7. Provision 6: Public communication
Public communication, understood as the government function to deliver information, listen and respond to citizens in the service of the common good and of democratic principles, is a key lever of government that can be deployed both internally (across and within public entities) and externally (with the broader public).
Over the implementation period, almost all Adherents have conducted communication activities and initiatives to promote the benefits of open government and ensure different segments of society are aware and informed about open government activities and feel empowered to engage with the government on related actions.
For example, the different stages of the OGP Action Plan cycle of those Adherents that are part of the OGP represent important communication milestones. However, the results of the 2020 OECD Survey on Open Government (OECD, 2020[1]) show that while Respondents generally communicate actively on most stages of the OGP Action Plan, they are most active during the early stages, i.e., the start of the co-creation process and the launch of the Action Plan, and least active during the mid-term self-assessment report. For the latter, 12 Respondents (38.7%) indicate not having used any available means of communication to reach a public audience (Figure 7.1).
Note: N=31. Multiple selection possible. Categories of channels not displayed since not selected: TV advertisement or participation in programmes; Newspaper advertisement, articles, interviews; Radio advertisement; Out-of-home advertisement; Press conference.
Source: OECD (2020[1]), 2020 Survey on Open Government.
In terms of external communications around open government, Adherents have used various formats of communication, ranging from the adoption of communication plans, to the organisation of collaborative games (Brazil), the development of publicly available trackers and other online resources (Canada) or the development of an open government playbook (United Kingdom) (Box 7.1).
In Brazil, the Open Government Game, designed by the Office of the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU), Fast Food Politics and the Open Government Institute (IGA), intends to spread the principles, practices and policies associated with open government and seeks to demonstrate how collaboration between government and society is important to achieve a more open government (OECD, 2022[2]). As it is a collaborative game, players need to form teams and tracks composed of fundamental principles: Social Participation, Transparency and Accountability. The game was designed for different audiences and can be used in a variety of occasions, such as trainings and awareness-building campaigns. It is an open educational resource, allowing any person or institution to use and reuse the game. The game is available both in a physical and in a freely downloadable digital version.
In Canada, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) leverages several methods to inform on progress of open government initiatives. For example, a quarterly tracker on specific commitments and milestones is publicly available on Canada’s open government portal, open.canada.ca (Government of Canada, n.d.[3]). This information is complemented by a blog on latest activities. In addition, newsletters on Open Government activities are distributed to a mailing list. Social media channels, including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are also used to share ideas and have an ongoing dialogue with the community.
In Finland, the 4th OGP National Action Plan features public communication as one of its eight core pillars to effectively implement the country’s open government agenda. The Plan highlights the importance of leveraging external communication to establish a two-way dialogue with the public. The Plan also underlines the need to ensure that government texts, services and reforms are clear and easily understandable by citizens. In addition, the Plan foresees the development of a dedicated communication plan for the country’s open government unit (Government of Finland, 2019[4]).
The Government of Lithuania explicitly acknowledges the value of public communication to strengthen the principles of transparency, integrity, accountability and stakeholder participation as part of their 2021-2023 OGP Action Plan (Government of Lithuania, 2021[5]). The need for “open government communication” is highlighted as playing a central role. Specifically, the Plan underlines the importance of unbiased, relevant, and clear information being disseminated in the civil sphere. This includes, for instance, procurement data which the Plan states should be shared widely to increase transparency as well as accountability.
Tunisia’s communication plan for open government was developed by the government to promote Tunisia’s third OGP Action Plan 2018-2020 in cooperation with civil society members of the Open Government Steering Committee and representatives of Parliament. The plan targets the general public, journalists, the public administration, local authorities, parliamentarians, universities, the business community and civil society. Communication activities, channels and messages were adapted to each. For example, dissemination sessions on open government were scheduled in cooperation with the union of journalists to target media actors.
The United Kingdom developed an open government playbook (Government of the United Kingdom, 2020[6]) that it promoted at various events and throughout its networks. The aim of the Playbook is to Promote transparency, participation, and accountability within government, define and promote “open government ways of working” and provide a set of actions that could be undertaken to promote open government. These include actions to mainstream the open government approach in policy making, encourage policy makers to learn more about open government, the OGP and other open government initiatives and enable policy makers from all departments and areas to implement the principles of open government throughout every stage of the policy development process.
Finally, the OGP organises an annual Open Government Week (Box 7.2) which serves as a platform to connect reformers in and out of government and share lessons learned with a wider public. Adherents such as Spain or Italy have used the Open Government Week to organise large-scale communication campaigns on open government.
The Open Government Week is a global event organised by the Open Government Partnership (OGP) that was initiated by the government of Italy. With a changing thematic focus, it brings together more than 150 national and sub-national governments as well as thousands of partners each year. All activities organised in the framework of the Open Government Week take place in a decentralised manner around the globe, bringing open government to all participating countries at the same time. Over the course of one week, participants can share and discuss their ideas and best practices with the open government community. Amongst others, they can participate in seminars, hackathons and public debates.
Source: OGP (n.d.[7]).
Strengthening internal communication around the open government agenda is another crucial step to ensure more public officials are aware of it and can engage in its activities. It allows officials to understand how this agenda will affect their work, while also encouraging them to support the achievement of related objectives, and act as effective spokespeople for it. Yet, according to the results of the 2021 OECD Perception Survey on Open Government, more than half of the responding delegates to the WPOG estimate that less than 50% of public officials in their countries know about the concept (OECD, 2021[8]) (Figure 7.2). In addition, the understanding of the concept varies heavily. Furthermore, few of the existing Adherents’ Open Government Offices have specialised communication staff. To address this challenge, some Adherents use external resources to support public officials in charge with communication. Five (16.1% of Respondents) have employed consultants, three (9.7% of Respondents) worked with communication agencies and two (6.5% of Respondents) used advertisement agencies and social media influencers (SOG).
Source: OECD (2021[8]), Perception Survey for Delegates of the OECD Working Party on Open Government.
As mentioned in the OECD-OGP Communications Guide (OECD; OGP, 2018[9]), “there is much to learn from the communication community that could be useful for policy makers in charge of open government reforms, such as increasing knowledge about the beneficiaries of reforms to better inform open government initiatives and improving the ability to reach them through audience insight for example. Vice-versa, by strengthening communicators’ understanding of open government initiatives, […] their role can be expanded as agents of change for open government within their ministries, thereby ensuring that the whole of government acts for transparency, integrity, accountability and participation, and not just a single ministry”. Public communication, as supported by the proper strategies and resources, can amplify the transparency outcomes of open government policies and increase policies’ impact by boosting users’ take-up. For instance, it can promote the contents of proactive disclosures under Access to Information (ATI) laws and raise awareness of how and what information can be requested through this process. By establishing a dialogue with citizens, whether through the new opportunities for interaction awarded by digital and social media or through more traditional face-to-face events, governments can allow for individuals to voice views and react to content in a way that can inform policy and improve services. The communication function similarly relies on public feedback gathered via opinion polls, sentiment analysis of public channels and other audience insights. As such, this “listening” activity can translate into a form of participation when it serves to shape responses and informs policy and service design and delivery that is based on the needs of all groups in society. For example, the OECD Recommendation on Creating Better Opportunities for Young People (OECD, 2022[10]) highlights that governments should deliver targeted public communications that are relevant, clear and accessible to young people, based on active listening and understanding of young people’s concerns and interests, including through digital means, as part of broader open government initiatives.
In practice, it appears that the offices in charge of whole-of-government communication could increase their efforts to disseminate the open government agenda. Furthering the open government principle of participation, for example, does not yet seem to be among the key objectives of public communicators. Indeed, only 6% of centres of government surveyed as part of the OECD Report on Public Communication (OECD, 2021[11]) included this among their priorities1. Transparency reaches a higher score, with 37% of surveyed countries stating that it is among their top priorities when conducting communication activities. Nonetheless, some good practices linked to the use of communication in support of open government principles can be observed, particularly as they related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including for example:
In the spring of 2020, in response to the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rapid spread of misinformation, the government of Finland enlisted the specialised communication agency PING Helsinki to activate its vast network of social media influencers. About 1 800 influencers were invited to join the campaign #faktaakoronasta (i.e., “coronafacts”), receiving daily and weekly briefing packs via email with key messages, facts, content and sources to link in their posts. Participating influencers also received communication guidance and coaching via a webinar series, to be better equipped to post on the complex topic of COVID-19. Many of the influencers engaged did not have especially large followings but were often considered stronger voices because of their standing in a particular field or community. The influencers were not remunerated, and many noted taking pride in participating out of a sense of civic duty. The government made explicit the initiative’s intent for inclusion and wider reach, with an emphasis on those who are difficult to reach through traditional media and methods (Alfonsi, 2022[12]).
In addition to daily high-level press briefings, New Zealand’s Prime Minister has engaged in informal and informative Facebook live chats during the pandemic to directly answer citizens’ questions on self-isolation measures and engage in a dialogue. Such empathic two-way communication has shown its effectiveness in ensuring citizens’ implementation of policies (Alfonsi, 2022[12]).
The implementation of Provision 6 is advancing relatively slowly.
6.1: Public communication around the open government agenda is an area where OECD Member and Partner countries could be strengthening their efforts. Indeed, it is a challenging task that requires adequate human and financial resources2, as well as a recognition of the strategic role that communication can play in achieving government objectives. Moving forward, Adherents could consider developing dedicated communication strategies and plans, based on audience insights, including measurable objectives with targeted audiences. They could also collaborate with third-party messengers, such as community leaders or influencers, to ensure compelling messages around the open government agenda are reaching diverse parts of the population. Finally, a focus on communicating open government actions through stories and impacts can go a long way in supporting this agenda.
6.2: More synergies can be exploited between the open government and public communication communities in favour of a more open agenda. For the effect of open government being amplified through public communications, governments could team up with players beyond the government. While some Adherents have started to tap into this potential, this area of collaboration remains underexplored.
References
[12] Alfonsi, C. (2022), Public communication trends after COVID-19: Innovative practices across the OECD and in four Southeast Asian countries, OECD Publishing, https://doi.org/10.1787/cb4de393-en.
[3] Government of Canada (n.d.), Open Government website, https://open.canada.ca/en.
[4] Government of Finland (2019), Finland Action Plan 2019-2023, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/finland-action-plan-2019-2023/.
[5] Government of Lithuania (2021), OGP Action Plan 2021-2023, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/lithuania-action-plan-2021-2023/.
[6] Government of the United Kingdom (2020), Open Government Playbook, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-government-playbook.
[2] OECD (2022), Open Government Review of Brazil: Towards an Integrated Open Government Agenda, OECD Public Governance Reviews, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/3f9009d4-en.
[10] OECD (2022), Recommendation of the Council on Creating Better Opportunities for Young People, https://legalinstruments.oecd.org/en/instruments/OECD-LEGAL-0474.
[11] OECD (2021), OECD Report on Public Communication: The Global Context and the Way Forward, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/22f8031c-en.
[8] OECD (2021), Perception Survey for Delegates of the OECD Working Party on Open Government.
[1] OECD (2020), OECD Survey on Open Government.
[9] OECD; OGP (2018), Communicating Open Government: A How-to Guide, https://www.oecd.org/gov/Open-Government-Guide.pdf.
[7] OGP (n.d.), Open Gov Week, https://opengovweek.org/.
Notes
← 1. The OECD Report “Public Communication: the Global Context and the Way Forward” is based on data collected through the OECD 2020 Understanding Public Communication Surveys administered to Centres of Government and Ministries of Health in 46 OECD Member and non-Member countries as well as the European Commission.
← 2. 76% of Centres of Governments surveyed as part of the Report on Public Communication noted human and financial resources as a key challenge for their public communication actions (this number includes non-Adherents).