Administrative Unit's Info Points (ALTRN0003)

Commitment ID

ALTRN0003

Commitment Title

Administrative Unit's Info Points

Problem

Access to information is crucial for enabling citizens to raise their voice, to effectively monitor and hold government to account, and to develop an informed dialogue about decisions which affect their lives. It is seen as vital for empowering all citizens, including vulnerable and excluded people, to claim their broader rights and entitlements. The potential contribution of open government partnership lies between willingness of government to be transparent, as well as the ability of citizens to demand and use the information provided. Municipality of Tirana nowadays has developed different ways of  communication with citizens such as: “One-Stop-Shop”,” Tirana Ime”,” Welcome Tirana” and other applications, but according to different audience, their age, education, not all the citizens can get use of technology. One of the first Unit they face, about different issues, programs, services are the administrative units of Tirana. The lack of a proper and complete information infrastructure in these units does not allow the citizens to properly benefit from all the options they have. Open government at the local level has encountered bureaucracy which have often damaged civic-municipal communication. Meanwhile, even for the Administrative Units this process is highly estimated, as citizens may not be aware of their importance in decision making.

Status quo

Tirana Municipality has 24 administrative units and it holds almost 31% of Albanians population. One of the biggest problems its citizens encounter nowadays is the way of retrieving information based on their needs. Access to information is seen as an essential part of the enabling environment. In theory, a legal right to information can increase government openness and responsiveness to requests for information.  A timely response to citizen requests for government information is what we seek. There is no gateway to the citizens for quick responses of information on the details they need to apply for social housing, rents, health, education, gender based grants or programs, etc.

Action

This action predicts an establishment of the infrastructure which will bring together the Municipality and the citizen to solve complex problems that require civic participation and the creation of a partnership with them. Municipality of Tirana will train all of  the Administrative Units, in the end, each of them will have integrated an Info Point regarding all the programs and schemes they offer, meanwhile there will be an "OGP officer", an employee of the Unit which will be in charge of sharing the information and orientation needed. The increase of the understanding of the complex processes of the city come through periodic discussions between the Municipal Units and the stakeholders. The ultimate results will be informed citizens for every topic from infrastructure to social help and it will affect directly Municipality processes by the feedback the administrative units are going to receive.

This commitment will go under some phases as below:

• Meeting with units and people to understand the problems they face and the information they need;
• Make a detailed list of documentation they need to apply for different benefits or opportunities;
• Training of the units about this documentation and other information and how to deliver this information to citizens;
• Setting up booths for information purpose and ensure at least one trained official responsible for the continuation of the process;
• Questionnaires and templates to retrieve evaluation and feedback.

How will the commitment contribute to solving the public problem described above?

Introducing the citizens to the right amount of information and increasing the understanding of the complex processes of the city gives them the power to be involved in the decision-making.

The outputs expected from this commitment are:

• Citizens would have a spot dedicated to their needs,  where they can find any information they need and their questions can have an answer, so it means more applications, more beneficial from different programs and schemes.
• They will be heard, to give opinions and suggestions about decisions that are going to affect them too;
• Citizens will have the opportunity to say or write down their discontent related to service delivery;
• Municipality will have more feedback from citizens and the policy will be informed and evidence based
• There will be meetings that citizens will have the opportunity to learn more about future projects and opportunities and how they can be involved

What long-term goal as identified in your Open Government Strategy does this commitment relate to?

The basic object of the Right to Information  is to empower the citizens, promote transparency and accountability. Strengthening Good Governance and Respecting Citizens' Rights on Good governance is the direct long term goal this commitment relates to. Citizen access to meaningful data is a core demand to improve service delivery and quality of life as an essential element of a city. This Commitment ensures a better understanding of services offered by the MoT, which will increase the number of people who apply and benefit from them, it improves the dialogue and partnership between the Municipality's offices and citizens, plays an important role in the people support and engagement in further processes. It also ensures a true OPEN office, an Open door, in every corner of the city, in order to go in every rural and urban unit, to speak in their language, to be their support in every different question an Unit can answer. In conclusion, Administrative Units will be our Open Government Partnership Offices, in 24 Units, all around the city, ready to meet the student, the farmer, the marginalized, disadvantaged, the artisan etc.

Primary Policy Area

Legislative Openness, Right to Information

Primary Sector

Legislature, Public Services (general)

What OGP value is this commitment relevant to?