Burkina Faso Design Report 2017-2019
- Action Plan: Burkina Faso Action Plan 2017-2019
- Report Publication Year: 2020
Burkina Faso seeks to increase civic participation, foster local governance, and fight corruption following a period of political transition. Improvements can be made to 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... design in terms of traceability and diagnosis of problems. Ensuring that information on the OGP process in the country is available to the public is highly encouraged.
| Table 1. At a glance
Participating since: 2016 Action plan development Action plan design Action plan implementation |
The Open Government PartnershipThe Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving government transparency, ensuring opportunities for citizen participation in public matters, and strengthen... More (OGP) is a global partnership that brings together government reformers and civil society leaders to create action plans that make governments more inclusive, responsive, and accountable. The Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM)The Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) is OGP’s accountability arm and the main means of tracking progress in participating countries. The IRM provides independent, evidence-based, and objective ... monitors all action plans to ensure governments follow through on commitments. Burkina Faso joined OGP in 2016. This report evaluates the design of Burkina Faso’s first plan, the 2017−2019 action plan.
General overview of action plan
The action plan matches the open government context in Burkina Faso. Three commitments seek to increase access to information through law, two address civic participation on local budgetary issues, and four increase accountability and reduce corruption in government practices.
The formation of decision-making and technical bodies encouraged discussions among stakeholders during action plan development. However, an online document repositoryAccess to relevant information is essential for enabling participation and ensuring accountability throughout the OGP process. An OGP repository is an online centralized website, webpage, platform or ... and improvements in convening meetings are still needed.
The co-creation approach allowed inclusionOGP participating governments are working to create governments that truly serve all people. Commitments in this area may address persons with disabilities, women and girls, lesbian, gay, bisexual, tr... More of commitments by civil society organizations (CSOs). Yet the scope of the co-creation processCollaboration between government, civil society and other stakeholders (e.g., citizens, academics, private sector) is at the heart of the OGP process. Participating governments must ensure that a dive... may have been restricted by budgetary considerations and inconsistent meetings with stakeholders.
Some commitments are structured to encourage local governance through greater financial autonomy and citizen involvement in budgetary processes. One commitment seeks to achieve final implementation of a law recently approved that governs access to information.
Table 2. Commitments to watch
| Commitment description | Moving forward |
| 1. Sign protocols of operations to perform in the 21 areas where competences shall be transferred to municipalities (11) and regions (10) | Increasing local governance, fostering decentralization, and directly impacting citizens’ lives will remain key. This commitment could link the effort to formalize protocols to a participatory budget cycle and public accountabilityAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, public accountability occurs when ”rules, regulations, and mechanisms in place call upon government actors to justify their actions, act upon criticisms ... More mechanism at the local level. Doing so would make the commitment relevant to OGP values and increase its ambitionAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, OGP commitments should “stretch government practice beyond its current baseline with respect to key areas of open government.” Ambition captures the po.... |
| 10. Ensure the right to the access public information and administrative documents for all citizens. | Effectively address the barriers government has faced in implementing the law of access to information so the law enters into force and the National Authority for Access to Public Information (ANAIP) can start working. |
Recommendations
The IRM recommendations aim to inform the development of the next action plan and guide implementation of the current action plan.
Table 3. Five KEY IRM Recommendations
| Improve commitment design so that commitment goals, activities, and expected results are quantifiable, specific, relevant, consistent, strategic, and effectively address the source of problems. |
| Ensure the executive and the legislative branches work together to approve key supplementary legislationCreating and passing legislation is one of the most effective ways of ensuring open government reforms have long-lasting effects on government practices. Technical specifications: Act of creating or r..., particularly Law No. 051-2015 / CNT, granting right of access to public information and administrative documents. |
| Ensure that OGP decision-making and technical bodies in Burkina Faso build a website reporting on the OGP process. |
| Consider including a commitment that supports public involvement in approving a draft constitution via referendum. |
| Ensure that government agencies, led by the National Council for the Modernization of Administration and Good Governance, account for budget considerations when developing the action plan and coordinate with implementing agencies to guarantee availability of funds. |
* OGP’s Participation & Co-creation Standards were updated in 2016 to support participation and co-creation throughout all stages of the OGP cycle. The Participation & Co-creation Standards outline “basic requirements” which all OGP member countries are expected to meet, and “advanced steps” which, although not obliged to meet, countries will be supported and encouraged to do so. In this line, 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... resolved in 2017 that if a government does not meet the IAP “involve” requirement during development, or “inform” during implementation of the NAP, as assessed by the IRM, it will be considered to have acted contrary to OGP Process.
Given that guidance materials were not yet published during the rollout period of this new policy, countries developing 2017-2019 action plans were given a one action plan cycle grace period. Therefore, Burkina Faso is not considered to have acted against the OGP process. For more information visit Section 6 of the OGP Handbook – Rules and Guidance for Participants (https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/OGP_Handbook-Rules-Guidance-for-Participants_20190313.pdf).
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