Buenos Aires Design Report 2018-2020
- Action Plan: Buenos Aires Action Plan 2018-2020
- Dates Under Review: 2018-2020
- Report Publication Year: 2021
- Researcher: Maria Soledad Gattoni
The City of Buenos Aires led a collaborative 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... engaging new stakeholders into thematic working groups, and hosting deliberative forums with citizens. This resulted in an ambitious 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... that includes commitments in five government areas: open State; human-scale city; 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 equality; mobility and transportation; and housing. Pending issues are integrating accountability and broadening the thematic scope to include concerns identified during the consultation process, such as reducing geographic inequality in housing and 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 ....
| Table 1. At a glance
Member since: 2016 Action plan under review: 2018 – 2020 Type of report: Design report Number of commitments: 14 Action plan development Is there a 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...? Yes Level of public influence: Collaborate Acted contrary to OGP process: No Action plan design Commitments relevant to OGP values 14 (100%) Transformative commitments: 3 (21%) Potentially starred: 3 (21%) Action plan implementation Starred commitments: N/A Completed commitments: N/A Commitments with major DIOG: N/A Commitments with outstanding DIOG: N/A *DIOG: Did it Open Government |
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. Buenos Aires joined OGP in 2016. Since, Buenos Aires has implemented two action plans. This report evaluates the design of Buenos Aires’s second action plan.
General overview of action plan
Buenos Aires’s second action plan includes 14 commitments in 5 thematic areas. In addition to following up on open State commitments that had been included in the first plan, the second plan includes commitments on gender equality, housing, human-scale city, and mobility and transportation.
The action plan areas reflect the depth, scope and 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... of the co-creation process, reflecting the exchange and dialogue with citizens. The process was strengthened by engaging additional stakeholders in the thematic working groups and hosting deliberative forums.
Finally, due to a lack of engagement of organizations with thematic expertise (except for gender and housing), several commitments were mostly limited to capacity buildingEnhancing the skills, abilities, and processes of public servants, civil society, and citizens is essential to achieving long-lasting results in opening government. Technical specifications: Set of ac... and standardization, prioritizing internal activities for the Government and data publication, rather than more ambitious commitments focused on other principles such as citizen participationAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, citizen participation occurs when “governments seek to mobilize citizens to engage in public debate, provide input, and make contributions that lead to m... More and accountability.
Other issues not addressed during the co-creation process that were mentioned in the interviews applied to civil society organizations were timely responses to access to information requests and the 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 to address health and education gaps.
Table 2. Noteworthy commitments
| 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... description | Moving forward | Status at the end of the implementation cycle |
| Commitment 2.
Data openness and reuse |
Ensure a) private stakeholder participation; b) open databases in priority themes, in accordance with the governance committee; c) regularly and automatically database updates; and d) implementation of feedback mechanisms | Note: this will be assessed at the end of the implementation cycle |
| Commitment 4.
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 participation in the Legislature |
Improve functionality and accessibility of information browsers; hold participatory processes to identify relevant information to publish in the portal; establish online participatory mechanisms and monitoring systems. | Note: this will be assessed at the end of the implementation cycle |
| Commitment 5.
Open 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... |
Specify how many plans will be implemented, which thematic areas will be addressed, and what civil society organizations will participate. Specify actions to be implemented by the Innovation Lab and how it will support more closeness between the citizenry and the judiciary.
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Note: this will be assessed at the end of the implementation cycle |
| Commitment 10.
Open gender budget |
Convene a working group for CSOs and government representatives to identify relevant information to disclose, as well as the adequate format to adopt. For future action plans, it is important to prioritize commitments beyond specific gender programs and promote mainstreaming the gender perspective into the Government of Buenos Aires’s public policies, such as the gender indicator system developed by the General Secretariat with support from UN Women and initiatives that promote monitoring and accountability. | Note: this will be assessed at the end of the implementation cycle |
| Commitment 11. Integrated sex education | Specify which schools will participate in the consultation actions; prioritize citizen participation in this commitment, promoting the creation of monitoring forums to assess challenges and opportunities to implement integrated sex education, engaging not only CSCO and government representatives, but also teachers and staff of schools from different geographic zones, religions and socioeconomic sectors of the City of Buenos Aires.
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Note: this will be assessed at the end of the implementation cycle |
| Commitment 14.
Housing: indicator systems |
Adjust the viewing format and communication strategies to different audiences; clarify the objectives of the observatory and prioritize publication of data that are relevant to vulnerable groups; prioritize participatory entities with stakeholders specializing in housing and development of report and monitoring mechanisms. | Note: this will be assessed at the end of the implementation cycle |
Recommendations
The IRM key recommendations are prepared in the IRM Design Report. They 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 the efficiency of the co-creation process. Strengthen the commitment wording and establish formal responsibilities for the Governance Committee.
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| Guarantee participation of decision-makers and engagement of thematic organizations in the co-creation process. Invite frontline officers from the beginning and prioritize the inclusion of local and grassroots organizations in the co-creation process. |
| Secure adequate implementation of the right to access to information. Strengthen response procedures to access to information requests and secure the effective implementation of the Law of Access to Information. |
| Strengthen citizen participation and accountability. Prioritize commitments focused on creating new spaces for dialogue with the citizenry about relevant issues, improving feedback between the citizenry and public representatives.
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| Broaden commitments included in the action plan in response to the priorities of non-government stakeholders that are yet to be addressed. Examples are inequality and other high-impact issues that affect the City of Buenos Aires. |
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