A Checklist for Open Government Beginners
(Make Government Great – Part Two, for part One click here)
If you remember, in previous blog on Make Government Great Again we’ve concluded that changing the world has a tendency of making one crazy. Take small steps, change and build little ecosystems that will eventually take over the big mothership. Here is a list of things that are useful to keep in mind while chasing an Open Government Agenda:
1. Wording in relevant legislation
Check what is the exact wording in national (EU) legislation that applies to your open government topic, quote the law and the article to emphasise the legal ground for action, but also as an introduction to your project. Make sure you work it into the conversation in a constructive way.
2. International commitments
Check international commitments of your country in the area, it is always good to have national and international legislation prepared when you discuss these issues with civil servants.
3. Quotes from your leaders
Check for quotes from your leaders (president, PM, relevant minister, mayor) that apply to the situation/project/action. Put them on your website and use them in advocacy especially if your meeting is with lower level officials or civil servants – find out what their superior stated and quote it back to them, with a smile, of course.
4. Find out who are your partners and allies
One of the biggest mistakes in advocacy aimed at the government is perceiving government monolithically as one homogenous body. It is not. Find out who your partners in the government are, approach the agencies and institutions that have committed in the Action Plans, Strategies etc, approach them as champions of the agenda, ask them who else you can talk to. Publicly support civil servants or institutions who are making progress, this is how things change from the inside. I am providing a money-back guarantee that there is at least one person within the system sharing your passion and values. Find them!
5. Who is responsible to monitor the institutions
If the officials or institutions are not doing their job find out who is responsible to monitor them within the government/state (Ombudsman, committee in the Parliament, Agency) have a look at their reports. If they are doing their job and criticising for no action, quote them. If not, put pressure on them, request it publicly, make sure to include it in your communication with the public and media.
6. Make competition work for you
Competition, competition, competition – publish lists and charts of which city is doing best, which institution within the government, which minister, which party. Praise the good ones, invite them to speak at your events about good practices, encourage them to work with their counterparts and make their reputation grow. Train the trainers within the government!
7. Do not do their job!
Make sure you:
- Make it clear that this is what Government should be doing and that you do not create strategies that enable them to do nothing or continue with bad practices.
- Internally have sustainability and scaling strategies, externally put on your platforms and in your media releases a disclaimer that this is a short term emergency strategy for the next six months and that you strongly believe the government will pick it up from there as is their job and responsibility (this is where you put legal articles and quotes).
8. Have ready easy to use outputs
Publishing things doesn’t mean they will be used. Have ready, easy to use outputs for various stakeholders, written texts and infographics for journalists, legislation changes and proposed commitments for Action plans for the government’s, recommendations for international organisations working on this, case studies for universities etc. Offer workshops and trainings, when people are a part of the process they feel ownership and are more inclined to promote it and advocate it. Advertise for job shadowing or have open doors while you work on the project.
9. Aim at mediators
Don’t aim (just) at the public aim at mediators who can reach more people than you. Hold a guest lecture at a university, journalists, foreign embassies that advocate these practices, NGOs that work on similar issues, associations of cities or counties etc.
10. When arguing why what you are doing is important make sure you:
- Create visuals, infographics and real graphics. For example – standing in front of the parliament with filled water containers with the amount of wealth of each representative or any other actions on the ground.Compare – use stories from other countries that stopped by similar activities, use stories from your country that could have been stopped if you had the data, show how not having the data for preceding years raises questions how much the politicians profited from their public service.
- Show how progress can be made. Every government wants to look good internationally, search through various transparency evaluation methodologies and find those that would raise your country’s rating if the government had a clear, consistent and open proactive transparency in this area, tell them that in the meetings, put it in your press releases.
- Ask other countries (embassies, international organisations) to send experts to speak on your behalf, on behalf of the project, they are more likely to get meetings in the government, and when they do the minimum that happens is that somebody has to write a background note and talking points for the person holding that meeting. This means you are raising visibility and awareness within institutions. Include those experts in round tables or meetings, it always sounds more convincing when coming from the outside!
- Have a simple way citizens can use it, even if governments ignore citizens they are responsible to and intimidated by their opinion.
Tamara Puhovski, Policy, Innovation, Openness