Personal reflections on the value of the small changes emerging from Open Government

“Do we really need to come up with actions for the 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... 2014-2015 for our sector or even for our department, within the Ministry?

“It is desirable”.

“But then, it means we will be responsible for implementing those actions, right?”

“Indeed”.

“But this involves much responsibility, it is much simpler for us not to plan for any actions or commitments related to Open Government…”  

The last sentence was something I was expecting the least, however, deep in my thoughts. I knew there was a chance for it to come up at some point. It was this very sentence which re-assured me that sectors’ based approach to Open Government Action Plan elaboration is timely, needed and important for us, in Moldova. And here are a number of reasons for this! Big changes take time, and when we look at the interaction between Governments and citizens, we can see a dominant tendency among the general population to be frustrated and disappointed from not witnessing any substantial changes produced by their Governments throughout the years.

“Small change adds up. This is worth repeating: small change adds up.” And it is the small changes that we, civil society working group on E-Government/Open Government envisage to implement together with the E-Government Center and State Chancellery, in regards to the second Action Plan on Open Government in Moldova that will, in turn, produce very interesting outcomes.

For the purpose of the elaboration of the second Action Plan on Open Government, which will include commitments for the years 2014-2015, the proposed approach, which is still something we are working on right now, has a number of preliminary phases:

Phase 1:

• Conduct capacity buildingEnhancing the skills, abilities, and processes of public servants, civil society, and citizens is essential to achieving long-lasting results in opening government. Technical specifications: Set of ac... sessions for all Ministries (chief of departments or senior staff) on Open Government, expectations, challenges, principles, examples of specific tools, etc.;
• Have all Ministries (all sectors) identify their sector priorities/commitments to be included in the country Action Plan;
• Once key commitments have been identified, engage key sector stakeholders in the discussions around them and formulate SMART commitments;
• Ensure that commitments and the sub-actions are based on the four core principles of Open Government Partnership: 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, 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, accountability and technology/innovation and respond to one or more grand challenges;

The biggest value of this phase lies in identifying champions within Ministries that are motivated to assume commitments as part of the Action Plan on Open Government. While implementing certain actions that aim at bringing more transparency, more citizen engagement, interaction and more accountability, these public servants will generate more development and positive results as part of the work they do within their departments and Ministries. As a result, this might motivate the least motivated and engaged ones to start assuming new tasks, roles and responsibilities on Open Government. And if they fail to catch up on these, they’d better give space to those who can or learn fast how to do it!

Phase 2:

• Integrate all input gathered from all Central Public Authorities into one document, and identify overarching commitments.
• Produce Draft Action Plan on Open Government, version for public comments;

The biggest value of this phase lies in having a document that is ‘owned’ by both the Government and civil society. One of the most critical factors that determine the level of success and effectiveness in the implementation of any initiative, is owning the solution/s for the problem that should be fixed.

Phase 3: Conduct consultations around the draft Action Plan by following up the OECD Recommendations on Citizen Engagement; The biggest value of this phase lies in having a new, participatory, citizen centered approach towards a consultation process. If properly implemented, it will be taken over by public authorities, different development partners, civil society. It will slowly become a regular approach in engaging citizens in consultations. It takes both citizens and Government to understand that it is the time to change the way they interact with each other, and that the success of the initiatives at the country level depends on both of them. 

Phase 4: Elaborate the final version on the Action Plan based on feedback received during the consultation process; The biggest value of this phase lies in incorporating feedback received into the final version of the document. What is important is to have a Feedback to Feedback response, so at to encourage the community to continue engaging in the future in consultations and discussions around other initiatives. They will feel much more motivated to do so if they are clear about what has been done with the feedback they have already provided.

Phase 5: Approve the Action Plan for Implementation. The biggest value of this phase lies in having an Action Plan approved, endorsed by both Government and its citizens.  This Plan should be able to produce at least a small change by the end of 2015, change that citizens would still perceive as occurring, change that would still make them say “I think the Government is improving, is doing better, cares more about us/citizens”!

Back to the theory of small changes: to accept any change we must first understand why are  we opposing it! We must be capable to reflect and be honest with ourselves about what do we really want and how much are we ready to accept! Any change provokes emotions. The initial response to change is most often negative. People seem to automatically complain about it. This negative focus often blocks people’s awareness of positive aspects. Open Government implies emotions related to re-thinking the public institutions in a way that are collaborative, effective, citizen-centered.  Acceptance of this change means to accept to reflect on the way they operate, on the way they might do better. Open Government is a change in the way we think, we act, we behave, and indeed it may imply losing something, even if we gain a lot. Open Government is a change of the way we are going to live tomorrow. To create a better tomorrow we must nurture positive feelings about it. How much do we really want to create a better tomorrow?!