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Mexico

Progress on OGP Group Work in Mexico

Céline Jacquin|

The Governance Team of WRI Mexico is promoting the strengthening of a group of cities with a permanent dialogue and dynamic co-creation of knowledge and methods. These have been developed to build progress towards the integration of the main principles of open governance into local policy processes. The methods developed are aligned with the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Subnational program, with the intention of building a stable local government platform.  
 
In 2015, WRI Mexico began documentation of actions and progress in Mexican cities. In 2017, WRI Mexico has followed a practical approach to the group of cities by selecting Reynosa, Mexico as the fellow city that will develop a citizen participation strategy framed in a local development program, and will be evaluated by the working group integrated by governments and organizations. It will be the central point of analysis, but will also be a means for all participants to analyze their own situations, while sharing and receiving feedback.  

This way, the group builds common methodological orientations to achieve more efficient and inclusive mechanisms of citizenship participation in the elaboration of plans and programs in different urban matters and territorial scales.
 
Processes of citizen participation and the construction of agenda for Open Cities Workshop

The first working session of this cycle took place on June 29 at the Smart City Expo LATAM CONGRESS 2017 event in the city of Puebla. The objective was to generate ideas, share experiences, and strengthen a team of cities committed to open governance, making agreements in the medium term.

Thirty-four people participated actively, from the Secretariat of Open Government of Jalisco; the cities of Reynosa, Colima, Culiacán, Mérida, Morelia, Los Cabos, Puebla, Toluca and Melchor Ocampo municipality of the State of Mexico; and organizations and institutions such as SEDATU, INEGI, C3 City, the University of Blanquerna Spain, Urbanism and Planning (ANEDUP), Revitaliza Constructores, the University College of London (UCL), and more.

The workshop began with the presentation of Jalisco as the Mexican leader of the OGP Subnational program, followed by presentations by the cities of Reynosa and Colima on their context and ideas on the process to be followed for the elaboration of the municipal planning instrument. These cities received direct feedback from Luis Alberto Ramírez, representative of the Ministry of the Open Government of Jalisco, followed by the assembly.

Three work teams were formed to develop a framework in order to identify doubts and difficulties that will contribute to a collective diagnosis. Each table then described the priorities identified for discussion, resulting in a final round of comments.

The workshop culminated in some agreements

  • Selection of the fellow city of Reynosa, and have it commit to work for a year on an action plan, expose progress, and receive evaluation and feedback from the working group. The city should aim to incorporate citizen participation mechanisms in the development of the city planning instruments, presenting a synthetic proposal in a month.
  • Have a commitment from the working group to give organized feedback to the fellow city, through notes, webinars, and working sessions
  • Define a general schedule with remote and face to face sessions, as well as scopes to have an efficient and collective feedback process.

Fotos:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/embarqmx/albums/72157682956555754

Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPAx1wy2KEk&list=PLnZU16Y_Bt1Ge7dCSqcvNlwrkoeTT4mb7

Filed Under: Americas Civic Space Fiscal Openness Impact Inclusion Latin America Local Commitments National Open Data Oversight of Budget/Fiscal Policies Perspective Public Participation Right to Information
Open Government Partnership