ARTICLE 19, along with twelve other civil society organisations, is to take part in a consultation to improve transparency and good governance in Tunisia, making recommendations to the government as Tunisia joins the Open Government Partnership (OGP). The coalition – the Tunisian Open Government Partnership (TnOGP) – announced on 31 March 2014 that it would participate in a public consultation, which has been proposed by the Presidency of the Government and present a vision and a series of preliminary recommendations for a realistic, inclusive, constructive, transparent and sustainable process.
The TnOGP includes ARTICLE 19, ATCP, ATUGE, CLIBRE, LABO’ DEMOCRATIQUE, I WATCH, OGIC, OPENGOV TN, OPEN TUNISIA, REFORM, SAWTY, TOUENSA and TANSA.
The OGP public consultation was announced by the Director of the e-Government Unit at a seminar organised in collaboration with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on 6 and 7 March 2014 in Tunis. The consultation follows the recent accession of Tunisia to the OGP (Open Government Partnership). The Government has committed to present a detailed action plan before the end of the year, which outlines the actions and reforms that need to be implemented promptly.
Civil society is now invited to propose realistic and meaningful reforms in the area of transparency and good governance. The tnOGP coalition welcomes this opportunity to collaborate positively. At the same time, the tnOGP believes that the programme of the OGP in Tunisia will only succeed if taking into account the following requirements:
- Inclusive process:
The OGP programme involves a range of topics of great concern to civil society. The tnOGP coalition therefore calls on stakeholders to organise themselves, in order to identify relevant themes on which to engage, and ensure that active associations and citizens from different parts of the country are included in those discussions.
- Constructive process:
ThetnOGPcoalition invites civil society to develop concrete proposals that the Government will take into account in its future action plan. To make things easier, the coalition calls for an online platform that can provide a common documentation database, together participative tools to assist in the drafting of a pilot Action Plan.
- Transparent and realistic process:
The tnOGP coalition considers that it is essential the consultation project takes place in a fully transparent manner. In particular, the coalition urges the government to publish a calendar of meetings and upcoming events. We urgent the government to ensure that this calendar will not hurt person’s right to participate and to develop its contributions.
- Autonomous and sustainable process:
The interest of the OGP is first and foremost to help provide Tunisia with a framework that unites all Tunisian stakeholders in order to build a sustainable foundation for continued cooperation and discussion. This programme should therefore take into account the needs and the expectations of citizens.