Training Regional Administration in Open Government Principles (FI0029)

Updating the open government principles in co-operation to also cover the regional administration actors. The material from the open government support package is used in the training as is also especially the experiences and practices of the region’s municipalities.

7. Organising training to actors of the regional administration about open government principles and ways of working.

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

“Updating the open government principles in co-operation to also cover the regional administration actors.

The material from the open government support package is used in the training as is also especially the experiences and practices of the region’s municipalities.”^{[Note : Finland National Action Plan 2017-2019 (in English), https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/finland-national-action-plan-2017-2019-all-languages/.]}

Start Date: N/A

End Date: N/A

Context and Objectives

This commitment seeks to provide regional authorities with information and ways of working for improving participation and influencing opportunities for citizens and making these opportunities user friendly. The commitment seeks to expand principles of open government to cover new administrative structures created by the Regional Government, Health and Social Services Reform. The training package on these issues is organised by the Association of Local and Regional Authorities from March 2018 to December 2019.^{[Note : Avoin hallinto -uutiskirje/Kesäkuu 2018 https://avoinhallinto.fi/assets/files/2018/07/Uutiskirje-kes%C3%A4kuu-2018.pdf]} This commitment aims to make use of the best practices and results documented in the open government support package.

The commitment aims to ensure inclusion of regional actors in open government once the regional reform has been implemented. It concerns the inner workings of the government and lacks a public-facing element. Overall, the commitment is not directly relevant to OGP values, as it does not elaborate on the goals of open government cooperation or the training. Therefore, as written, it is unclear what the potential impact this commitment could have in terms of opening government practice.

Next steps

The IRM researcher recommends either not carrying the commitment forward or increasing the ambition of the commitment by using any new regional administrative structures as a flagship for OGP values and activities.^{[Note : Minna Sirnö, Head of Arts Promotion Centre Finland, consultation 3.3.2017, p. 24, https://avoinhallinto.fi/assets/files/2017/06/Lausuntoyhteenveto-III-toimintaohjelma.pdf.]} The ways of working of the regional administration could be based on and mounted to OGP values. If the commitment is carried forward, the government could ensure that it has a clear public-facing element along with specific measurements and milestones that are relevant to OGP values.

7. Organizing training to actors of the regional administration about open government principles and ways of working.

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

“Updating the open government principles in co-operation to also cover the regional administration actors.

The material from the open government support package is used in the training as is also especially the experiences and practices of the region’s municipalities.” [47]

Start Date: Not identified

End Date: Not identified

This commitment related to the Finnish government’s plans to expand open government principles and ways of working to cover regional administrative structures created by the Regional Reform. This reform was interrupted by a change of government in spring 2019, but the pilot regions continue to exist as local strategic partnerships. As noted in the 2017-2019 IRM Design Report, the commitment was not directly relevant to OGP values, as it lacked an explicitly stated public-facing component. [48]

As part of this commitment, the Finnish government organized open government training in four out of eight pilot regions in co-operation with the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities. [49] The government also updated its existing open government principles to cover regional administration actors. [50] At the end of the implementation period, the status of this commitment was fully completed.

The impact of the outlined measures on access to information, civic participation, or public accountability is difficult to verify. [51] While the government and region-level communication and civic participation possibilities during the Regional Reform were generally perceived positively, [52] the implementation of this commitment did not lead to demonstrable changes in open government. In one of the pilot regions, a working group overseeing the development of regional democracy and participation sought to establish regional participatory bodies (including councils and advisory boards for young people, elderly people, and persons with disabilities) after the Regional Reform was discontinued. However, the regional steering group decided that establishing such bodies was not possible due to the absence of sufficient resources. [53] This lack of resources has led to significant job losses and other cost-saving measures in regional administration, following the discontinuation of the Regional Reform. [54] In terms of this commitment, the lack of government success to pass the public sector reform, combined with the lack of clear problem-solution framing in the commitment text, contributed to its limited results.

By implementing this commitment, the Finnish government created limited participation opportunities to inform and engage citizens during the Regional Reform. However, because these measures were limited to this now-defunct reform, they have not improved the status quo.