Uruguay’s Fourth Open Government Action PlanAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen...

Strengthening democracy requires ongoing work and the willingness to take up new challenges and to recognize the value of collective knowledge. Efforts made by the State to promote transparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More, participation, justiceTo address barriers that prevent citizens from having their justice needs met, OGP participating governments are working to expand transparency, accountability, and inclusion into all systems of justi..., and the protection of human rightsAn essential part of open government includes protecting the sacred freedoms and rights of all citizens, including the most vulnerable groups, and holding those who violate human rights accountable. T... are never enough.

In Uruguay, the Open Government Action Plan co-creation process is an instrument for government agencies to strengthen democracy and create new spaces for collaboration with a constructivist approach. The process was conducted together with civil society representatives and through the open government working group for a total of 217 individuals – 141 women and 76 men – across four stages.

The following are some of the unique elements we included in our fourth action plan:

• We included a tool to enable e-participation in an effort to go beyond on-site participation spaces such as dialogue forums and create a virtual space to manage proposals and, in doing so, strengthen transparency. We adapted the tool Consul, developed by the City of Madrid, to help us manage citizen proposals and implement a public consultation.
• We conducted co-creation workshops focused on specific issues, such as genderOGP participating governments are bringing gender perspectives to popular policy areas, ensuring diversity in participatory processes, and specifically targeting gender gaps in policies to address gov... More violence and electoral processes. Representatives from participating government agencies, civil society and the media participated in these workshops. The aim was to connect the different stakeholders, even their knowledge out and exchange points of view about citizen demands and potential solutions to those.
• We gave priority to commitments that implement open government processes by default, that enable citizen participationAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, citizen participation occurs when “governments seek to mobilize citizens to engage in public debate, provide input, and make contributions that lead to m... More in the design and implementation of public policies and that create spaces for collaboration.
• We introduced a co-creation space, a day where all the stakeholders of the new action plan agreed on a final version of the commitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action... sheets prior to the public consultation.
• We integrated a gender perspective into the plan design and into the monitoring process.

Uruguay’s fourth Open Government Action Plan 2018-2020 includes 39 commitments – grouped in 11 themes – for 28 government agencies. We shared some examples of commitments related to the themes “gender and generations”, “equality, development and citizenry”, and “participative societies”.

1. Gender-based violenceReforms that combat gender-based violence are essential for fostering an inclusive society and government that respects human rights and promotes gender equality. Technical specifications: Commitments... More observatory. Design and implement the gender-based observatory. Standardize indicators and administrative records, create common metrics across relevant institutions, consolidate criteria, and categorize, measure and publish data on femicides.
2. Security and gender violence: access to open dataBy opening up data and making it sharable and reusable, governments can enable informed debate, better decision making, and the development of innovative new services. Technical specifications: Polici.... Facilitate access to open data on gender-based issues to allow for information systematization, which is in high demand by civil society, academia and the media.
3. Gender and rural youthRecognizing that investing in youth means investing in a better future, OGP participating governments are creating meaningful opportunities for youth to participate in government processes. Technical ... More perspective. This commitment aims to include a gender perspective and rural youth through a participatory process for developing: a) an agenda for women and rural youth that includes their needs, proposals, and priorities; b) a governance space for monitoring where rural women and rural youth can influence government decisions and follow up on the progress made toward meeting their priorities; and c) an online transparency platform for data publication and accountability.
4. National Dance Plan. The National Dance Plan 2020-2030 will be developed in a participatory manner in pursuit of sustainability, development and visibility of dance as an artistic practice and cultural right. The process will apply and adapt the Open Government PartnershipThe Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving government transparency, ensuring opportunities for citizen participation in public matters, and strengthen... More co-creation standards. The plan will be developed with input from dance stakeholders and will include programs, teams, timelines and budgets according to different axes (territory, disciplines, value chain) and perspectives (gender, inclusionOGP participating governments are working to create governments that truly serve all people. Commitments in this area may address persons with disabilities, women and girls, lesbian, gay, bisexual, tr... More, educationAccountability within the public education system is key to improving outcomes and attainment, and accountability is nearly impossible without transparent policies and opportunities for participation ... and professionalization).

You can find all of our commitments in the Open Government Observatory, an online tool that helps us bring transparency and be accountable about the progress we make on all our initiatives.