Human Resource Training in the Field of Open Data (RO0028)

Open data represents a challenge for the public administration in Romania, on account of the novelty of the concept and the reluctance to release data in a re-usable format.
As there is a relative low understanding of the utility and necessity of opening public data, it is essential that the public servants already in charge with this process are trained accordingly. Subsequently, the trainees will be able to disseminate the acquired knowledge and best practices within their ministry.
The courses will focus on the advantages of using open data for the administration, business sector and society. The trainees will be taught how to publish and use open data based on best practices. The legal aspects, available open licences and public policy issues will also be presented.

Commitment 10. Human Resource Training in the Field of Open Data

Commitment Text:

1.     The responsible agencies will prepare the course curricula. The materials will be available online in an open format.

2.     Publication of the training timelines.

3.     The responsible agencies will conduct 10 training sessions on open data management. Four training sessions will be held with the support of the Open Data Coalition.

4.     Pilot with a public institution, involving as many interested parts as possible: the administration, civil society, journalists, citizens, such as to identify relevant data and the required steps for its publication, update and use. The pilot will aim to implement best practices from other countries. 
The phases of this project will be:

1) Selecting the institution;

2) Training the persons involved in the open data publishing process;

3) Identifying relevant datasets and their potential applications/usages;

4) Publishing the datasets;

5) Assessing and presenting the findings. The results will be presented in a public conference.

Responsible institution: Chancellery of the Prime Minister

Supporting institution(s): Ministries, Open Data Coalition, ActiveWatch, Funky Citizens Association

Start date: July 2014                                      End date: June 2015

Commitment Aim:

This commitment aims to create training guides on publishing and using open data. The following milestones work to achieve these goals:

•       Prepare a course curriculum and educational materials,

•       Conduct training sessions on open data management, and

•       Pilot the course with a public institution, inviting public administration officials, civil society, journalists, and citizens.

Status

Midterm: Substantial

The Department for Online Services and Design (DSOD), with the support of the Open Data Coalition, developed the curriculum for the training and conducted eight training sessions for local governments across the country. The department held another three training sessions with personnel from the Ministry of Labor, the National Library, and the Ministry of Culture. Training materials, including the Open Data Guidelines, were published on the OGP platform (ogp.gov.ro) and distributed by e-mail and during training sessions, conferences, and other events. The government substantially implemented this commitment, despite some challenges. Public servants in charge of open data have many other competing responsibilities, and there is a high turnover rate, requiring continuous training of new staff.

End of term: Substantial

Although at the midterm evaluation the commitment was substantially implemented, the next activity—piloting courses with a public institution—has not started. The Chancellery of the Prime Minister responsible for carrying out this commitment was unable to convince public institutions that the training program was necessary. This represents the second instance in the OGP process where the government could not organize a pilot program due to the disengagement of public institutions.^{[Note 33: The other commitment with a similar problem is commitment 7 (open contracting). ]} As a result, no further progress has been made since the midterm.

The Chancellery of the Prime Minister decided, following discussions with both representatives of the public administration and members of civil society, to replace this commitment with the development of a training and motivational program that would address the specific needs of different stakeholders (public servants, academics, members of the IT community, representatives of the private sector, etc.).^{[Note 34: The program is included in a project funded through ESF 2014–2020 that started in August 2016 and that includes as deliverables a methodology for publishing open data and disseminating data, a data visualization portal for public data and information, and training workshops in the area of open data. The program is managed by the Chancellery of the Prime Minister. The announcement of the project is available at http://bit.ly/2kIiFiH.]}

Did it open government?

Access to information: Did not change

This commitment did not stretch government practice in providing access to information. It should also be noted that this commitment was primarily aimed at training government human resource officials and as implemented did not have a public-facing element.

Carried forward?

The commitment is not carried forward in the third national action plan in its current form. A different approach will be taken using a project funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) 2014–2020. The new project includes training courses for public administration staff and the creation and dissemination of materials on open data management.

In addition to training offered through this project, an alternative and more sustainable solution would be to collaborate with universities to integrate open data management into existing degree programs. This approach could solve a long-term need for a large recruitment base of public functionaries who are trained in open data management.