paul maassen: citizen engagement and technology are both pillars of ogp - but they need to interact

7/29/2019 Paul Maassen: Citizen Engagement and Technology are both pillars of OGP - but they need to interact

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Pau l M aassen no t es fo r Open Data Meet-up # 3 ( January 2 4 , 2013 )

INTRODUCTION TO OGP

I w ant to base m y s to ry today on bo th the t heory and pract ice o f OGP, w i th a em phasis on the c iv il

society perspective. After descr ib ing the OGP basics I wi l l focus on two of i ts key elements ci t izen

engagement and technology. Final ly, I wi l l do my best to convince you why being part of the Ir ish OGP

jo urney m ak es sense fo r t ech ie s, act iv ist s a nd engaged ci t izens a t lar ge . Th e ci t izen rea ll y is at t he hear t

of t he OGP phi losophy and m echanics.

Sta rt o f OGPOGP star ted in 2011 and now has 58 m embers w i th some m ore l ined up l i ke I re land. To m y op in ion

OGP bu i lds on t w o cur ren t t rends.

A posi t ivet r end o f open gove rnmen t m omen tum : Freedom of information laws have been passed in many countr ies the last decades - over 90

countr ies have som e sort o f legislat ion in p lace now ( the Sw edes star ted th is w hole tren d in 1766); The fast r ise of socia l media and new communications tools has opened up new ways for gett ing

information, expressing yoursel f , and for engaging/interact ing with those in power. Al l very bottom

up ; The launch of b ig g lobal in i t ia t ives like IATI and EITI has pushed previously closed d om ains tow ards

openness; The open data movement includes many forms, from hacking to pro-act ive d isclosure. I t is a real ly

interest ing space to watch, especia l ly where they open up new, useful data that can be combined

and bri l l iantly visualized

And a negat ivet rend where th is same technology is used for the bad , where space for civ i l society is

decl in ing, w here peop le have l i t t le fa i th in governm ent and especia lly in pol i t icians. Freedom House says that w hi le the num ber of count r ies ranked as Free in 2012 grew t o 90 (+3), 27

countr ies showed signi f icant decl ines in freedo m s;

In the Net her lands only 10% of the po pulat ion bel ieves business leaders and pol i t ic ians te l l the tr ut hw hen confron ted b y a d i f f icu l t question, and few er t han 20% bel ieve business leaders and pol i t ic ians

are capable of solving di f f icu l t pr oblem s (Edelm an global PR f i rm );

According t o EU research a who pping 89% of Euro peans state t hat t here is a b ig gap bet w een publ icopin ion and th e decisions taken by p ol i t ica l leaders (EuroBarom eter) .


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CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT IN OGP

In the c l im ate o f thosetw o t rends OGP was born , c lear ly r id ing the pos i t ive wave and a iming to counter

the negat ive one by launch ing a par tnersh ip be tw een government and c iv il socie ty and u l t im ate ly the

ci t izen. The f inal a im of the partnership is to create a better and more open society where ci t izens are

engaged and trust th at their governm ents are looking out fo r th e interests of t heir c i t izens.In a quick re-run. OGP is an international , mult i -stakeholder in i t ia t ive where countr ies that meet an

e l ig ib il i ty th resho ld can become a m ember . M embers deve lop an act ion p lan w i th am bi t ious

commitments around transparency, part ic ipat ion and accountabi l i ty. The process has three key

e lements: Equal partner ship betw een civi l society and governm ent ( in governance of OGP, in th e consul tat ion

process); Concre te , am bi t ious com m i tm ents on one o f the 5 grand cha l lenges tha t need to be de f ined SM ART;

Independent ou ts ide m on i to r ing o f p rogress on process, in ten t ions and comm i tm ent de l ivery .

In the design of OGP you see the ci t izen engagement angle coming back everywhere: in the el ig ib i l i ty

cr i ter ia (wh ere i t is 1 of 4 cr i ter ia) , in the governance (50% of t he pow er is wi t h civi l society leaders from

across the globe), in the monitor ing. Ci t izen engagement is part of the object ives that what OGP

str ives for - and fu l ly part of the m echanics i .e. w hat w i l l make i t w ork and br ing th e change.THE ROLE OF TECH IN OGP

Technolo gy and innovation are b ig t h ings in OGP. Som e countr ies actu al ly th ink t hat t echnology w i l l

autom atical ly br ing transparency, part ic ipat ion and accountabi l i ty. To som e extent you see that

re f lected in the com m i tm ents m ade:E-government 17 5 22 %Open Data 15 1 19 %Citizen Engagem ent 11 8 15 %Access to In fo rm at ion / Freedom of In fo rm at ion 86 11 %

Global Int egr i ty Analysis (July 2012 )

And many of the ci t izen engagement and access to information promises have under lying ICT

approaches as w el l .To be honest, i t feels as i f some countr ies see tech as the magic potion that wi l l easi ly solve their

problems and strengthen their economy and society. Wel l , i t does help, but I am afra id i t is more


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d i f f i cu lt t o ge t change in th e w ay we d o t h ings, in norm s, po l icies and po l i t i ca l w i l l and to restore the

tru st of c i t izens in society.So, technology is a br i l l iant tool but not enough. I have worked for more than a decade in the f ie ld of

m aking use of ICT & m edia for societa l change, for civ i l society advocacy, and f or increasing access to

infor m ation and expression. I know the exci tem ent t he ICT possib i li t ies and prom ises br ing. But a lso howdi f f i cu lt i t i s to ge t i t r igh t , to sm ar t ly in tegrate i t in to t he t h ings w e are al ready do ing and t o m ake it

work for longer- term pol icy changes. That asks for strategic th inking, taking r isks, an open mind and

enough t im e.SOME EXAMPLES OF CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT AND TECH

Lets f i rst t urn t o some examp les of ci t izen engagement and techno logy just t o g ive you a f lavour. Rahvakogu meaning peoples assembly. An Estonian in i t ia t ive to crowd-source proposals from the

broader publ ic, d iscuss them onl ine, analyse, group and select th em and t hen actual ly d iscuss them

in par l iament. A nice way to see how a technology tool can resul t in pol icy making. I t is a new

ini t iat ive, so far 1155 pro posals from 1400 di f fer ent ( registered) users Daraja/ Twaweza in East Afr ica d id a p i lot on water monitor ing. On paper a br i l l iant example. Start

w i th 1 ) a top ic peop le care about - w ater , 2 ) enab le ci t i zens to repor t b r oken w ater pum ps by text

message in real t ime, 3) make sure the fo l low up and feedback are organized, 4) p lan a massive

m edia campaign to m ake peop le aw are o f w hat i t i s and how i t w orks. The organ isa t ion how ever

only col lected 53 texts that could be used. I t seemed so simple, but gett ing i t r ight is d i f f icu l t . I t is

about changing deeper bel iefs, for example that there real ly wi l l be a react ion or that sending

cr it ique w i l l no t harm you dow n t he l ine . Tech is never enough. Kenya Open Data port a l w as par t o f th e i r OGP com m i tm ents : they w ere the f i rst , they w orked wi t h a

range of nat ional and international actors, had a very good star t, but are now facing problems.

Datasets are not coming onl ine fast enough (re luctance from the enti t ies hold ing them), keeping

them updated is d i f f icu l t , making them u sefu l i s even more d i f f i cu l t . A good fo l low-up p ro ject o n-

going is to p lace open data fe l low s w ith m edia and civi l society organisat ions to m ake the data w ork

for repor t ing and fo r advocacy. At the m om ent just a coup le o f 100 da t asets, bu t in te rest ing ones on

health and education. Related in i t ia t ives: the US data.gov has 380,000 data sets. You can make

suggestion s i f you w ant m ore. Data.gov.uk has 9,000. The nu m bers are aston ishing, no? M -pesa, m obi le banking. That is w here entrep reneurship, innovation and tech real ly cam e together.

People had phones, phone networks and shops reached to the deepest veins of the country, bank

services w ere highly needed but hardly avai lable (especial ly for t he poo r/ rural) . Then M -pesa cam e.Cheap, simple, bui ld ing on exist ing networks. Now they have more customers than the banks

comb ined, got d upl icated in a r ange of coun tr ies, and int roduced oth er services (savings, loans). Visual isat ion o f data and inf orm ation, from info-graphics (OGP has one: ) to vid eos to Han s Roslings

br i l l iant gapminder to visual ize tren ds over t im e. Absolute ly crucia l to m ake data understandable.


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Open Budget Index just launched a great da ta t oo l . A good m ap to see how countr ies a re do ing , thepossib i l i ty to compare countr ies, track posi t ions over the years and to actual ly see the detai led

ra t ings (and p lay wi th i t to understand how to impro ve i t ) . Last on e: we thepeop le provides easy onl ine p eti t ions to th e US president . You have 30 days to get

100,000 signatures, and th e W hite Hou se w i l l respond .

THE P MAKES OGP SPECIAL

Stepp ing away f rom the techno logy fo r a moment and coming back to OGP. For me persona l ly the

Partn ership e lement is the m ost exci t ing elem ent of OGP. In many count r ies civi l society has fought h ard

and long to ge t a seat a t t he tab le o f pow er and to b e taken ser iously . At least in t heory, tha t f igh t has

been won .

The partnership real ly is not just between government and civi l society. I t is a lso between civi l society

and civi l society. For exam ple, to real ly im prove t he access to in form ation si tuat ion in a count ry i t w ould

be grea t i f t he open data techno logy geeks worked w i th t he access-to - in fo rm at ion po l icy w onks and

they jo int ly involved media to make use of the access to information laws and open data sets. They

shou ld re in fo rce , no t compete .

A broad and proper consu l ta t ion is ob l iga tory to be a member o f OGP. I t i s impor tan t to see the

consul tat ion no t as a stand-alone m om ent, bu t r eal ly as the f i rst step of a change process, a partnership.

I t is the dat ing phase.

Government off ic ia ls and civi l society star t ta lking to each other, explore each others interests and

pre ferences, f igure ou t the dynamics o f context and power , and learn to understand each o therslanguage. Al l needed t o bu i ld a long last ing re lat ionship.

W hen I t r ied to set up a par tnersh ip wi th Dut ch te lecom KPN, i t took qu i te some t ime t o f ind t he best

w ay to w ork together . Fi rst o f a l l , we had to b o th u nderstand and accept t ha t w e w ere in i t fo r d i f fe ren treasons, bu t tha t d id no t m ean we cou ld no t w ork t ogether . They needed a vo lun teer p ro ject t o he lp

motivate their young, h igh-potentia l staff . We needed their ski l ls and expert ise on marketing, project

management and ICT. And when we asked them to bu i ld capaci ty fo r qu i te some t ime, we meant

tra in ing and ski l l -bui ld ing whereas they m eant put t in g phone cables into t he ground!

OGP AND CONSULTATION EXPERIENCES

Very quickly: therear e consul tat ion guidel ines OGP shares with i ts members. And in the so-cal led on-

boarding package' , there are m ore t ips and t r icks. No rocket science. We know w hat w e need to do ; we

also know where i t usual ly goes wrong. Perhaps what OGP can br ing is the long-term perspective ofpartn ership for change rather th an stand -alone consul tat io n.

Last Ap r i l in Brasi l ia , at th e f i rst annual OGP meet ing, even before I star ted th is job, I heard qui t e a few

negative rem arks on the consul tat io n pro cesses at n at ion al level: unclear process, short t im el ines, only

capi ta l-based actors involved, only government favour i tes involved, no proper feedback to suggestions

made .


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Last Au gust, w e did a b ig survey am ong civi l society, captu r ing over 100 reactions. People w ere m uch

m ore posi t ive th an expected. 32% rated i t as good or excel lent even, w hereas 29% rated i t as very w eak

or non-exist ing. 72% said important commitments were missing in the f i rst act ion plan. A major i ty said

they h ow ever, see the added value of OGP.

I just read a repor t on OGP progress in Easte rn Europ e, in the form er Soviet region. After a few pages on

consul tat ion w eaknesses, they en d surpr is ingly - by concluding that t he resul t of the consul tat io ns was

actual ly qui te posi t ive. M any suggestion s were incorporated , vague in i t ia l p lans transform ed after

consul tat ion into measurable act ion plans and civi l society d id manage to shape the condi t ions for the

dia logue.

In M oldova, they u sed a mix of channels for consul tat ion: classic physical meet ings in th e capi ta l , a

roun dtable in i t ia ted by civi l society, p iggybacking on an exist ing pro gramm e to strengt hen civi l society

in the regions to get at least som e input beyo nd t he capi ta l , and f inal ly they used an onl ine consul tat ion ,

(wh ich in te rest ing ly enough got 25% of suggest ions f rom outs ide the country) . An im provement

suggest ion f rom them is tha t t here w as som e feedback bu t the governm ent d id no t actua l ly p rov ide a

summ ary of a l l feedback received, w hat feedback was considered, what w as not and w hy.

In M exico, the inter act ion d id not h ave the perfect star t . But aft er civ i l society ra ised comp laints, they

got a true partnership where civi l society, governments AND the federal agency for access to

information, ( IFAI) worked together in defin ing pr ior i t ies, (mostly based on CSO suggestions), and

get t ing them rea l ized . In the f i rst year , 21 ou t o f 36 comm i tm ents w ere de livered. In the name o f

transparency, they st i l l publ ish minut es of a l l m eetings they have. One w eakness: only a smal l group of

organisat ions nam ely, the tr ansparency and access-to- infor m ation N GOs - part ic ipated. M exico is a

very in te rest ing country t o w atch fo r th is year t o see how the c iv i l soc iety par t ic ipa t ion is b roadened,

how a pol i t ica l leadership change affects OGP (or not) and perhaps how to get OGP going at a sub-

national level . W hat help ed here w as that IFAI is w el l - respected and civi l society w as w el l organised.

Two m ore. Russia is an in terest ing m em ber o f OGP, one could say. National civ i l society sees enth usiasm

w i th par t o f t he government s (change agents), bu t a lso no t es the t rack record o f President Put in on th is

topic. Let s say that their open government concept has a d i f ferent meaning than i t has international ly

or fo r civ i l society.

Russia organized a very b ig nation al m eeting to d iscuss open govern m ent pr ior i t ies last Decem ber, w i th

the pr ime minister in the room. Russia says i t involved 1,000 experts to come up with proposals in 10

areas, used Facebook and other socia l media to reach out to the broader publ ic (one of the few

countr ies who d id so), consul ted 3000 civic actors, (m ind you th is is not the sam e as civi l society actors!) .

No less than 5 thematic conferences to d iscuss the draft act ion plan wi l l fo l low, th is quarter . The

responsib le m inistry has no staff to w ork on OGP how ever since M edvedev stepped dow n as president.

Wel l , at least on paper th is looks l ike an inclusive and wel l -designed process. The Russian example

shows the im port ance of po l i t ica l backing, and of em pow ering change agents in the system .


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An Estonian col league made an interest ing remark about consul tat ions. He said that government was

worr ied tha t they wou ld open the consu l ta t ion and then perhaps no one wou ld be in te rested . That

would be especia l ly bad i f you go for a consul tat ion beyond the off ic ia l c iv i l society and try to involve

ci t izens. True, th ere is a r isk of only receiving a handfu l of suggestion s for a nation al act ion plan. But t he

value is a lso in t he honest w i l l ingness to l isten t o t he ci t izen. That a lready contr ibut es to restor ing tru st

and engaging ci t izens. The number of suggestions is not the only indicator. In the end, ci t izens care

about good hea l th care , the qua l i ty o f educat ion , cor rup t ion , how the i r taxes are used. Not about

perf ect OGP Actio n plans and pr ocesses.

Let m e stop ther e. Som e of th ese exper iences are wr i t ten do w n and can be found at t he OGP blog. And

in Apr i l we w i l l launch a publ icat ion w ith insights into m any mo re country exper iences.

SO WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN FOR IRELAND, WHY BOTHER?

First of a l l , I re land real ly needs a boost in transparency and accountabi l i ty I th ink the

banking/economic cr is is showed that. A lot of power is st i l l wi th a smal l e l i te of business, church and

pol i t ics and decisions are m ade behind closed doo rs. I t is good t o br ing discussions and d ecision-m aking

into the publ ic arena. Second, you are wel l p laced to lead on the tech side of th is, wi th so many

intern ational t ech giants being based in Ire land as wel l as indigenous star t-ups.

W hat m akes OGP interest ing for Ire land and Ir ish civi l society at t h is mom ent is:

I t goes beyond one sub t hem e, so i t i s no t just open d a ta , o r ju st about access to information laws,or cor rup t ion , o r m ed ia f reedom . I t i s a ll o f t ha t combined a l l th ings needed to com e to an ope n

socie ty , a fundamenta l change in how w e l ive together ;

I t has ci t izen engagement front and centre in i ts th inking and a sol id p lace for civ i l society in thegovernance and in th e execut ion. The seat at t he table of p ow er is guaranteed;

I t g ives a new tool to push for your exist ing object ives and for issues that might be stuck. You canm ake a plan that f i ts the Ir ish pr ior i t ies. In m any countr ies civi l society m anaged to get a lot of asks

in their coun tr ies' act ion plans and del ivered;

Almost 60 countr ies d id i t before you (- : So lots of mistakes have already been made andexperie nces are in place, as guides to Ireland 's process.

To conclude

OGP is young, is try ing th ings out. I t is a very f lexib le model, so lots of f reedom for the local cont ext t o

def ine w hat i t w i l l look li ke . Your p rocess and p lan w i l l be very d i f fe ren t f rom the UK one fo r exam ple .

That a lso means that the coming years OGP wi l l be an extremely interest ing space to watch for

innovat ion on consu l ta t ion process, on par tnered im p lementa t ion , on new w ays o f m on i to r ing .


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In the end OGP is about a fund amen tal change in the r e lat ionship betw een civi l society and govt. This is

about partnership. Where government need to stop being afra id and real ly l isten to the experts from

civi l society, and civi l society needs to sto p being just t he cr i t ica l outsider. To make i t w ork asks for an

active ro le of civ il society. OGP can create the basics and share exper iences, the governm ent can in i t ia te

a consu l ta t ion and open t he door , bu t you are the o nes tha t need to en ter , accept the inv i ta t ion and

star t w ork ing together .I cannot w a i t fo r I re land to jo in and I p rom ise you I w i l l work w i th you to m ake Ire land a success sto ry

w i th in OGP.Paul M aassen, Dublin , Ireland

Slide deck: http:/ /www.sl ideshare.net/Act iveCit izen/ci t izen-engagement-and-technology-are-both-

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paul maassen: citizen engagement and technology are both pillars of ogp - but they need to interact

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