Country Commitments

Colombia

20 September 2011
Commitments Delivered
Download the Action Plan

The Government of Colombia has placed a special interest in becoming part of the Open Government Partnership-OGP- initiative, since its involvement allows it to develop further several initiatives that are already in place, in areas such as: transparency, social control, participation, access to information and the fight against corruption. In particular, the current government of President Juan Manuel Santos has shown a strong commitment with the principles of good government which are closely linked to the OGP´s principles. Good government as we see it involves:  efficacy, efficiency, transparency, and accountability.

The above is reflected in the National Development Plan 2010-2014, where Colombia’s government has initiated a series of actions in issues such as the modernization of public administration, access and availability of government information, transparency, the development of new technologies and innovation, accountability, and the creation of tools to promote civil society participation.

It is in this context where we have started to envision a strong participation in the Open Government Partnership. The Action Plan presented in this document is based on the principles of good government, and aims to improve services provided by public agencies, encourage civil participation, promote control in the execution of public policy, and ensure that regional agencies replicate actions taken by the central agencies.  

For the definition of the Action Plan for the Open Government Partnership, an inter-institutional follow-up committee, coordinated by the Presidential Advisor for Good Government and Administrative Efficiency, was created. The Committee involved the participation of the Transparency Secretariat of the Office of the President, the e-Government Program of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies (“ICT Ministry”), the National Planning Department (DNP) and the Ministry of Government.

The Committee also identified opportunities to socialize the Action Plan and engage society in the construction of the document through an online forum and twitter, that raised questions on topics such as: public information of general interest, the best mechanisms to encourage participation, actions Government agencies should implement to improve the quality of their services, and actions in which the community would be willing to participate. In addition to the above, the Committee organized a participatory workshop with civil society organizations, where they actively commented on the Action Plan, gave suggestions and allowed us to enrich the initial version of the document.  

The following paragraphs describe the resulting Action Plan of the Government of Colombia for the Open Government Partnership. This Action Plan includes observations and recommendations from the civil society. Nonetheless, Colombia expects, during the whole process of Open Government, to enrich this plan with concrete proposals from the society and also engage different NGOs that can support the commitments.

As mentioned in the Introduction, since 2012, Colombia has focused its efforts in open government on the basis of the principles of good government. The main initiatives taken by the Colombian Government in recent years are:

E-Government. Colombia views e-government as an effective means to build a more efficient, transparent and participatory government where high quality services are provided, through the use of ICT. The successful implementation of the e-government strategy has allowed Colombia to position itself as one of the leading countries in Latin America in e-Government[1]. The strategy developed is citizen-centered and has been implemented in five phases: information, interaction, transaction, transformation and e-democracy. Some important accomplishments of it have been: the provision of procedures and services through electronic media, the creation of scenarios for participation, and the improvement of the quality of information in public agencies.

Assessment of Government targets and public policy.Colombia has developed a national system for performance and results assessment and for the evaluation of public policy -Sinergia-. The system allows the government to ensure accountability of its actions, follow-up its targets and evaluate public policy. With regard to mechanisms to follow-up, the government has developed a system called SISMEG which provides results and achievements of the different sectors, departments and programs in accordance to fixed targets. As per the evaluation of policy, a system called SISDEVAL allows the civil society to access information on the impact and new challenges of the country's priority policies. All of the information mentioned above can be found on the following website: www.sinergia.dnp.gov.co/portaldnp.

Accountability.Since April 2010, Colombia has strengthened its policy for accountability, setting guidelines for the use of a single methodology and ensuring institutional coordination and civic participation (This can be found in the document CONPES 3654). A commission responsible for leading the implementation of this policy, composed of various agencies, was created.

Participation and access to public information. On one hand, the Government presented a draft statute for the promotion and protection of civil participation. On the other hand, the civil society presented a law on access to national public information, which proposes the regulation of rights of access to public information, the exceptions to the publicity of information, and the role of a regulatory organization in public information.

Social control.The Government has developed a strategy for social control through “Visible Audits”, which seek to provide local follow-up to the investment of royalty funds, promoting good practices through forums with the beneficiary communities and actors involved in execution.

The government of President Santos discussed with civil society nationwide the contents of the Development Plan 2010-2014- “Prosperidad para Todos”. This plan contains priority issues for the Government which is related to OGP such as: results-oriented effective public management, allocation of resources, the fight against corruption, civil participation, reorganization of state agencies, the strengthening of the relationship with civil society and policies for efficiency, among others. In this context, some new initiatives have been developed:

The fight against corruption. The Government promoted the issue of the Anticorruption Statute in Congress, (now Law 1474/2011), introducing measures which encourage honest action and strengthen civil participation, through the creation of a National Citizens Commission (Comisión Nacional Ciudadana). The Commission´s function is to follow-up on evaluation and on recommendations for policies, plans and programs implemented in the fight against corruption. The statute also gave powers to the President to modify and suppress procedures in public agencies, in order to guarantee transparency and administrative efficiency.

Transparency Secretariat.The Transparency Secretariat was created as part of the Office of the President, as an agency responsible for advising the Government on the definition and implementation of comprehensive policy for the fight against corruption. This policy is being followed up through the recently created National Moralization Commission (Comisión Nacional de Moralización), composed of representatives of the highest level of the State, such as: the President of the Republic, the General Prosecutor, the National Comptroller , the National Auditor, the President of the Senate and the President of the Chamber of Representatives, the General Attorney, the President of the Supreme Court of Justice, the President of the Council of State, the Ombudsman, and agencies in the Executive branch.

The National Civil Commission for the Fight against Corruption: In December 2011, the National Civil Commission was installed for the fight against corruption. The Commission is composed by leading representatives of industry associations, the academic sector, the media, workers, and NGOs related to issues of transparency. The Commission is very important since it oversees the commitments of all civil society in the fight against corruption.

Mechanisms of participation and civic control: A number of instruments have been developed so that civil society can play an active role in the construction of an open and participatory government. These include:

  • The Prosperity Agreements[2], where the President of Colombia meets with local governments and communities to agree upon the local development plans.
  • The economic transparency site (www.pte.gov.co), where the public can access the information of budget execution of the different agencies.
  • The civil servants site (www.sirvomipais.gov.co), where civil servants can access information tailored to them and can raise issues and propose ideas for a more efficient government.
  • The regional site for majors and governors (www.portalterritorial.gov.co), where they can find tailored information, access services and raise important issues. In the site, majors and governors can find complete information with regard to the programs and projects that they can develop with central agencies.
  • The open data portal (www.datos.gov.co), where general government data can be accessed by citizens, educational institutions and businesses.

In each of the above, the community, public servants and regional governments can have direct communication with central government entities, allowing greater interaction, and obtaining first-hand knowledge of the actions of the National Government. They can also inquire about the destination of resources, and can obtain reliable information for decision making, incorporate technology as an instrument for best practices, and contribute with creative and novel solutions for the development and implementation of public policy.

The Colombian Government site.The site (www.gobiernoenlinea.gov.co) is an integrated information, services and procedures access point of the different government agencies. This platform offers services such as virtual advice to the public (through a chat) and a citizen contact center (free phone nationwide). Additionally, this initiative has led the development of other systems and sites for public administration, such as the electronic system for public contracting -SECOP-, whose objective is to promote transparency and efficiency in public procurement, through the use of technologies, for the benefit for business, agencies, and the public in general.

Elimination of bureaucratic procedures. A strategy was implemented for the rationalization of bureaucratic procedures through an open and participatory process, which included electronic media, working teams and focal groups, among others. Public entities as well as the citizens gave opinions about useless procedures, procedures that could be automatized and procedures that generated incentives for corruption. As a result of these, in January 2012, Decree 19 of 2012 was issued, eliminating procedures which affected the entire public, business, and State agencies.

Urna de Cristal. In September 2010 the Government set up the “Urna de Cristal”, a multichannel mechanism for civic participation (www.urnadecristal.gov.co). This facility is used by the public to: i) monitor the results and progress of government initiatives; ii) share their concerns and proposals; and iii) interact and learn about state actions, in order to create a more transparent and participatory Government.

[1]Colombia is a leader in electronic services and electronic participation in Latin America and the Caribbean (ranked 10 and 6 respectively in the world) and 43rd in the world for electronic government  (second in Latin America) in the most recent United Nations Global Report (2012)

[2]The Prosperity Agreements are dialogue mechanisms between the Government and the citizens, which take place in any Colombian region. Their purpose is to achieve social cohesion and governance.