OGP Action Plan workshop discusses commitment towards the FiTI in Senegal

News Senegal

OGP Action Plan workshop discusses commitment towards the FiTI in Senegal

By Sven Biermann

Dakar – 27/28 July 2021. The Directorate of Good Governance conducted a technical validation workshop of the proposed commitments for Senegal’s first National Action Plan (NAP) to the Open Government Partnership (OGP), including the aspects of enhancing transparency in fisheries management.

The workshop was attended by about 50 representatives of the government of Senegal (e.g. Ministries of Justice, Finance, Fisheries, Trade), civil society and the private sector.

The opening ceremony was chaired by the Director of Cabinet of the Secretary of State, Mr. Babacar BA. He stated that the interest of the OGP NAP lies in its capacity to consolidate the achievements of Senegal, in terms of transparency of public action, to advance the agenda of good governance and to reposition the country on the regional and international scene.

It was highlighted that the OGP aims to promote transparency in public action in general, to make governments more open and responsive to citizens. Citizen participation is guaranteed by the presence of civil society in the National Joint Committee, which is composed of equal numbers of representatives of the administration and civil society.

The workshop recognised that the starting point of the NAP was the citizen consultations organized in 2020 by the Ministry of Justice (serving as the country’s OGP focal point), in thirteen of the fourteen regions of the country. These consultations provided opportunities for exchanges with grassroots actors and allowed for the collection of their contributions in the framework of the development of the NAP. As a result, 12 governance challenges were identified and subsequently transformed into NAP commitments by the National OGP Committee. These 12 commitments are divided into 3 major categories:

  • Category 1: Improving transparency in public management and access to information
  • Category 2: Improvement of services rendered to public service users
  • Category 3: Strengthening citizen participation in the development, monitoring and implementation of public policies.

Senegal’s Candidate application in the FiTI is related to commitment No. 4 in category 1. 

The working group in charge of examining this commitment was composed of representatives from the Ministries of Justice, Finance, Trade and Fisheries, civil society, as well as the FiTI International Secretariat. FiTI-related discussions included the following:

  • The need to set realistic activities to ensure execution within the set time frame. It was decided to focus on implementing Senegal’s membership in the FiTI in order to ensure that the country is submitting an official FiTI Candidate application to the FiTI International Board. Thus, the preparation of the country’s first FiTI report in the activities of this NAP were not included.
  • The reformulation and simplification of certain objectives and issues in order to facilitate ownership of the Action Plan by the national authorities.
  • The need to ensure that the allocated budget for each commitment is sufficient to finance all proposed activities.

In the OGP, governments work with civil society to create action plans with concrete reforms to promote transparent, participatory, inclusive and accountable governance. 78 countries and 76 local governments — representing more than two billion people — along with thousands of civil society organizations are members of the OGP.