Action plan – Carthage, Tunisia, 2022 – 2023

At-a-Glance

Duration

Aug 2023

Date Submitted

30th November 2022

Foreword(s)

Definitely, the Tunisian political context is appropriate for the establishment of a local participatory democracy. Several factors confirm this. In particular to mention that the objectives of the 2014 constitution of the second republic advocate the establishment of local governance. Also, the local government code of May 2018 relating to the strengthening of local democracy and open government aims to establish new democratic relations based on 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... and the progressive construction of strong, efficient, accountable and transparent local institutions serving the common wealth. 

A commission for participatory democracy and open government is established by the code in the structuring of the municipal council to support opengov projects. Despite the legal arsenal, there remains a great disinterest of the population and more particularly the young one to get involved in public life. The recommended solutions are undoubtfully geared towards the implementation of internal mechanisms to the municipality to reach out to citizens and attract them to the municipal council meetings. Through its involvement in the Local OGP, the Municipality intends to perpetuate its participatory and collaborative governance practices and to initiate cultural transformations and lead the substantial changes necessary to bring the administration closer to the citizens, to improve accountability through the management of complaints and the strengthening of internal control and citizens vigilance, the digitization of its services and the reinforcement of its sustainable development as a source of local socio-economic stimulation.

Open Government Challenges, Opportunities and Strategic Vision

This subsection details the Open Government Strategic Vision in your local area that should guide the commitments for the action plan period.

What is the long-term vision for open government in your context and jurisdiction?

Since its election in 2019, the Participatory Democracy and Open Gov Commission of the city of Carthage has put in place an open governance action framework, based on broad consultation with citizens and civil society, of which it has established the following commitments. The commission  intends to concretize the following commitments through the OGP Local platform:

• The establishment of the culture and practices of participatory democracy in the functioning of the Municipality with permanent tools and processes of communication and active listening to the citizen, 
• Improving the quality of services offered to citizens.
• Strengthening civic culture in the community 
• Establishing a culture of accountability 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 in the Municipality
• Stimulation of the local economy in a sustainable development approach.
• Digitalization of the administration

What are the achievements in open government to date (for example, recent open government reforms)?

Since 2019, The participatory and Open Gov commission of the Municipality of Carthage has carried out a number of concrete actions as part of the implementation of its policy of participatory democracy and open governance, including:

• Participatory annual investment plan PAI
• Participation in the Touness wajhatouna cultural cycling and walking route project
• With ONSHOR Association, adoption of “www.openbaladiati.tn” application, procurement of technical assistance and programming of training for municipal officials in the field of access to information and 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....
• Communication strategy and policy
• YouthRecognizing that investing in youth means investing in a better future, OGP participating governments are creating meaningful opportunities for youth to participate in government processes. Technical ... More Participation in public affairs survey
• Participation in commitment 10 of the 4th national action plan of 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 (2021-2023) aimed at setting up innovative projects resulting from a partnership between young citizens, municipalities and structures mobilized by youth.

What are the current challenges/areas for improvement in open government that the jurisdiction wishes to tackle?

The Participatory Democracy and Open Gov Commission works to motivate and strengthen citizen engagement. Despite progress, some weaknesses represent challenges:

• Some of the city’s communication tools do not allow optimal exchanges with citizens (lack of material resources). 
• There is a perceived lack of communication by citizens, especially young people.
• The management tools of the municipal administration are mostly non-computerized, resulting in a perception of poor quality provided services. 
• The city applies all the administrative existing rules for resource management. However, control mechanisms need to be put in place to enhance the sense of transparency.
• The city faces significant socio-economic challenges  for its development, mainly pollution, unemployment, crime/lack of security, and high cost of living.

What are the medium-term open government goals that the government wants to achieve?

The medium-term objectives for the Participatory Democracy and Open Gov Commission are:

• Bringing the Municipality closer to the citizen and partners by setting up mechanisms for active listening and collaboration
• Establishing an operating framework that encourages citizens to be taken into account in decision-making
• Providing the Municipality with digital communication and management tools to improve its performance and quality of service
• Installing a culture of accountability in the Municipality
• Establishing the optimal framework for good governance of resources through audit and control
• Boosting the city economy as part of its sustainable development policy.
• Installing a culture of citizenship and commitment and raising awareness of the values of public action.

How does this action plan contribute to achieve the Open Government Strategic Vision?

This action plan is designed to provide sustainable solutions to the challenges that the Participatory Democracy and OpenGov Commission intend to face.

• The establishment of citizenship committees and young ambassadors in each neighborhood will strengthen the communication, relationship and proximity citizens-Municipality and strengthen the culture of citizenship in the community.
• The implementation of digital complaint management solutions will also improve the close relationship with citizens and  thus improve the quality of services provided.
• The adoption of an internal control and audit system will enable the city to improve its performance and increase its 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

The EdicitNet Project that the city intends to launch will be a driving force for revitalization and socio-economic development  that respects  its  sustainable development policy and preserves its archaeological resources

How does the open government strategic vision contribute to the accomplishment of the current administration’s overall policy goals?

Through its strategic vision, the Participatory Democracy and Open Gov Commission contributes to achieving the overall political objectives of the Municipality that have been formulated since its establishment, mainly:

• Strengthening proximity to the citizen
• Improving the quality of services provided
• The right management of the city’s resources and equipments
• Strengthening and dynamization of the economic environment of the city.

Engagement and Coordination in the Open Government Strategic Vision and OGP Action Plan

Please list the lead institutions responsible for the implementation of this OGP action plan.

• The Tunisian Association of Local Governance
• City Team de Carthage (EdicitNet)
• Association of residents of Carthage
• ROTARACT Carthage
• JCI Carthage
• Tunisian Association of Science and Administrative Development
• Association “Maress Ha9ek” (Exercise your right)

What kind of institutional arrangements are in place to coordinate between government agencies and departments to implement the OGP action plan?

A 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... will be set up, composed by the Participatory Democracy and Open Gov Commission, the municipal administration officials, and the main civil society associations partners.

The steering committee will meet weekly with the presence of all its members.

In addition, due to the short delay for the completionImplementers must follow through on their commitments for them to achieve impact. For each commitment, OGP’s Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) evaluates the degree to which the activities outlin... More of projects and the need for close coordination, coordination will be conducted by Scrum meeting for each project. 

Scrums take place in live conferences, on a daily basis and with 15-minutes meetings to follow the progress of operations.

These meetings will decide on the following issues:

• The participation and involvement of partners if needed.
• Monitoring the implementation of the action plan according to the established retro planning and budget
• Communication with external actors on possible projects

What kind of spaces have you used or created to enable the collaboration between government and civil society in the co-creation and implementation of this action plan? Mention both offline and online spaces.

In its 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... that led to the development of commitments, the Participatory Democracy and Open Gov Commission has implemented several initiatives based on the active involvement of citizens. Thus, the following spaces were used for the co-creation of the action plan:

• The use of the E-Participation government platform for thinking, discussion and choice of important actions to be implemented for the city
• Conducting focus groups with different targets to better understand their points of view 
• Organizing open days to receive direct feedback from citizens on various issues.
• A discussion forum is launched on the Internet in order to continue exchanging on the actions formulated in the current plan

What measures did you take to ensure diversity of representation (including vulnerable or marginalized populations) in these spaces?

Aware of the importance of the representativeness of all targets for its co-creation approach, the Participatory Democracy and Open Gov Commission has made sure to include the majority of citizens, paying particular attention to minority groups and people who are vulnerable or have difficulties in expressing themselves and  Contact the city. The Commission maintains direct and personal contacts with civil society associations (feminist associations, religious minorities, etc.). Also, for direct events, the Commission goes to the field to inform the population and invite them to participate.

In its studies and sampling, particular attention is paid to all categories according to age, region, genderOGP participating governments are bringing gender perspectives to popular policy areas, ensuring diversity in participatory processes, and specifically targeting gender gaps in policies to address gov... More, socio-professional category, etc

Who participated in these spaces?

Several civil society associations and citizens participated in these co-creation spaces. Without being able to be exhaustive, we mention the most important:

• Civil society associations: 6
• Citizens :80
• Young people 50
• Enterprises and public and para-public organizations in the region: 7

How many groups participated in these spaces?

5

How many public-facing meetings were held in the co-creation process?

20

How will government and non-governmental stakeholders continue to collaborate through the implementation of the action plan?

Through the meetings of the Steering Committee and the Scrums related to the projects,all stakeholders will continue to collaborate and express themselves directly on the implementation of the actions. Also, an open discussion forum gathering all the speakers will continue to be animated permanently to bring the important questions that need to be addressed.

Please describe the independent Monitoring Body you have identified for this plan.

An Ad Hoc Supervisory Committee will be set up to monitor the progress of the action plan and evaluate the completion of the work according to the established programme. This group will be made up of evaluation experts and independent resource persons.

Provide the contact details for the independent monitoring body.

• UAE Unité d’Administration Electronique, Saoussan Moalla, saoussan.moalla@pm.gov.tn
• ATGL Association Tunisienne de Gouvernance Locale, Aysha KArafi, aysha.karafi.hosni@gmail.com

What types of activities will you have in place to discuss progress on commitments with stakeholders?

The Steering Committee will set up all the activities necessary to carry out the actions provided in the plan. He is responsible for all decisions taken. Coordination meetings through Scrums and direct contact with the various stakeholders. The Steering Committee will monitor the evolution of achievements with performance management dashboards

How will you regularly check in on progress with implementing agencies?

The Steering Committee will focus on direct contacts and daily meetings to verify the progress made by the various stakeholders. Important issues will be discussed in the weekly plenary meetings of the Steering Committee.

How will you share the results of your monitoring efforts with the public?

The discussion forum opened specifically for the implementation of actions related to this plan will be used to communicate in a direct and transparent way the progress of the work and discuss the issues that may be raised.

The minutes of the plenary meetings will also be published on the forum.

Endorsement from Non-Governmental Stakeholders

• Aziz Jouini, President, ROTARACT
• Marwan Hfaiedh, Secretaire Général, ASSOCIATION RIVERAIN DE CARTHAGE
• Aysha Karafi, Présidente, ATGL