Local Roundup | February 2024

Here’s our monthly roundup of updates from the OGP Local community for February 2024.

NEW OGP LOCAL ACTION PLANS

• Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas (Ecuador) launched its second OGP action plan, which focuses on fostering environmental stewardship through youth leadership programs, promoting sustainable agriculture practices, and preserving cultural heritage through legislative measures and open data.
• Kaduna (Nigeria) presented its third OGP action plan, which includes commitments to enhance the participatory budgeting process, improve the existing open contracting data portal, increase access to information for citizen engagement, strengthen social protection systems, and service delivery in the education and health sectors.
• Montevideo’s (Uruguay) first action plan includes commitments to improve the garbage system through citizen participations and creating a map with cultural spaces.

AMPLIFYING COMMUNITY VOICES

• Scotland (United Kingdom) opened a public consultation on the Learning Disabilities, Autism, and Neurodivergence Bill, seeking feedback on proposals to better protect, respect, and champion the rights of individuals with learning disabilities and neurodivergent people.
• Glasgow (United Kingdom) opened public consultations on air quality, children entertainment facilities, forestry and woodland strategy, taxi advertising policy, and private hire cars advertising policy. 
• In Armavir (Armenia), government representatives, community leaders, and residents discussed the implementation of projects in 2024.
• In Tarkwa-Nsuaem (Ghana), non-governmental organizations, government officials, and community representatives addressed challenges in mineral revenue management and proposed recommendations for improvement. 
• Monterrey (Mexico) opened a call for children aged 8 to 10 to join the Children’s Council and contribute in making a more child-friendly city.
• Cartagena and Manizales (Colombia) started a series of public meetings where citizens can help create their District Development Plans 2024-2027.
• South Cotabato (Philippines) held a public hearing to address adjustments in taxes, fees, and charges across the province, marking an essential step towards reviewing and potentially revising the current revenue code for a more sustainable fiscal framework.

INTEGRITY IN ACTION

• Nandi’s County Secretary (Kenya), discussed collaborative efforts to promote integrity across public sectors and spearhead nationwide anti-corruption education and awareness initiatives with members of the National Anti-Corruption Campaign & Steering Committee and the County Anti-Corruption Civilian Oversight Committee. 
• Kaduna State (Nigeria) launch their Civil Society Steering Committee, hosted CoST meetings and training, and signed the Mutual Accountability Framework with the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
• Discover the new Model Ordinance on Public Transparency shared by the Network of Local Entities for Transparency and Citizen Participation of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces.

CHAMPIONING CHANGE

• Representatives from Madrid (Spain) and InfoCDMX (Mexico) exchanged open government initiatives focused on inclusion.
• In its latest podcast, Banská Bystrica (Slovakia) shared their experience in implementing participatory budgeting, emphasizing its role in supporting democracy, building communities, ensuring fair distribution of public resources, and introducing online voting for the first time in history. 
• Three projects from Aragón (Spain) are finalists in the ‘Innovation in Politics’ awards: Easy Government, a volunteer network for digital mediation for people over 65 years old, and Adopt an Olive Tree.
• We were excited to receive 138 expressions of interest to join OGP Local. Thank you to all applicants! The OGP Support Unit & the OGP Local Selection Committee will now review submissions and notify applicants by the end of March 2024.

If you missed any of the previous roundups, you can now find them here!