IRM releases Norwegian report for public comment
The Open Government Partnership’s Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) has launched its fourth of eight reports; this one is on Norway and can be found below.
IRM progress reports are carried out by an independent researcher under the guidance of the International Experts’ Panel. In Norway, Christopher Wilson of The Engine Room and Joachim Nahem from the International Law and Policy Institute comprised the research team. The team carried out a consultative process, reviewing government progress with robust consultation with civil society. The goal of the IRM is to deliver credible, non-partisan description of the OGP process, results of commitments, and to provide technical recommendations based on the input of government, civil society, and the private sectorGovernments are working to open private sector practices as well — including through beneficial ownership transparency, open contracting, and regulating environmental standards. Technical specificat... More.
The Norwegian action plan focused on areas in which Norway has had much success: 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 in finance and oil and gas revenue; open public sector and participatory government; and 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 equality.
Usually, IRM reports evaluate commitment-by-commitment OGP implementation. This type of evaluation proved challenging in the Norwegian context because the 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... lacked clarity on specific commitments, a forward orientation, relevanceAccording to the OGP Articles of Governance, OGP commitments should include a clear open government lens. Specifically, they should advance at least one of the OGP values: transparency, citizen partic... to OGP values, and measurable indicators of progress.
Overall, Norway fell short of OGP’s requirements for process, making no consultation information available online, providing inadequate forewarning, and incorporating little stakeholder feedback into the plan.
As a consequence, the researchers recommend that the government improve awareness-raising activities around on-going consultations for OGP, and forward-looking, ambitious commitments in many of the areas where Norway has forward momentum such as recent freedom of information legislationCreating and passing legislation is one of the most effective ways of ensuring open government reforms have long-lasting effects on government practices. Technical specifications: Act of creating or r..., information and communications technology, and pension management.
All interested parties are encouraged to comment on this blog or to send public comments to IRM@opengovpartnership.org until November 14. Comments will be collated and published, except where the requester asks to be anonymous. Where relevant, comments will be integrated into a final version of the report.
Image source: Gudvangen, Norway, via Imgur
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