Paraguay Design Report 2018-2020

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... of Paraguay’s fourth 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... was highly collaborative, resulting in a plan that engages all three branches of government and covers the 17 Sustainable Development GoalsOGP countries are experimenting with open government innovations to accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 16+ which includes peaceful, just and inclusive societies.... However, due to an overlap with national 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, the process faced challenges associated with the resulting political transition. The IRM recommends the creation of a rules manual for the co-creation process and the overall work of the Mesa Conjunta (Joint Open Government Board) to minimize these issues going forward.

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 each action plan to ensure that governments follow through on commitments. Paraguay joined OGP in 2011 and has since implemented 3 action plans. This report assessed the design of the country’s fourth action plan

Action plan overview

In the past few years, Paraguay has made significant progress in the creation of regulatory frameworks to promote 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 access to information. The most recent action plan furthers these efforts by implementing initiatives to halt corruption, following the recent accusations made against leaders. It also includes steps to strengthen local and regional development.

The co-creation process was highly ambitious and entailed great efforts with regards to organization, communication and participation of all the relevant stakeholders. This represented a gradual improvement in terms of 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... and performance from the previous co-creation process. Despite its good performance during its early stages, the co-creation process overlapped with national elections, which led to challenges associated with the resulting political transition. The final selection of commitments was rushed, resulting in the creation of some commitments with unclear expected impacts.

Overall, the action plan engages the three branches of government and encompasses the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda, with five key areas: equal opportunities; transparent and efficient public management, land-use planning and environmental sustainability.

For this action plan Paraguay received OGP’s Multi-Donor Trust FundWith the support of development partners and working together with the World Bank, OGP established the Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) to support World Bank client countries and local entities that part... and allocated the funds to the design and implementation of activities under 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... 2: Socialization of social health 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 ... services.

Table 2. Noteworthy commitments

Recomendations

The IRM recommendations aim to inform the development of the next action plan and guide the implementation of the current action plan.

Table 3. Five key IRM recommendations