Localizing open government

Localizing Open Government for Inclusive Development: Lessons Learnt from the Asia-Pacific Region

Bernadia Irawati Tjandradewi, Secretary General of UCLG ASPAC, among other speakers on SubNational Leaders Roundtable session, Asia-Pacific Leaders Forum 2017.

THE global open government reforms – which places the transparency and accountability of government at its core – has led to a paradigm shift that puts citizens at the heart of governance. Hence, the open, responsive and participatory governments are required to facilitate the citizen engagement in the development process. This shall be seen as a positive direction for ensuring the inclusiveness and sustainability of public services delivered by governments.

UCLG ASPAC, as a local government network for Asia Pacific region, fully realizes the roles of the citizens in achieving inclusive and sustainable development. UCLG ASPAC also plays active role to encourage the participation of the citizens in the planning, implementation and monitoring of local government’s programs. Take public space development in Surabaya and Surakarta, for instance. In every

process, UCLG ASPAC has involved not only local government but also public with various interests (arts, sports, disabled, women, youth, etc.). To further its impact and advocacy effort, UCLG ASPAC also contributed in the Asia-Pacific Leaders’ Forum on Open Government, held in Jakarta, Indonesia, December 14, 2017, particularly on the subnational leaders’ roundtable discussion. Mr. Gambhir Bhatta, Advisor and Head Knowledge Sharing and Services Center and concurrently Chief Governance Thematic Group, Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department, Asia Development Bank (ADB), facilitated the discussion.

The discussion highlighted the point that open government practices should also take place at subnational level. It is due to the fact that public services are mostly delivered by local governments as they form immediate relationship with citizens.

Responding to that, Secretary General Bernadia I. Tjandradewi representing UCLG ASPAC, exposed the report of City and Local Government Enabling Environment Rating in Asia and the Pacific (EE Rating) as conducted by the organization. As shown in the report, she mentioned that transparency and citizens’ participation are generally good; signalling good opportunity for local governments to cultivate more on this practice. This was further confirmed by the sharing of transparency and inclusion practices by representatives of cities and international organizations.

Mr. Suyoto, Regent Mayor of Bojonegoro (Indonesia) spoke on People-Government Partnership to collect data for budgeting processes involving grass-roots at village level; Mr. M. Zainul Majdi, Governor of West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, who shared on how their innovation in open information and procurement systems as well as technology-based planning, budgeting and monitoring have managed to improve public services and reduce the number of poverty; and Mr. Edgar M. Chatto, Governor of Bohol, Philippines, who talked about partnering and collaborating with the private sectors and civil societies to create open, business friendly governance.

Open government practices at subnational level have been supported by NGOs that also play key roles in ensuring that transparency, accountability and openness of local governments penetrate into the community. Mr. Otto Farkas from South Asia and Pacific Regional Office, World Vision International explained how their approach in social accountability through citizens’ voices and actions have improved children and family-related social services, while Ms. Anano Tsinsabadze from Open Society Georgian Foundation shared her experience on providing advocacy for participatory budgeting mechanism in subnational action plan and provided expertise support to the Tbilisi municipality. Dr. Youngsook Nam from World e-Government Organization of Cities and Local Government (WeGo) discussed on their cooperation with several cities to develop smart cities and their readiness towards disruptive technology.

Experience and information exchanged in this roundtable session showed positive progress in localizing open government practices in the Asia Pacific region. It is generally agreed that the key to success relies on two factors: innovation and collaboration. Innovative open government practices have slammed the existing bureaucracy (closed and static) to become more open, responsive and flexible in providing quality services to the citizens. Meanwhile, in the implementation, local government could not move forward independently with its limited capabilities. Close collaboration with local citizens, NGOs, private sectors as well as other related stakeholders would further ease local governments to achieve inclusive and sustainable development.

Asia-Pacific Leaders Forum 2017 brought together heads of states and governments, ministers, local government leaders, civil society organisations, businesses and development partners to share their experiences and best practices in the linkages between open governments with inclusive development. Vice President of Indonesia, Mr. Jusuf Kalla, in his opening remarks, stated that open access of public information compels government to always improve its services to the people, including better levels of education and health, as well as eradicating poverty. UCLG ASPAC has and will continuously promote this throughout its activities. The commitment also aligns with UCLG’s, its global network, as reflected in the Paris Statement and Hangzhou Statement dated December 2017, commitment of UCLG towards transparency, accountability and citizen’s engagements for efficient local government management.