Slovakia Design Report 2019-2021

Slovakia’s fourth 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... focuses on open dataBy opening up data and making it sharable and reusable, governments can enable informed debate, better decision making, and the development of innovative new services. Technical specifications: Polici... and civic participation in several policy areas. A transformative 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... on beneficial ownershipDisclosing beneficial owners — those who ultimately control or profit from a business — is essential for combating corruption, stemming illicit financial flows, and fighting tax evasion. Technical... More 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 will substantially increase the amount of this information publicly available. 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... was open and inclusive with opportunities for civil society to make proposals and receive feedback from government. The multi-stakeholder forumRegular dialogue between government and civil society is a core element of OGP participation. It builds trust, promotes joint problem-solving, and empowers civil society to influence the design, imple... could be formalized, and the next plan could contain commitments tackling corruption issues that have become apparent in recent years.

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. Slovakia joined OGP in 2011. Since, Slovakia has implemented three action plans. This report evaluates the design of Slovakia’s fourth action plan.

General overview of action plan

Slovakia’s 2019-2021 action plan was adopted shortly before a new government coalition came to power in March 2020. They won the election with a strong anti-corruption focus and have expressed support for the OGP process. Slovakia has a track record of commitments on open data, open educationAccountability within the public education system is key to improving outcomes and attainment, and accountability is nearly impossible without transparent policies and opportunities for participation ..., and open science which continue into this action plan. This action plan also builds on previous measures like beneficial ownership transparency.

Similar to the previous action plan development, the co-creation process was open and inclusive, with multiple opportunities for stakeholder engagement. Despite being a key IRM recommendation, the multi-stakeholder forum was not formalized, but there were consultation meetings and working groups with equal representation of public administration and civil society. Numerous events and meetings enabled ongoing dialogue between government and civil society. The Office of the Plenipotentiary incorporated suggestions from civil society and the public where possible and provided reasons where this was not feasible. Recommendations from the latest IRM Design Report were also considered, such as having a more focused action plan with fewer commitments.

The fourth action plan has far fewer commitments than the previous one, and most of these commitments (91 percent) are relevant to OGP values of access to information or civic participation. The plan’s 11 commitments cover topics such as publishing data on the functioning of government, making more scientific and educational resources publicly available, participation in policymaking, and supporting engagement in EU structural funding programs. There is one transformative commitment about beneficial ownership that will collect and publish information on beneficial owners of all legal entities, not just those which receive public money.

Table 2. Noteworthy commitments

Recommendations

IRM recommendations aim to inform the development of the next action plan and guide implementation of the current action plan. Please refer to Section V: General Recommendations for more details on each of the below recommendations.

Table 3. Five KEY IRM Recommendations