Ecuador Design Report 2019-2021

The design of Ecuador’s 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... resulted in significant lessons learned, and overall progress in terms of open government. Through collaborative work at the 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..., 10 commitments were designed, eight of which are promising with regards to prevention and elimination of gender-based violenceReforms that combat gender-based violence are essential for fostering an inclusive society and government that respects human rights and promotes gender equality. Technical specifications: Commitments... More, 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 public contracting, and environmental democracy. Moving forward, Ecuador would benefit from increasing the representativeness of the multi-stakeholder forum, strengthening participation in the monitoring of the government’s anti-corruption efforts, updating the Access to Public Information Act and developing a transition strategy for the general 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 of 2021.

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. Ecuador joined OGP in 2018. This report evaluates the development and design of Ecuador’s first action plan (2019-2021)

General overview of action plan

Ecuador developed its first action plan in 2018 in an environment of openness and trust, partly driven by the progress the country has made in terms of civil liberties and civic space, as well as the government’s provisions that fostered public policies to guarantee access to information, accountability, anti-corruption, and freedom of expressionJournalists and activists are critical intermediaries connecting public officials with citizens and serving as government watchdogs, and their rights and safety need to be protected. Technical specifi... More. However, key challenges remain, including updating the Transparency and Access to Public Information Act of 2004. The country ranks below the regional average in international indexes of budget transparency, right to informationThe legal right to request information from the government allows the public to follow government decision-making, participate in ensuring better decisions, and hold the government accountable. Techni..., 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... (apart from the progress made in the latter). The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the need to strengthen social auditing of public expenditures and transparency in areas like public contracting.

Thus, Ecuador’s first action plan represents a significant moment. The process was led by the Open Government Directorate of the Presidency’s Public Administration Sub secretariat. To this end, a Core Group with representatives from civil society, academia, and the public sectors was created, based on a previously made stakeholder map. The forum worked in six sequential steps, from the reception of proposals (which increased participation channels through territorial committees and a web portal) and their selection to the identification of responsible parties and accountability of the tasks. As a result of this first promising process, Ecuador took on 10 commitments organized in four thematic areas: open data, 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... for transparency, citizen empowerment, and public innovation (aligned with the 2030 Agenda and the National Development Plan). These commitments, which engage nine State entities in their implementation, involved a formal and public declaration of the stakeholders, and addressed key thematic areas, such as prevention and elimination of gender-based violence, and access to environmental information. However, 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... design could improve by including more specific, result-oriented milestones, as well as by incorporating an accountability element and by engaging the Legislature and 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....

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. Please refer to Section V: General Recommendations for more details on each of the below recommendations.

Table 3. Five KEY IRM Recommendations