Colombia Implementation Report 2017-2019
- Action Plan: Colombia Action Plan 2017-2019
- Dates Under Review: 2017-2019
- Report Publication Year: 2021
Colombia had a good performance in the fulfillment of the commitments of the third 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.... Considerable improvements were made in the provision and dissemination of information with the creation of new systems and with the organization of existing information. Most of the subnational governments fulfilled their commitments satisfactorily.
| Table 1. At a Glance
Member since: 2011 Action plan under review: 2017-2019 Type of report: Implementation Number of commitments: 26 Action Plan Development Is there a multistakeholder forum?: Yes Level of public influence: Consultation Acted contrary to OGP process: No Action Plan Design Commitments that are relevant to OGP values: 26 (100%) Transformative commitments: 2 (8%) Potentially starred commitments: 2 (8%) Action Plan Implementation Starred commitments: 1 Completed commitments: 11 Commitments with significant DIOG*: 7 Commitments with exceptional DIOG*: 3 Level of public influence: Inform Acted contrary to OGP process: No *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. Colombia joined OGP in 2011. Since then, Colombia has implemented three action plans. This report evaluates the implementation of Colombia’s third action plan.
General overview of the action plan
Colombia completed eleven commitments, evidencing high levels of 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. Three of them brought about important changes in government openness. Likewise, five of the seven local commitments of this action plan were completed, and brought about an exceptional change in government practice in the Government of Antioquia. Civil society did not participate in the action plan’s implementation but they were involved in the visibility and dissemination of the results.
During the implementation process of the third action plan, Colombia improved the dissemination of information of relevant issues within the national context such as the commitments resulting from the Peace Agreement, the use of alternative conflict resolution mechanisms, and the monitoring of the civil service. Likewise, Colombia managed to promote 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 in social oversight exercises for projects implemented in prioritized municipalities for post-conflict initiatives.
Starred commitments must meet several criteria:
- In the Design Report, the 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... is rated as verifiable, relevant to OGP values, and has a “transformative” potential impact.
- The IRM Implementation Report rated the commitment implementation as substantial or completed.
Based on these criteria, Colombia’s action plan has one starred commitment:
Commitment XXI: Design and implement Public Policy of Open Government Departmental (Departmental government of Nariño)
Table 2. Noteworthy Commitments
| Commitment Description | Status at the end of the implementation cycle |
| 5: Strengthening of the Intersectoral Committee for Environmental Democracy (MIDA) | The implementation of this commitment was limited. The MIDA was created and formalized through a resolution by the Environment and Sustainable Development Ministry and did not accomplish concrete actions defined within a work plan, as planned in the commitment. |
| 16. Building trust and Strengthening 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 and accountability in the Council of State | The Council of State fulfilled this commitment substantially since it generated new information on best practices for visitor registration, standardized disclosure processes, and promoted accountability in the Judicial Branch. |
| 19: Design a methodology that focuses and prioritizes the preventive surveillance function of the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation. | The implementation of this commitment was limited. The actions developed during its implementation account for a review and consolidation of the internal systems of the Office of the Attorney General but did not generate a clear methodology for preventive surveillance. |
| 21. Design and implement the Departmental Open Government public policy (Departmental government of Nariño) | The Departmental government of Nariño completed the planning and design process of their Open Government local public policy, resulting in the adoption of the first public policy on this issue in Colombia. |
| 22: Open and publish selected information together with the organized citizenry, in 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... format (Mayor of Cali). | This commitment was completed and resulted in the implementation of different exercises with citizens to disseminate information and open data, in an organized and coordinated manner. |
Five Key IRM 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 the implementation of the current action plan. In the Colombia Design Report (2017- 2019), the IRM recommended the following:
| 1. Institutionally strengthen the OGP process |
| 2. Deepen 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... and commitment support to raise the level of public influence. |
| 3. Consider including fewer commitments but with greater 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... |
| 4. Provide support to participating entities |
| 5. Disseminate and publicize Colombia’s participation in OGP before interested stakeholders and citizens to raise the ambition of the action plans. |
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