South Cotabato Design Report 2018-2020

South Cotabato’s first 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... focuses on thematic areas of importance to the province: open information, open monitoring and evaluation, open contractingA transparent procurement process, known as open contracting, increases competition, improves public service delivery, and ensures governments better value for their money. Technical specifications: C... More, open mining, and open legislationCreating and passing legislation is one of the most effective ways of ensuring open government reforms have long-lasting effects on government practices. Technical specifications: Act of creating or r.... These commitments reflect the province’s rich legacy of transparent, accountable, and participatory governance. While the action plan was developed with collaboration between the government, civil society, and private sectorGovernments are working to open private sector practices as well — including through beneficial ownership transparency, open contracting, and regulating environmental standards. Technical specificat... More, there remains an opportunity to expand communication and outreach beyond the provincial capital and the multistakeholder forum.

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. South Cotabato joined OGP in 2018. This report evaluates the design of South Cotabato’s first action plan.

General overview of action plan

South Cotabato’s first action plan leverages the OGP platform to address policy issues aligned with local priorities around 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 openness. The plan builds on the province’s rich legacy of transparent, accountable, and participatory governance to propose five commitments in the areas of access to information, project monitoring, procurement and contracting, governance of mining activities, and legislative information and processes.

Coordinated by the Provincial Planning and Development Office (PPDO), the development of the action plan was a collaborative process centered around deliberations of the multistakeholder South Cotabato Integrity Circle (SCIC), which served as the MSF. The MSF comprised of representatives from the South Cotabato provincial government, civil society, and the private sector. The co-creation of the action plan, and the OGP initiative as a whole, benefitted from the high-level support and involvement of the Governor and Legislative Council through the Vice-Governor, and was institutionalized through a series of ordinances, resolutions, and executive orders.

The SCIC/MSF generally convenes on a quarterly basis but met over four special meetings to co-create the action plan. During these co-creation events, non-governmental stakeholders of the MSF were able to propose and advocate for the 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 of commitments in thematic areas that aligned both with their own and local priorities. Six thematic areas were shortlisted in this manner and considered against 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... selection criteria outlined by the PPDO. RelevanceAccording to the OGP Articles of Governance, OGP commitments should include a clear open government lens. Specifically, they should advance at least one of the OGP values: transparency, citizen partic... to a priority governance issue and implementation feasibility were key criteria, resulting in stakeholders dropping the open budget thematic area from consideration.

The MSF then conceptualized specific, draft commitments at a closed, yet multi-sectoral, co-creation workshop and allowed participants to comment on these drafts. The PPDO held two rounds of more inclusive consultations with village leaders and invited feedback from the general public. The PPDO then drafted the action plan and presented it to the MSF for adoption.

This process yielded an action plan containing three commitments that are expected to have moderate potential impact, which represent major steps forward in their policy areas. Two commitments will have minor potential impact, i.e., limited yet incremental improvements in their areas. All five commitments were specific enough to be verifiable and all were relevant to OGP values. Reflecting a focus on transparency and openness, all five commitments will improve access to information using technology and innovation.

Going forward, the process will be strengthened from wider and more effective outreach and consultation, premised upon adequate advance notice, and active involvement of stakeholders beyond the MSF in proposing and selecting final commitments.

Table 2. Noteworthy commitments

Recommendations

The IRM’s five key recommendations aim to inform the development of the next action plan and guide implementation of the current action plan. They build on the maturity of OGP processes and efforts in the county, as well as findings from the assessment and priorities raised by the stakeholders interviewed for this report.

Table 3. Five KEY IRM Recommendations