Open Government Partnership - Armenia

On April 5-6, 2014 the first workshop over the draft of the Second Action plan of Armenia (2014-2016) in Open Government Partnership took place in Armenia with 30 participants from the Civil Society and the RA Government. The event was organized by the Freedom of Information Center of Armenia with UNDP and USAID/Armenia support. The main goal of the workshop was to ensure civil society participation and engagement in the development process of the OGP Action Plan, to accumulate suggestions and ideas from CSOs and pass them to the RA Government for approval.

The first part of the event included discussions of the existing draft action plan. Each Government agency presented their proposed commitment and the group discussed it against the compliance to the OGP values and the international guidelines. At the end of the day only 5 of the 15 commitments were left by the group.
The second session was devoted to the design of new OGP commitments.

The NGOs came with 15 new suggestions and the Government had 4-5 suggestions. They included transparency measures for the municipalities, including mandatory live broadcast of the community council meetings; a pack of freedom of information-related commitments and e-government related technology suggestions. The Government in its turn committed to draft a concept on Open Government and to undertake mandatory capacity building measures among civil servants and community servants to improve the quality of services provided to the citizenry.

The workshop provided a unique forum for such a constructive dialogue between the NGOs and the Government, where they not only position themselves but also engage in a collaborative debate. At the end of the day the group came up with a list of suggestions (19 suggestions in total) to the OGP working group highlighting the importance of Government commitments in freedom of information, municipal accountability, community engagement and innovative approaches. Incorporation of these new suggestions into the final Draft of the Armenian Action plan will immensely accomplish it and guarantee civil society input and vision.

As a result of the working discussion, the recommendations by the representatives of the civil society and the Government will be submitted next week in a single package to the working group coordinating the Armenian OGP processes in the Government.

The participant Government and CSO members and the organizers believe that such a constructive dialogue should become a continuous process to ensure best result.