copy the linklink copied! 6.6. Open government co-ordination unit: Institutional settings and key functions
The OECD defines open government as “a culture of governance that promotes the principles of transparency, integrity, accountability and stakeholder participation in support of democracy and inclusive growth.” There are three key aspects that contribute to successful delivery of open government reforms: the mechanisms by which countries co-ordinate open government initiatives; the institutional settings and tasks of relevant co-ordination units, and the extent to which countries monitor the implementation and evaluate the impact of open government initiatives.
Of the seven SEA countries surveyed, six (or 86%) indicated that there is an office responsible for horizontal co-ordination of open government initiatives, compared to 77% of OECD countries. In three of the six (Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand) this office already existed and addresses open government as part of a larger portfolio (such as digital government). In Indonesia, the office responsible for horizontal co-ordination of open government initiatives is a newly created unit within an office with a larger portfolio, while in Viet Nam it is a department within the government office. In Singapore, it sits in the Prime Minister’s Office.
The responsibilities and tasks of these co-ordination units vary from country to country. In all six of the SEA countries with an office, the office is in charge of co-ordinating implementation of open government initiatives. In Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore the units are also in charge of allocating some financial resources for implementation. By comparison, this task is carried out by 20% of OECD countries. Furthermore, in only 57% of the surveyed SEA countries is the co-ordination unit in charge of communicating the reforms, which is significantly lower than in OECD countries, at 73%.
Understanding the extent to which open government initiatives are achieving their goals or not depends on governments monitoring the implementation and evaluating their impact. Five of the SEA countries surveyed reported that they monitor the implementation of open government initiatives, less than the 86% of OECD countries that report the same. Furthermore, 57% of the surveyed SEA countries reported that they evaluate the impact of such initiatives – similar to OECD countries (59%). Some SEA countries carry out monitoring and evaluation through the normal activities of public institutions involved in open government – 71% of countries monitor and 57% evaluate in this way.
Of the seven SEA countries that evaluated the impact of open government policies, 71% also reported communicating evaluation results. Notably, Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines make the results of the evaluations publicly available. Sharing – and acting upon – the information collected via the monitoring and evaluation process is necessary to make sure that open government initiatives are increasingly effective, as well as reflective of government strategies and stakeholder needs. For example, Cambodia, Malaysia and Singapore used the findings from their evaluations to develop mobile apps that enhanced feedback and complaint mechanisms to improve their public service delivery.
The SEA data were collected through the OECD Open Government and Open Data Survey, conducted in 2018 in Southeast Asia. The Open Government part of the survey was answered by seven countries: Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam. Respondents were predominantly senior government officials in charge of open government reforms.
The data for OECD countries were collected in 2015 through the Open Government Co-ordination and Citizen Participation in the Policy Cycle Survey. Respondents were predominantly senior government officials in charge of open government reforms.
Further reading
OECD (2016), Open Government: The Global Context and the Way Forward, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264268104-en.
Figure notes
6.15. and 6.16: Data for Australia, Japan, Korea and New Zealand are for 2015. Note that at the time of the survey, the responsibilities of Australia’s open government co-ordination office had not yet been determined.
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https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264305915-en
© OECD, ADB 2019
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