Albania Design Report 2018-2020

The commitments in Albania’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... address public administration reforms that are relevant to the country’s ongoing European Union (EU) integration process. Notable activities include creating an 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... portal (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... 2) and encouraging citizens to use online platforms for reporting corruption (Commitment 4). Civil society was largely absent from the development of the commitments, and its contribution to the final action plan was limited. For the next action plan, Albania should adhere to OGP’s Participation and Cocreation standards, and establish a dedicated 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... for OGP. Albania could also consider including commitments to improve 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 public procurementTransparency in the procurement process can help combat corruption and waste that plagues a significant portion of public procurement budgets globally. Technical specifications: Commitments that aim t... More and of the judiciaryWhile a majority of open government reforms occur within the executive branch, OGP members are increasingly taking on commitments to increase the openness of the judicial branch. Technical specificati... in the next action plan.

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

General overview of action plan

The commitments in Albania’s fourth action plan address several public administration reforms that are relevant to the country’s EU-integration process. Some open government policy areas that are important to Albania, but not included the action plan, are judicial reform and addressing shortcomings in 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... on access to information.

The development of the fourth action plan was led by the Department of Development and Good Governance under the Prime Minister’s Office. Overall, civil society in Albania was not offered the opportunity to propose commitments or prioritize certain policy areas. The absence of a dedicated multistakeholder forum significantly limited the opportunities for civil society to engage in the OGP process and led to a lack of civil-society interest in the fourth action plan.

The four commitments in the action plan are derived from existing strategic documents on good governance and public administration reform. The commitments mainly seek to improve public finance transparency, access to public services, and the regulationGovernment reformers are developing regulations that enshrine values of transparency, participation, and accountability in government practices. Technical specifications: Act of creating or reforming ... of public administration. Notably, Commitment 4 aims to strengthen Albania’s anti-corruption bodies, create an online asset-declarations system for public officials, and encourage citizens to use online platforms for reporting corruption.

Table 2. Noteworthy commitments

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