OGP Consultation Process Under Way in Costa Rica

In February 12 and 13 Costa Rica’s Digital Government Secretariat conducted outreach activities aimed at disseminating the Open Government Partnership’s (OGP) mission among civil society and government officials.  The Secretariat also presented its draft action planAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen... to the public. Costa Rica joined OGP in January 2012 and is planning to present its first action plan in April.

From the Civil Society Coordination (CSC) we witnessed how open government champions in the country’s Digital Government Secretariat successfully engaged public officials from other agencies, civil society, academia and the private sector in the presentation of their first action plan draft which will be available online for public consultation until March 8. The draft presented on February 13 contains 19 commitments which are mainly focused on the improvement of service delivery and publication of government data. The public’s suggestions and comments were recorded by the organizers. 

• Pablo Duncan from Costa Rica Integra, TransparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More International’s chapter in the country, suggested that commitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action... to the action plan should be expressed at the presidential level to elevate OGP’s profile.
• Raul Silesky from Instituto de Prensa y Libertad de Expresión – IPLEX recommended the incorporation of commitments related to the Ministry of Education’s work.
• The consultation and dissemination process was enhanced by the participation of colleagues from Mexico’s OGP Technical Secretariat (Haydeé Pérez from Fundar and Gabriela Segovia from the Federal Access to Information and Data Protection Institute – IFAI) and Peru’s Grupo de Trabajo (Kela León from the Peruvian Press Council and Delila Arraga from the Presidency of the Council of Ministers).
• Peruvian and Mexican representatives shared the lessons learned from the successful government-civil society partnership in both countries and held peer-to-peer meetings with Costa Rican civil society representatives and government officials.
• Additionally, Chilean researcher Álvaro Ramírez Alujas discussed the concept of open government and provided insight on consultation processes all over the region. These activities were product of a joint effort by the government of Costa Rica, OGP’s Networking Mechanism and the Civil Society Coordination team that began with an informal conversation in January during the Regional OGP event in Chile. 

This experience showed us how different OGP actors can successfully engage with stakeholders at the country level to support and boost the local dynamic. Additionally, Mexico’s IFAI provided support for these events. Inspired by the Peruvian and Mexican experience, Costa Rica will create a follow-up commission integrated by government agencies and civil society representatives. This commission will be in charge of drafting the action plan and monitoring its implementation. The Costar Rican government vowed to respond to comments and suggestions from March 11 to the 19. A public event to present the country’s enhanced action plan will be held in San José in March 20 and in April it will be presented during the Steering CommitteeThe Steering Committee is OGP’s executive decision-making body. Its role is to develop, promote and safeguard OGP’s values, principles and interests; establish OGP’s core ideas, policies, and ru... meeting in London.