Integrity plans for local bodies in Catalonia: tools to fight corruption and promote good governance and public ethics in the local sphere. (ESCAT0002)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: Action plan – Catalonia, Spain, 2021 – 2023
Inception Report: Inception Report – Action plan – Catalonia, Spain, 2021 – 2023
Commitment Start: Dec 2021
Commitment End: May 2023
Institutions involved:
- Secretariat of Open Government
- Catalan Association of Municipalities (ACM)
- Catalan Federation of Municipalities (FCM)
- Barcelona Metropolitan Area
- Citizen Observatory Against Corruption (O3C)
- Open Administration Consortium of Catalonia (AOC)
- Catalan Anti-Fraud Office
- Public Administration School of Catalonia
- Local administrations - Network of Transparent Governments
- Catalan Association of Political Scientists and Sociologists
Primary Policy Area:
Primary Sector:
OGP Value:
- Public Accountability
Inception Report Summary
Verifiable: Yes
Relevance to OGP Values: Yes
The commitment is a continuation of ongoing practice in line with existing legislation, policies or requirements.
The commitment activities will result in a change of the rules, practices or policies that govern a policy area, public sector and/or relationship between citizens and is binding or institutionalized across government or specific institution(s).
To view the detailed final assessment of this commitment read the End of Commitment Report
Description
Commitment ID
ESCAT0002
Commitment Title
Integrity plans for local bodies in Catalonia: tools to fight corruption and promote good governance and public ethics in the local sphere.
Problem
- Citizen distrust.
- Lack of excellence in public management.
- Lack of training on the part of elected officials as a whole.
- Lack of resources to develop adequate policies on transparency and integrity.
- Malpractice and corruption.
- It is necessary to change the approach and the ways in which funds are received through programme contracts.
Status quo
- Lack of an integrity management culture.
- Lack of trust in public management - efficiency and integrity.
- Rigidity of procedures - bureaucracy viewed as a burden.
- Lack of genuine political will.
- Few interrelationships and synergies between bodies that work in this area.
Action
This project aims to facilitate the implementation of tools to fight corruption and promote good governance and public ethics - with a focus on integrity plans - for local bodies in Catalonia. The starting point is the project titled “Integrity Plans for Local Government”, promoted by the ACM.
The commitment includes the following stages:
- Promotion of voluntary take-up among local bodies through training and awareness-raising activities.
- Implementation by local bodies via the provision of tools that can be adapted to their specific characteristics, along with support from the promoter organisations and supra-municipal bodies. This stage includes training actions for all members of the public administration (both elected and professional) and all those connected to the public administration. It also includes participatory methodologies that enable the achievement of political consensus and the development of bottom-up processes.
- Assessment of achievements (in terms of recognition, rather than auditing) via mechanisms such as quality seals. The assessment process will involve the implementing bodies themselves as well as external actors, citizens and civil society organisations.
One of the main aims of the commitment is to ensure that all of the local bodies who wish to take part in the project are able to do so, thereby enabling integrity-related measures to be implemented throughout the territory.
How will the commitment contribute to solving the public problem described above?
Some of the expected results mentioned include the following:
- Strengthening institutions.
- Making public integrity trendy.
- Providing evidence of, and focusing on, behaviour that is contrary to public integrity.
- Developing a standardised and objective (rather than arbitrary) system of integrity, with monitoring and feedback on its performance.
- Providing training and prevention measures in order to minimise corruption and help administrations gain citizens’ trust.
What long-term goal as identified in your Open Government Strategy does this commitment relate to?
Medium-term vision:
- Citizens are aware of - and make use of - all of the resources and tools at their disposal with regard to public ethics; ethical mailboxes, spaces for participation, etc. To achieve this, spaces for ethical reflection will be promoted among society as a whole.
Long-term vision:
- An institutional system of integrity, with values that are shared by all public administrations and give rise to tools and mechanisms that are useful and effective in adopting preventive measures and taking action against corruption, in order to ensure integrity and public ethics.
- A culture of public integrity and ethics is fully incorporated into public administrations.
- Catalonia is among the leading countries in international rankings regarding the perception of corruption.
- Open government brings about cultural change, especially within the framework of public administration, and makes it possible to improve upon every public policy.
- A work ecosystem is created in order to foster open government, in the form of a network that operates through structures that are open, shared and pluralistic so that there is no single body that drags the rest of the organisations along with it; rather, different actors and individuals construct and create meeting spaces or hubs, adopting a communal and coordinated approach to progress.
- Councils in small municipalities are able to carry out tasks and meet requirements related to open government, thereby ensuring territorial balance.
Primary Policy Area
Conflicts of Interest, Other/NA
Primary Sector
Public Services (general), Other/NA
What OGP value is this commitment relevant to?
| Public Accountability | Facilitating the implementation of integrity plans in every administration in Catalonia will help to increase ethical behaviour (with specific regard to public ethics) on the part of politicians and public employees, and will show citizens the importance of integrity in public service and make them aware of the tools they have at their disposal to monitor it.Facilitating the implementation of integrity plans in every administration in Catalonia will help to increase ethical behaviour (with specific regard to public ethics) on the part of politicians and public employees, and will show citizens the importance of integrity in public service and make them aware of the tools they have at their disposal to monitor it. |