Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting, government and civil society representatives from 15 cities, municipalities, and provinces gathered to share inspiration and build the future of local open government. Explore key highlights.

Local members continue delivering their action plans filled with ambition and innovation. In our latest blog, we look at the emerging trends from the 25 members’ action plans.

LATEST OGP ACTION PLANS

This month, six new members delivered their first action plans, while El Kef (Tunisia) reaffirmed its  dedication to open government. Let’s have a look at their commitments towards open government!

• Villanueva Cortes (Honduras) delivered its first action plan, commiting to strengthening transparency and citizen participation with digital tools and developing a participatory system to strengthen sustainable waste management.
• Quezon City’s (Philippines) action plan seeks to enhance public participation through participatory budgeting and digital feedback, while strengthening and expanding civic engagement via capacity building and community centers.
• Tagbilaran’s (Philippines) action plan focuses on the creation of the Tagbilaran City People’s Council to improve the use of the city’s budget.
• Kisela Voda (North Macedonia) committed to digitizing public services to improve service delivery and fostering direct participation and civic engagement by establishing Local Communities.
• Žabljak’s (Montenegro) action plan includes commitments to improve citizen participation in public policy making, conduct a gender and e-services analysis, and strengthen whistleblower protections.
• Navarra (Spain) committed to improving civic participation in the design of public services, creating collaboration spaces and initiatives, and using plain and direct language to improve access and efficiency in public services.
• El Kef’s (Tunisia) action plan includes commitments to enhance civic digital governance by implementing digital mechanisms to oversee public funds and fight corruption with a public procurement audit system.

SHOWCASING OPEN GOVERNMENT EFFORTS

• Quezon City (Philippines) won the Seal of Good Education Governance (SGEG) prize from the Synergeia Foundation, recognizing its transparent and inclusive approach to improving education.
• Valencia (Spain) celebrated impressive progress of its open government commitments, highlighting initiatives such as the renewal of the “GVA Oberta” portal and the Citizen Audit.
• The State of Goiás (Brazil) promoted the newly established Access to Information Law (LAI). The law highlights the state’s commitment to transparency and democracy, allowing residents to have direct access to public information in a clear and efficient manner.
• Madrid (Spain) has begun implementing its action plan and Open Gov Challenge commitment to innovate public participation through the THIVIC lab, which recently hosted its first workshop to propose solutions to municipal challenges.
• Don’t miss the latest reels showcasing our members’ initiatives towards improving accessibility and inclusion in  Vanadzor (Armenia), participatory budgeting in Armavir (Armenia), empowering youth participation in South Cotabato (Philippines), fostering better maternal care standards in Banggai (Indonesia), implementing a citizen forum in West Sumbawa (Indonesia) and promoting sustainable public spending Yerevan (Armenia).

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION & CO-CREATION

• As part of its commitment to transparency, good governance and citizen participation, Yoff (Senegal) organized the 5th edition of “Face aux Yoffois” to present the 2025 municipal budget to the public and share perspectives and priorities for the coming year. The municipality also launched its annual newsletter.
• Pichincha (Ecuador) started co-creating its open government action plan through dialogue tables, engaging priority attention groups to develop inclusive projects and programs.
• Antigua (Guatemala) established the open government committee, its multi-stakeholder forum to lead the co-creation process, composed of six members of civil society and six members of the municipal government. 
• Cajamarca’s (Peru) Open Government Forum worked actively on the co-creation of its action plan and held its third session of the Open Government Multi-Stakeholder Forum to present the five preliminary commitments.

STRENGTHENING THE OPEN GOVERNMENT COMMUNITY

• 2025 Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting | Government and civil society representatives from 15 cities and municipalities gathered at the Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting. During several sessions, including the Local Leaders Roundtable, reformers exchanged innovative approaches fostering collaboration and innovation and improving participatory and resilient democracies. Explore key highlights.  
• Forum WEFE NEXUS | Tangier (Morocco) held the international Forum NEXUS this year, which promoted the SDGs and Africa’s Agenda 2063. There, local governments discussed how open government principles—transparency, accountability, and inclusive participation—can address crises related to health, climate, biodiversity, and social inequalities. 

OPEN GOV CHALLENGE

Check out the Open Gov Challenge commitments featured during the 2025 Asia Pacific Regional Meeting in Manila, Philippines. 

• Improve the Public Procurement Process (Larena, Philippines)
  The city of Larena in the Philippines has experienced delays in implementing public projects due to issues with its public procurement process. To address this, the city committed to creating an oversight team to conduct a procurement assessment and co-create an action plan with key stakeholders to drive improvements.
• Institutionalize the Baguio City People’s Council (Baguio, Philippines)
  In 2023, the city of Baguio in the Philippines established a People’s Council, a platform for civil society organizations to engage with the city government. In its latest action plan, the city committed to formalizing the role and resources of the council and conducting training to ensure that CSO representatives meaningfully participate in government decision-making.
• Improve Public Participation in the Annual Budgeting Process (Quezon City, Philippines)
  Quezon City in the Philippines has been working to improve public participation in its annual budgeting process, especially to better engage with vulnerable communities. Through this commitment, the city committed to inviting civil society representatives to help shape the new budget, as well as hosting training sessions and workshops to allow participants to better understand how the process works.
• Support Capacity Building for Civil Society to Participate in Governance (Quezon City, Philippines)
  The general public in Quezon City is not aware of the work done by its People’s Council and the limited capacity of civil society organizations (CSOs) that belong to the Council hinder their participation in city governance. To address this, the city committed to creating a program to identify the needs of CSOs and provide training to strengthen their capacity to participate, alongside a public awareness campaign about the People’s Council.