Monitor Fulfillment of the Next Action Plan (SK0136)

In order to increase the success of the implementation of the OGP 2020-2021 Action Plan, it is important to continuecoordinating an interdepartmental working group to oversee the implementation of the Action Plan tasksOGP 2020 - 2021 in individual chapters as well as in regular monitoring and evaluationfulfillment of tasks from the OGP 2020-2021 Action Plan. After the final evaluation of the OGP Action Plan2020-2021 a new action plan for the next period will be prepared.

Specific milestones towards the goal:
25. Coordinate a working group to implement the Open Governance Initiative Action Planin the Slovak Republic for the years 2020 - 2021, the members of which will be representatives of the individualand to regularly report on its activities
Deadline: until 31 December each year
Responsible: Government Plenipotentiary for Civil Society Development

26. To elaborate and submit to the Government of the SR Action Plan of the Initiative for Open Governance vThe Slovak Republic for the following period
Deadline: until 30 June 2022
Responsible: Government Plenipotentiary for Civil Society Development

11. Monitor the current action plan implementation and design a new action plan 

Main Objective

“Monitor fulfillment of the OGP National Action Plan 2020 – 2021 and draft the new OGP National Action Plan in a participatory manner.” [165]

Milestones

1. Coordinate the OGP National Action Plan 2020 – 2021 implementation working group, whose members shall include representatives of individual ministries and other central authorities and provide regular updates on its activities.
2. Prepare and submit for the Government of the Slovak Republic the OGP National Action Plan for the forthcoming period.

Editorial Note: For the complete text of this commitment, please see Slovakia’s action plan at https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/slovakia-action-plan-2019-2021/.

Commitment Analysis

This commitment to monitor the implementation of the current action plan and design the new action plan also featured in the second action plan [166] and as such does not change the status quo. It aims to ensure Slovakia delivers an OGP action plan and implements it.

In response to previous IRM recommendations [167] to strengthen intra-agency and inter-agency collaboration, an implementation working group was established and has been coordinated by the Office of the Plenipotentiary since May 2017. It consists of representatives of all ministries and 11 other central government bodies who are responsible for the implementation of OGP commitments. Their list is publicly available and updated at least once in the action plan cycle. The latest version of the list [168] was published after the 2020 general election. The implementation group meets once or twice a year to discuss the progress of individual commitments and which public agencies need to achieve better results. Previous IRM reports [169] stated the meetings are useful in ensuring “the overall performance in fulfilling the commitments.” [170]     

The milestone to prepare and submit the new action plan has also been a part of Slovak action plans since 2015, despite the fact that this is not a recommended practice. The governments who are OGP members are expected to submit their new action plans by the end of an implementation cycle regardless. [171] Therefore, this milestone represents an activity that has to happen anyway, whether it is written in the action plan or not. OGP process-related commitments are not usually included in action plans. Although it proved useful in Slovakia to have an OGP process embedded in action plans, as these are legally binding documents at the central government level in Slovakia which ensures that commitments get implemented, [172] it is not a recommended practice.  

The milestones are relevant to the OGP values of access to information and civic engagement. However, it is unclear how they will add to these values as they do not promote any change compared to what had been achieved in the previous action plan. In the past, the Office of the Plenipotentiary has developed new action plans (including the current one) in an open and inclusive manner. It has regularly informed on the action plan creation on its website, [173] social media, [174] and through the newsletter. In addition, it has organized events, such as Open Government Week (OGW), to solicit feedback from civil society and encourage exchange and collaboration between public administration and civil society.

Despite senior political support [175] and participatory preparations for OGW, [176] the Office of the Plenipotentiary had to postpone OGW [177] due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The representatives of the Office of the Plenipotentiary were in the process of preparing online webinars to keep discussion with civil society going. Although these activities are positive, as formulated in the action plan, the milestones do not have the potential to advance access to information and civic participation beyond the status quo.

To strengthen the impact of this commitment and achieve better outcomes, the Office of the Plenipotentiary should consider formalizing the multi-stakeholder forum. While there are several thematic working groups and opportunities to participate in OGP processes are not restricted to any group, the process would benefit from having one platform with a clear mandate determining conditions of membership and governance structure and consisting of representatives of both public administration and civil society. Including members from academia and business should also be considered, as these two groups have been underrepresented in OGP processes. Last but not least, the Office of the Plenipotentiary should ensure that minorities, in particular ethnic and sexual minorities, are also represented in the multi-stakeholder forum and have a chance to shape the OGP agenda. 

11. Monitor the current action plan implementation and design a new action
plan

Substantial

The Office of the Plenipotentiary has continued to be transparent and inclusive throughout the action plan implementation. It publishes information about implementing commitments and upcoming events using different communication channels like its website, [119] social media accounts, [120] and Trello. [121] Trello is particularly useful as it updates progress on individual commitments. Although information for some commitments was missing, [122] in general, Trello was being updated. At the time of writing this report (December 2021), the Office of the Plenipotentiary had yet to publish a self-assessment of the Slovak Republic’s 2019–2021 OGP action plan.

The Office of the Plenipotentiary has continued to bridge relations between government and civil society. During implementation, the Office of the Plenipotentiary organised its flagship OGP Week event in 2020 [123] and 2021. [124] Beyond OGP Week and unrelated to the commitments in the current action plan, a lot of events happen under the umbrella of OGP in Slovak Republic [125] (and some were relevant to commitments in previous action plans). [126]

In October 2021, the Office of the Plenipotentiary established its first multistakeholder forum, which has since met twice. [127] It consists of government and CSO representatives (explained further in Section III, below).