End of Commitment Report – Improving open data management practices in Akhaltsikhe Municipality City Hall

Name of Evaluator

Tamar Gzirishvili

Email

tgzirishvili@gmail.com

Member

Akhaltsikhe, Georgia

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...

Action plan – Akhaltsikhe, Georgia, 2021 – 2021

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...

Improving 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... management practices in Akhaltsikhe Municipality City Hall.

Action

In order to improve open data management practices, Akhaltsikhe Municipality City Hall will: Identify categories of relevant and important public information that are of interest to various stakeholders, especially to the private sectorGovernments are working to open private sector practices as well — including through beneficial ownership transparency, open contracting, and regulating environmental standards. Technical specificat... More; Collect, process, and publish information in open data format on the website of the City Hall based on the defined categories.

Problem

The development of the internet and new technologies has played an important role in ensuring the openness of the governments and 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 of their activities. Innovative applications and platforms have given governments a unique opportunity to better understand the needs and requirements of their citizens. Therefore, the importance of public information and open data increases even more. Open data facilitates the development of civic monitoring mechanisms and improves public welfare and the efficient use of public resources. Akhaltsikhe is fully cognizant that the accessibility of data in public institutions, in addition to increasing the accountability of the government, can bring economic benefits. In order to improve the practices of open data collection, processing, and publication, in 2019 Akhaltsikhe Municipality, with the support of USAID GGI and with the involvement of one of the leading local CSOs (IDFI), developed and approved an open data strategy and action plan. Effective implementation of the activities envisaged by the Action Plan is a priority of Akhaltsikhe City Hall. Akhaltsikhe Municipality aims to identify categories of relevant and important information for various stakeholders, especially for the private sector, which will be collected, processed, and published in open data format on a permanent basis. Publishing information in open data format will significantly strengthen the transparency and integrity credentials of Akhaltsikhe Municipality.

1.1 What was the overall level of progress in the commitment implementation at the time of this assessment?

Complete

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The commitment was fully implemented according to the action plan with minor delays in milestone implementation. Firstly, with the support of the consultant of the development partner USAID GGI, the categories for data to be published on the official municipal webpage were identified through a participatory consultative process with the engagement of the civil sector, media, and representatives of academic institutions. consequently, the said databases were updated according to the open data standards and published on the municipal webpage.

Additional evidence:
● Interview with Ia Gogatishvili, Akhaltsikhe Municipality Mayor’s Office, 18 February 2022
● Interview with Giorgi Gabrielashvili, USAID GGI Consultant, 22 February 2022
● Interview with Giorgi Gabrielashvili, USAID GGI Consultant, 25 February 2022

Provide evidence that supports and justifies your answer:

• OGP Local Strategic Vision and Action Plan Akhaltsikhe Georgia 20212
• Akhaltsikhe Categories of databases to be published Final GEO
• OGP Local Action Plan Commitment 2 Akhaltsikhe Georgia 20212

1.2 Describe the main external or internal factors that impacted implementation of this commitment and how they were addressed (or not).

The implementation of the commitment coincided with the local government electionsImproving transparency in elections and maintaining the independence of electoral commissions is vital for promoting trust in the electoral system, preventing electoral fraud, and upholding the democr... More in October 2021, which contributed to time delays in milestone implementation. Nevertheless, the initial consultations were held in the summer of 2021, and the databases were published on Akhaltsikhe municipal webpage in December 2021.

Additionally, in the process of implementation, other challenges were identified, such as a low level of awareness regarding open data and a lack of deep understanding of its importance among government employees. Despite the fact that technically, the commitment was implemented fully, the process would be more efficient if the awareness of the top management, as well as medium-level civil servants was higher. Additionally, despite a declared political will to implement open data practices in the municipality, corresponding steps to improve the skills and capabilities of the employees were not made, which had an impact on the commitment implementation process.

In addition, the roles and responsibilities of the designated persons on the behalf of the Mayor’s Office were unclear. For example, it was unclear who was responsible for administrative and organizational support of the implementation, and who was the thematic lead in the process.

1.3 Was the commitment implemented as originally planned?

All of the commitment milestones were implemented as planned.

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The commitment was implemented exactly as envisioned in the action plan with minor delays in milestone implementation.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• OGP Local Action Plan Commitment 2 Akhaltsikhe Georgia 20213

2.1.1. – Did the government disclose more information; improve the quality of the information (new or existing); improve the value of the information; improve the channels to disclose or request information or improve accessibility to information?

Yes

Degree of result:

Major

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

The commitment is an important step forward to improving access to information in the municipality. Within the framework of the AP, up to 20 databases were updated according to open data standards and published on the website in a machine-readable format (http://www.akhaltsikhe.gov.ge/ge). 80% of the said databases were either not published prior to the implementation of the commitment, or not in line with the open data standards. Therefore, the commitment constituted a major change in open data practices in the municipality.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• OGP Local Strategic Vision and Action Plan Akhaltsikhe Georgia 20213
• Akhaltsikhe Categories of databases to be published Final GEO
• OGP-Local Action Plan Commitment 2 Akhaltsikhe Georgia 20214

2.1.2. – Did the government create new opportunities to seek feedback from citizens/enable participation inform or influence decisions; improve existing channels or spaces to seek feedback from citizens/enable participation/ inform or influence decisions; create or improve capabilities in the government or the public aimed to improve how the government seeks feedback from citizens/enables participation/ or allows for the public to inform or influence decisions?

Yes

Degree of result:

Marginal

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

In order to determine the categories of data to be published, the government-held a consultative process with relevant stakeholders, which was a step forward towards increasing public participationGiving citizens opportunities to provide input into government decision-making leads to more effective governance, improved public service delivery, and more equitable outcomes. Technical specificatio... for improving the transparency of the government. While this was a one-time effort, the government can use the precedent to conduct regular check-ins with interested stakeholders on the state of open data management and publication by the government units.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• OGP Local Strategic Vision and Action Plan Akhaltsikhe Georgia 20214
• OGP Local Action Plan Commitment 2 Akhaltsikhe Georgia 20215

2.1.3 Did the government create or improve channels, opportunities or capabilities to hold officials answerable to their actions?

Yes

Degree of result:

Marginal

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

During the implementation of the commitment the awareness of the employees regarding open data could possibly improve accountability of the public employees in the future. Additionally, publishing databases contribute to increasing transparency of the Mayor’s Office and the subordinate entities and makes them more accountable to the public. However, the practice has not been institutionalized based on internal regulations, which would constitute an important step to ensure the long-term impact of the commitment.

The assessment is made based on the interviews with the representatives of the Mayor’s Office, development partner USAID GGI, and open data experts involved in the process.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• OGP Local Strategic Vision and Action Plan Akhaltsikhe Georgia 20215
• OGP Local Action Plan Commitment 2 Akhaltsikhe Georgia 20216

2.1.4 Other Results

Not Applicable

Degree of result:

– Select –

2.2 Did the commitment address the public policy problem that it intended to address as described in the action plan?

Yes

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The 2021 OGP action plan of Akhaltsikhe municipality stipulates that improving open data practices is one of the priority directions of the local government. In order to achieve the strategic goal, the municipality developed and adopted a 2019-2022 Increasing Transparency and Accountability Strategy and Action plan and Open Data Action Plan with the support of the development partner USAID GGI. The OGP AP states that despite the declared objective to ensure access to public information, specific steps must be made. Specifically, the government must determine the categories of data to be published through a consultative process (including the participation of members of academia, media, and civil sector), and consequently, relevant data must be updated according to open data standards and published on the municipal webpage. By fully implementing the commitment, the municipality addressed the public policy gap and made a big step toward improving the openness of the government.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• AkhaltsikheIncreasing Transparency and Integrity Strategy 2019-2022

3. Provide at least one lesson or reflection relating to the implementation of this commitment. It can be the identification of key barriers to implementation, an unexpected help/hindrance, recommendations for future commitments, or if the commitment should be taken forward to the next action plan.

1) Despite the fact that Akhaltsikhe municipality declared open data as one of the priority directions, during the implementation low level of awareness of the employees regarding the issue among the top and medium-level employees posed certain challenges. In order to integrate this strategic objective as a value among all employees, it is important to raise their awareness regarding the importance of open data practices.
2) In order to ensure the efficiency of the commitment and its sustainability long-term, it is important to adopt internal regulations defining the obligation and relevant procedure for open data management, as well as designated persons coordinating open data management and publication. The Mayor’s Office already demonstrated its commitment to the issue by ensuring the continuity of the commitment after a change in management as a result of the elections in October 2021. Formalizing the procedure for open data management will further ensure the continuity of the practice.
3) It is important to support the development of relevant skills of the employees of the Mayor’s Office and its subordinate entities with regard to open data in order to ensure that all employees contribute to maintaining open data relevant to their work, even if data management is not under direct responsibility.
4) Considering that the commitment aims at improving access to information, it is important that citizens learn about the process and use the published databases. For this purpose, conducting a wide awareness-raising campaign is recommended. During the process, only those directly involved learned about newly published data, and no further steps were made to popularize the progress. Additionally, the Mayor’s Office set an important precedent by soliciting input from the relevant stakeholders at the initial stage of the commitment implementation, which could be further continued as a regular practice to reflect changing needs with regard to data publication.