Morocco Action Plan Review 2024-2028

Morocco’s 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... continues a positive trend toward increasingly collaborative development and ambitious commitments. The plan seeks to strengthen civic participation and 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, with promising commitments to amend the Right to Access Information Law, strengthen civic space, amend the Press and Publishing Code, and ensure equal access to government services and information for Amazigh speakers.

Morocco’s third national action plan consists of 12 commitments with a mixture of new and ongoing reforms. The plan continues efforts to strengthen access to information; open up government data, local government, and justice institutions; as well as draft a public consultation law. It introduces new reforms to strengthen media freedom and ensure equal access to public services and information for Amazigh speakers. It also expands efforts to create a supportive funding and legal environment for civil society associations in Commitment 4.^[1] The plan aligns with Morocco’s New Development Model, which targets improving public services, gender equality, and administrative reform.^[2]

This report features four commitments with particular promise to address key open government opportunities in Morocco. Commitment 1 aims to improve access to information by amending the Right to Information Law through broad consultations. Commitment 4 seeks to address Moroccan civil society’s legal, funding, and capacity challenges and better enable civil society to operate and engage the government.^[3] Commitment 5 seeks to amend the Press and Publishing Code through a participatory approach. Commitment 6 aims to strengthen equal access to information and public services for Amazigh speakers, providing linguistic inclusivity in governance. At the time of writing, the Government of Morocco had submitted Commitments 1, 4, and 5 to the Open Gov Challenge.^[4]

This is Morocco’s first four-year action plan, with an implementation period from June 2024 to June 2028. Reformers will have the opportunity to take stock and revise the action plan as needed at the midpoint in June 2026. This report highlights opportunities to amend commitments to increase their 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... to align with the four-year time frame. The IRM will reassess any new or significantly amended commitments submitted following the midpoint refresh process.

Morocco’s open government ecosystem continues to expand. OGP is located within the Ministry of Digital Transition and Administrative Reform. The ministry created a dedicated Open Government Service within the Division for Reinforcing Probity, Transparency, and Openness, the chief of this service was in the process of being appointed at the time of writing.^[5] Morocco’s parliament remains engaged in open government work, concluding implementation of the second open parliament plan in 2024.^[6] Moroccan members of the OGP Local have increased to eight, including the city of Agadir and a consortium composed of Souss-Massa, Oriental, Drâa-Tafilalet and et Laâyoune-Sakia Al Hamra regional councils.^[7]

The government, in collaboration with civil society through the steering committee (COPIL), organized an extensive co-creation process between May 2023 and May 2023.^[8] Ten themes were identified through a national consultation.^[9] Civil society held regional co-creation workshops to gather proposals alongside a concurrent online public consultation.^[10] The final draft was made available online for further consultation.^[11] More than 270^[12] citizens and civil society stakeholders participated in the in-person co-creation process, and 73 online propositions were gathered. The final action plan reflects stakeholder priorities and feedback from consultations, including local open government^[13] reviewing the Access to Information Law 31-13,^[14] and developing a legal framework for the operation of associations and public consultation.^[15]

Civil society members of COPIL organized regional workshops and, alongside the Ministry of Digital Transition and Administrative Reform, supported co-creation. This included negotiation and drafting with other implementing institutions. Civil society appreciated the autonomy given to organize workshops and include new actors from academia and the private sector.^[16] The government, particularly the Ministry of Digital Transition and Administration Reform, valued the structured feedback from regional workshops and digital platforms and provided feedback for online propositions.^[17] This process resulted in a more ambitious action plan with new thematic areas and participating government and nongovernment actors.