End of Commitment Report – Technology for the management and construction of citizen security and coexistence, facilitating and promoting mechanisms for access to justice from District and local spaces.

Name of Evaluator

Javier Urrea – Gobierna Bien

Email

[email protected]

Member Name

Bogotá, Colombia

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... Title

Action plan – Bogotá, Colombia, 2021 – 2023

Commitment

Technology for the management and construction of citizen security and coexistence, facilitating and promoting mechanisms for access to justiceAccessible justice systems – both formal and informal – ensure that individuals and communities with legal needs know where to go for help, obtain the help they need, and move through a system tha... More from District and local spaces.

Title

Technology for the management and construction of citizen security and coexistence, facilitating and promoting mechanisms for access to justiceTo address barriers that prevent citizens from having their justice needs met, OGP participating governments are working to expand transparency, accountability, and inclusion into all systems of justi... from District and local spaces.

Action

This commitment requires the generation and consolidation of channels for 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 through a broad strategy of technological development and use that enables citizen participation for the management and improvement of security and coexistence, as well as mechanisms for access to justice in the city of Bogota. The above, through the creation of a mobile application for the citizens of the Capital District, seeks to promote the co-responsibility and agency of citizens in the management of security in the territories, while supporting decision-making and promoting the improvement of conditions and perception of security and coexistence in the communities. The following purposes can be achieved through the app: To guide and inform citizens about the procedures they can carry out in regard to security institutions and the services they offer, as well as to obtain relevant information for decision-making. Strengthen and promote virtual mechanisms for access to justice in Bogota through the implementation of processes that optimize time and efficiency in the attention to citizens, with transparent and available information, encouraging the use of non-face-to-face channels. General objective: Design and implement a mobile application that allows citizens to have a dialogue and active listening experience with the Secretary’s Office and enables the administration to access channels to inform and be accountable for its management.

Problem

The coexistence and security of the Capital District is constantly affected by different situations of public disorder that exist, such as coexistence conflicts, social intolerance, the commission of crime, and behaviors contrary to citizen harmony. These are all situations that lead citizens to turn to the authorities to demand the protection of their fundamental rights. Security and coexistence are planned at different levels: national, regional, district, and local, and despite the existence of numerous inter-institutional planning spaces, citizen participation in decision-making on security and coexistence is limited. Likewise, a generalized lack of trust on the part of citizens towards the institutions in charge of security and coexistence in Bogota is also identified. To overcome the distance with citizens and their distrust of public institutions, we propose to develop a technological tool that creates a direct channel of communication and participatory interaction so that the community can contribute to the management of security and coexistence, in direct articulation with the institutions in charge.

1.1 What was the overall level of progress in the commitment implementation at the time of this assessment?

limited

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The commitment reached a limited-to-substantial level of implementation. While conceptual definition and preliminary design of the citizen mobile application were completed, including visualization tools, structured content, and integration of Justice Houses’ services with georeferenced data layers, full development and large-scale operation were not achieved. Initial co-creation and design advanced, but broad socialization, dissemination, and citizen adoption lagged, limiting impact. The initiative laid key foundations for technological innovation in managing security and coexistence, showing the potential of digital channels to report incidents, access regulatory information from the National Code of Security and Coexistence, and guide procedures. However, pilot testing and technological consolidation lacked the necessary robustness, leaving full implementation incomplete.

Provide evidence that supports and justifies your answer:

Evidence: Commitment advancement

1.2 Describe the main external or internal factors that impacted implementation of this commitment and how they were addressed (or not).

One of the main external factors affecting execution was the technical and operational complexity associated with developing mobile applications in a public security environment. Requirements for interoperability with other district systems, the need to safeguard citizens’ sensitive information, and cybersecurity standards extended design and validation timelines. In addition, budgetary constraints resulting from the prioritization of resources for addressing security emergencies in Bogotá also negatively impacted the project’s implementation, delaying the allocation of specialized technical teams.

Internally, coordination challenges were evident between the Secretariat of Security and other involved entities, which delayed the integration of updated information from the Justice Houses and citizen procedures into the platform.

Despite these challenges, the Secretariat of Security promoted some co-creation spaces with social organizations and oversight bodies, which were useful for validating content and basic functionalities of the application. However, the scope of these spaces was limited compared to expectations, and it was not possible to scale them into a broader participation process that would ensure community ownership of the application.

1.3 Was the commitment implemented as originally planned?

A few of the commitment milestones were implemented as planned

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The commitment was not fully implemented as initially planned. Although technical documents, data visualization proposals, and content for the app were designed, the application was never fully developed or functional in citizen practice. Some milestones—such as updating georeferenced information on Justice Houses, designing regulatory content from the National Code of Security and Coexistence, and producing prototypes for procedure visualization—were carried out, but remained in the design and initial testing phase without reaching large-scale deployment.

Consequently, it can be stated that the commitment was only partially executed, with achievements in conceptual design, planning, and early pilots, but without completing the operational phase that would ensure its direct impact on citizens.

Provide evidence for your answer:

Evidence: IT Security Feedback

2.1.1. – Did the government disclose more information; improve the quality of the information (new or existing); improve the value of the information; improve the channels to disclose or request information or improve accessibility to information?

Yes

Degree of result:

Marginal

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

The commitment contributed marginal improvements in the generation of public information on security and coexistence by structuring regulatory content, procedures, and georeferenced data for 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 in a digital application. Although the tool was not consolidated in its final phase, the progress achieved represented a significant effort to increase citizens’ access to relevant information. These processes laid the groundwork for a more transparent information system, although their real impact was limited by the lack of large-scale deployment.

Provide evidence for your answer:

Evidence: Strategic Plan for Information Technologies PETI 

2.1.2. – Did the government create new opportunities to seek feedback from citizens/enable participation inform or influence decisions; improve existing channels or spaces to seek feedback from citizens/enable participation/ inform or influence decisions; create or improve capabilities in the government or the public aimed to improve how the government seeks feedback from citizens/enables participation/ or allows for the public to inform or influence decisions?

Yes

Degree of result:

Marginal

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

The co-creation of the application and the citizen validation spaces provided innovative opportunities for the community to participate in the tool’s design. These instances made it possible to gather citizen perceptions on useful functionalities and on priority needs in security and coexistence. However, the scale of these spaces was smaller than expected, which reduced the participatory scope of the commitment.

In practical terms, new opportunities were opened, but they were not consolidated as permanent participation mechanisms, resulting in a degree of implementation ranging from marginal to significant.

Provide evidence for your answer:

Evidence: Policy-ICT-Security

2.1.3 Did the government create or improve channels, opportunities or capabilities to hold officials answerable to their actions?

Yes

Degree of result:

Did not change

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

The commitment aimed for the application to become a channel for citizen monitoring of security management, but this purpose was not fully realized since the tool was never deployed.

Although prototypes were designed to receive citizen reports of incidents and events, the absence of a functional and stable system limited the possibility of exercising real-time social oversight. Thus, while conceptual progress was made toward a model of citizen co-responsibility, it was not effectively materialized, resulting in a limited degree of implementation.

Provide evidence for your answer:

Evidence: Strategic Plan for Information Technologies PETI 

2.1.4 Other Results

Yes

Degree of result:

Marginal

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

An additional result, although not contemplated in the initial design, was the generation of technical inputs and lessons learned that may serve future projects on citizen security innovation. The experience left installed capacities within the Secretariat and highlighted the importance of creating digital channels for direct dialogue between citizens and institutions, which constitutes a legacy for future OGP action plans in Bogotá.

Provide evidence for your answer:

Evidence: Technology for the management and citizen-led construction of security and coexistence, facilitating and promoting mechanisms for access to justice from district and local spaces.
Evidence: Strategic Plan for Information Technologies PETI 

2.2 Did the commitment address the public policy problem that it intended to address as described in the action plan?

Yes

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The commitment only partially addressed the identified problem: it sought to overcome citizens’ distrust toward security institutions and to expand opportunities for participation in coexistence management. Although the proposal advanced in the design of a technological tool for this purpose, the absence of a fully operational application prevented the transformation of the relationship between citizens and institutions in the field of security.

The problem was addressed conceptually, and relevant foundations were laid, but the practical results were limited compared to the expectations set.

Provide evidence for your answer:

Evidence: Policy-ICT-Security

3. Provide at least one lesson or reflection relating to the implementation of this commitment. It can be the identification of key barriers to implementation, an unexpected help/hindrance, recommendations for future commitments, or if the commitment should be taken forward to the next action plan.

Technological innovation requires longer timelines and greater resources: The development of mobile applications for public management demands high standards of security, interoperability, and usability. These factors, combined with budgetary constraints, demonstrate the need to plan such commitments within longer timeframes.

Co-creation must be broad and sustained: Although validation spaces were held, they were limited. To ensure social ownership, it is necessary to involve diverse communities, grassroots organizations, and vulnerable sectors from the outset in defining content and functionalities.

Citizen trust depends on tangible results: The lack of a functional application reduced the impact on citizen perception. This shows that in ICT projects, institutional credibility is strengthened only when results effectively reach ordinary citizens.

Lesson for future plans: It is recommended to continue developing the application, ensuring its financing and scalability, and integrating it with other district systems. Likewise, strengthening 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... and citizen co-responsibility approach will allow the tool to evolve into a genuine channel for co-management of security and coexistence in Bogotá.