Open Government Scan of Lebanon

Chapter 4. Institutional framework

Open government is a culture of governance that aims to transform how the public administration works and interacts with its citizens. The transversal nature of open government strategies and initiatives requires an effective governance structure with appropriate co-ordination mechanisms at horizontal and vertical levels. Therefore, the OECD Recommendations advise countries to “co-ordinate, through the necessary institutional mechanisms, open government strategies and initiatives – horizontally and vertically – across all levels of government to ensure that they are aligned with and contribute to all relevant socio-economic objectives” (Provision 3). Ideally, such a governance structure includes the following two aspects:

• An Open Government Committee that co-ordinates the national open government agenda and involves all relevant stakeholders from government, civil society, academia and the private sector.

• A central government institution that has a clear mandate and the capacity to steer and lead the national open government agenda (OECD, 2019[6]).

Data from OECD countries show that establishing a co-ordination unit within a central government institution is a common practice, with 77% of OECD countries having a dedicated office responsible for the horizontal co-ordination of open government initiatives. In the majority of cases (62%), this office is located in the office of the head of government or in the cabinet office/chancellery/council of ministers. This ensures high-level support and steering of open government initiatives. Ministries of finance, interior or public administration are also other common offices that take on the open government co-ordination function. The responsibilities of such an office vary (see Figure 4.1), but generally include the co-ordination function, the responsibility to develop an open government strategy, monitoring implementation, communicating reforms and in some cases assigning financial resources and evaluation of impact.

Figure 4.1. Responsibilities of the co-ordinating office

Source: OECD (2016[2])s, Open Government: The Global Context and the Way Forward, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264268104-en.

Some 34% of OECD countries have also established an open government steering committee (which is equally a recommendation of the OGP), to ensure regular engagement with a variety of stakeholders. This engagement can take the form of regular communication, consultation and sometimes even co-creation, co-implementation and co-evaluation of open government initiatives. In most cases, an open government steering committee includes civil society organisations working in related fields, but local government representatives, media, private sector, trade unions or other branches of power can also be members of such a committee (OECD, 2016[2]).

Box 4.1. Composition of mixed open government forums

The establishment of a multi-stakeholder forum, following the practice in several countries, has become a mandatory feature for OGP participating countries. The OGP defines it as “a mandatory, standing consultative body that assists in this process, and is a cornerstone of each participating government’s successful participation in the OGP process. It should meet every three months in order to comply with basic guidance.”

A common feature of these forums is equal representation between government institutions and civil society, with civil society representatives either chosen through an open competitive process (i.e. Morocco) or a self-selection process led by civil society and often including predefined criteria (i.e. Tunisia and Canada).

These forums have several tasks while they accompany the OGP process or open government programme of a specific government. In Tunisia, the committee leads the consultation process of the OGP action plan and co-implements some commitments. In Paraguay, the forum promotes its work and the open government agenda, and also opens its meetings to the public (among others via live streaming). In Canada, the forum is governed by Terms of Reference that outline the mission, meeting frequency (every two months and extraordinary meetings) and processes to follow to avoid conflict of interest, which ensures the integrity of the forum. The forum is involved in all steps of the OGP process (action plan drafting, implementation, self-assessment and Independent Reporting Mechanism).

Source: OECD (2016[23]), Open Government in Tunisia, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264227118-en; OGP (2019[24]), OGP Handbook Rules and Guidance for Participants, www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/OGP_Handbook-Rules-Guidance-for-Participants_20190313.pdf; OGP (2018[7]), OGP Participation and Co-Creation Toolkit, www.opengovpartnership.org/stories/ogps-participation-and-co-creation-toolkit-from-usual-suspects-to-business-as-usual/; Government of Canada (n.d.[25]), Multi-stakeholder Forum Terms of Reference, https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NHSHqGDQBEuY76d5VA3lcz-AtaMegyUa6C7XE9DKQv0/edit.

Lebanon’s open government governance structure is still in development. OMSAR, as the ministry responsible for developing administrative reform and the institutional capacities of the public administration has taken the lead role in promoting and co-ordinating open government initiatives. For example, the minister has publicly announced Lebanon’s intention to join the OGP, and OMSAR has elaborated Lebanon’s definition of open government and is co-ordinating work with international institutions in this field. The OECD survey found that to support this work OMSAR has established a technical internal open government team with six public officials that unite a variety of policy areas, such as digital government and ICT, anti-corruption, human resources, legal advisors and public procurement specialists. This is a laudable step and could be reinforced by defining the responsibilities and tasks of the team.

Box 4.2. Co-ordination of open government reforms in Canada

In Canada, the Open Government Co-ordination Unit is attached to the Office of the Chief Information Officer, which is part of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS). In this role, it advises the Treasury Board Committee of Ministers, which manages the government’s expenses on programmes and services. The work of the unit covers all stages of the policy cycle. Each of its divisions has clear responsibilities for different aspects of an effective horizontal and vertical co-ordination of open government initiatives.

The Strategic Policy and Planning Division plans, implements and reports on Canada’s open government initiatives. In this respect, it aligns ongoing initiatives to increase coherence across government and complements them with additional measures in response to newly emerging challenges. The main output is Canada’s National OGP Action Plan (NAP), which includes specific commitments by the Canadian government. Furthermore, the division monitors the progress of implementation of the NAP and assesses the current state of open government in Canada. The information it collects is then shared via an online tool, the quarterly updated “Progress Tracker”.

The Program Implementation and International Relations Division has two areas of focus: first, it aims to increase effectiveness by improving collaboration in the framework of the Open Government Partnership with the OECD and other international partners. For example, it is the main support for the official open government point of contact. Second, it supports domestic structures in their work by providing secretariat functions and strategic guidance. For example, it leads the co-ordination of reporting on NAP commitments.

The Outreach and Engagement Division is the focal point of communication between the Government of Canada’s open government work and external stakeholders and other governmental agencies and civil servants. To develop an encompassing education for civil servants, co-operation with the Canada School of Public Service has led to projects such as the Digital Academy and the corresponding “Busrides” podcasts, which provide concise supplementary information. In terms of communication with external stakeholders, one work stream covers the creation of informative content for social media, websites, presentations etc. to increase the visibility of open government. One important aspect is engagement in developing and disseminating a suitable narrative behind open government in order to motivate stakeholder participation. In this respect, the Outreach and Engagement Division aims to serve as an example for other government agencies in how it manages consultation with civil society as part of the 2020-2022 National Action Plan.

Source: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (n.d.[26]), Open Government Team: Work packages, unpublished draft; Government of Canada (2020[27]), “Open Government” webpage, https://open.canada.ca/en; Canada School of Public Service Digital Academy (2020[28]), “Busrides” webpage, https://busrides-trajetsenbus.ca/en/ep-3-en/; Kathryn May (2018[29]), “Feds launch ‘digital academy’ for public service”, iPolitics online, https://ipolitics.ca/2018/10/18/feds-launch-new-digital-academy-for-ps-to-help-drive-technology-makeover/.

There is currently no mechanism to co-ordinate open government horizontally and vertically in Lebanon. However, the country, and in particular OMSAR, could build on several existing co-ordination frameworks in related policy fields that could be an inspiration or provide a structure for an open government co-ordination mechanism.

The Prime Minister’s Decision No. 156/2011 established an Anti-corruption Ministerial Committee of which the Minister of State for Administrative Reform is the vice president and the Prime Minister the president. It also includes the Minister of Justice, Minister of Interior and Municipalities, and the Minister of Finance. The committee is supported by a Technical Committee (established by Prime Minister’s Decision No. 156/2011) presided over by OMSAR. It is responsible for the elaboration and adoption of Lebanon’s policies in the field of anti-corruption and integrity, in particular the adoption of the national anti-corruption strategy (see Chapter 2). In order to enhance the implementation of the Right of Access to Information law, and given that access to information is also a key pillar for anti-corruption, the Prime Minister formed a committee to develop the national action plan for the implementation of the Right of Access to Information law (see Chapter 3). The committee, which is composed of the Ministry of Justice, Council of State, Central Inspection Board and OMSAR, acts as a sub-committee of the Anti-corruption Ministerial Committee, which adopts its policies and action plans. Lebanon could consider establishing a sub-committee on open government that reports to the Anti-corruption Ministerial Committee and includes the members of, or co-ordinates closely with, the Access to Information Committee.

In parallel, the Lebanese Council of Ministers has established a Ministerial Committee for Digital Economy and Digital Transformation, chaired by the Prime Minister and formed by Decision No. 53 of February 28, 2019 and Decision No. 4 of May 24, 2019. As Figure 4.2 shows, the committee has various sub-structures for the implementation of policies, and is also aiming to set-up an advisory board to engage with different public and private actors.

Figure 4.2. Digital transformation structure in Lebanon

Source: Government of Lebanon (2019[8]), Lebanon Digital Transformation: Strategies to Actions.

According to the OECD Recommendation on Open Government, digital tools are a lever and opportunity to design and implement open government strategies and initiatives (OECD, 2017[1]). Equally, the OECD Recommendation on Digital Government Strategies promotes “capturing the value of digital technologies for more open, participatory and innovative governments” (OECD, 2019[30]). In line with these recommendations, Lebanon’s digital transformation strategy lists open government as a founding principle. Hence, close co-ordination through a co-ordination mechanism on open government and the Ministerial Committee for Digital Economy and Digital Transformation, as well as its sub-bodies, is recommended. Lebanon could, for example, consider including a high-level representative of the entity responsible for leading and co-ordinating the digital government policy (e.g. OMSAR or eventually the future Lebanese Digital Agency) in the open government committee, while having its decisions presented to or even approved by the ministerial committee.

In parallel, two other initiatives are underway to engage stakeholders in policy making. These include the Public and Private Advisory Board (mentioned in Figure 4.2) to be created in relation to the digital transformation, and a multi-stakeholder group to be created in the framework of Lebanon’s intention to join the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). The latter is an EITI requirement and must include representatives from government, extractive companies and civil society. It will support Lebanon in meeting the standards and oversee the implementation of EITI commitments (Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, 2017[31]). At the time of writing, civil society is electing its members for the group in an independent manner and according to its own rules. Several civil society organisations have elaborated a code of conduct that sets the criteria for the election process (Lebanese Coalition for Good Governance in Extractive Industries, 2018[32]).

Box 4.3. Code of conduct of civil society organisations involved in EITI

Civil society has become a stakeholder in implementing the EITI since Lebanon announced its intention to join in January 2017.

Civil society actors have therefore devised a code of conduct to help regulate the participation of civil society and define nomination procedures and criteria for the selection of representatives by mutual consent.

It has been formulated in line with the requirements of the EITI standards, which stipulates that “each council from the council of stakeholders shall have the right to appoint its representatives, taking into account the desirability of multiple representation and diversity”.

It includes the following sections:

1. Definition of terms, scope and basic principles

2. Rights, duties and obligations of the representative

3. Elections of the members of the stakeholder council

4. Communication practices

Source: Lebanese Coalition for Good Governance in Extractive Industries (2018[32]), Code of Conduct of Civil Society Organisations involved in EITI, https://logi-lebanon.org/KeyIssue/code-of-conduct-process.

Open government literacy and resources

An institutional framework conducive to open government initiatives does not only rely on appropriate co-ordination structures, but also on adequate human resources with the necessary skills. Open government culture is transforming how civil servants work and the skills they require. Engaging in two-way communication, listening to citizens and co-creating public services require skills such as empathy, negotiation and presentation. OECD countries are only at the beginning of their efforts to include these new skills in their public sector workforce. A 2016 OECD report showed that 57% of OECD countries include open government principles in values frameworks, and only 23% include them in competency frameworks, performance agreements and/or accountability frameworks (OECD, 2016[2]). The OECD Recommendation calls for “promoting open government literacy in the administration” and “providing public officials with … adequate human, financial, and technical resources, while promoting a supportive organisational culture”. These new interactions with citizens should not be outsourced to contract providers, as meaningful insights come only from the interaction between decision makers and citizens (OECD, 2017[33]). The OECD Recommendation on Public Service Leadership and Capability therefore provides a framework to highlight the capabilities needed in the public service (see Box 4.4).

Box 4.4. OECD Recommendation on Public Service Leadership and Capability

Adopted in 2019, the 14 principles of the Recommendation aim to identify what makes a public service fit for purpose and responsive today:

1. Defining the values of the public service and promoting values-based decision making.

2. Building leadership capability in the public service.

3. Ensuring an inclusive and safe public service that reflects the diversity of the society it represents.

4. Building a proactive and innovative public service that takes a long-term perspective in the design and implementation of policy and services.

5. Continuously identifying skills and competencies needed to transform political vision into services which deliver value to society.

6. Attracting and retaining employees with the skills and competencies required from the labour market.

7. Recruiting, selecting and promoting candidates through transparent, open and merit-based processes, to guarantee fair and equal treatment.

8. Developing the necessary skills and competencies by creating a learning culture and environment in the public service.

9. Assessing, rewarding and recognising performance, talent and initiative.

10. Clarifying institutional responsibilities for people management to strengthen the effectiveness of the public employment system.

11. Developing a long-term, strategic and systematic approach to people management based on evidence and inclusive planning.

12. Setting the necessary conditions for internal and external workforce mobility and adaptability to match skills with demand.

13. Determining and offering transparent employment terms and conditions (e.g. compensation, term length, job security, rights and obligations) that appropriately match the functions of the position, taking into account external and internal labour markets.

14. Ensuring that employees have opportunities to contribute to the improvement of public service delivery and are engaged as partners in public service management issues.

Source: OECD (2019[34]), Recommendation of the Council on Public Service Leadership and Capability, https://legalinstruments.oecd.org/en/instruments/OECD-LEGAL-0445.

A 2017 OECD report, “Skills for a High Performing Civil Service”, provides a framework of the skills needed for service delivery and citizen engagement (OECD, 2017[33]). These skills are:

• Professional: Traditional building blocks of service and engagement skills include professionals with expertise in, for example, public relations, communications, marketing, consultation, facilitation, service delivery, conflict resolution, community development and outreach.

• Strategic: Using engagement skills to achieve specific outcomes to inform, for example, better targeted interventions, or nudging public behaviour towards desirable outcomes, such as healthier eating habits or smoking reduction.

• Innovative: Innovation skills applied to engagement to expand and redesign the tools themselves through, for example, co-creation, prototyping, social media, crowdsourcing, challenge prizes, ethnography, opinion research and data, branding, behavioural insights/nudging, digital service environments, and user data analytics.

Now is a timely moment to introduce the skills required for open government in Lebanon, as the Civil Service Board (CSB) and OMSAR are – at the time of writing – conducting a project on Lebanon’s public service, documenting and defining job positions and responsibilities. This is part of a call for restructuring the public sector echoed in the ministerial statement of the 2019 government (Lebanese Forces, 2019[35]). One of the objectives under this restructuring target is to carry out a comprehensive mapping of all government institutions, including staff vacancies and surplus, in order to determine the functional needs of each department. This could be the occasion to introduce the responsibilities and skills related to open government in certain job positions/descriptions. OMSAR is already working on defining the job description and tasks of the official responsible for access to information, a commitment of the national action plan for implementing the Right of Access to Information law, which could serve as good practice to build on.

Introducing these skills in job descriptions and considering them in future hiring processes is however only one approach; training public officials, and thereby enabling them to acquire the required skills, is another approach. This is of particular importance in the current situation, where the 2017 hiring freeze, as foreseen by Law No. 46 dated 21/8/2017, does not allow for the recruitment of further public officials (Division for Sustainable Development Goals, 2018[17]). The existing e-Learning portal currently run by OMSAR, which is envisioned to be transformed into a hub for a national digital academy portal, currently includes courses on, for example, relations with citizens, strategic planning, public employment, management and change management, project management in the digital age, conflict management, and the Covid-19 pandemic response. This portal could be further developed to include a course on open government principles and their application in the public administration. To develop the course OMSAR could partner with international organisations, universities and training institutes such as the Institut des Finances Basil Fuleihan.

Box 4.5. Education in Open Government: A comprehensive and multilevel pedagogical tool by the Spanish government

Education in Open Government is the result of a commitment in the third OGP Spanish National Action Plan 2017–2019. This ongoing initiative has two pedagogical objectives: train students in the development of social and civic competences, specifically the principles of open government, and train teachers for the evaluation of social and civic competences. A third objective goes beyond education and aims to build a civic capacity in youth to fully exercise their democratic rights, demand transparency and accountability to public authorities, and build an active citizenship by giving students the skills and knowledge to be able to interact and participate in the public sphere. Education in Open Government aims to accelerate the open government cultural change by transmitting the principles to those citizens who will be making decisions in the future.

The project started in 2018 led by the Directorate-General of Public Governance, with cross-government co-ordination, and is composed of three levels of action:

1) Training via a massive online open course (MOOC) based on fundamental knowledge about open government and its pillars, as well as the main trends around implementation and outcomes on diverse policy areas. The training targets teachers and the whole education community, as well as any other person interested in open government.

2) The inclusion of open government related content in pedagogical curricula across Spain.

3) Guides of education in open government are pedagogical material for primary, secondary and high school education, and include theoretical and practical knowledge on open government. The guides have been translated into all the official languages of Spain, as well as into English and French.

This project is the first comprehensive educational project specific to open government that takes into account all educational stages and has clear objectives and evaluation mechanisms. This initiative can be replicated for students at university or for civil servants capacity building and in other countries. A pilot project in Latin America and the Caribbean was led by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation.

Sources: OPSI (2018[36]), Education in Open Government, https://oecd-opsi.org/innovations/education-in-open-government/; Government of Spain (n.d[37]), Educacion en Gobierno Abierto [Education in Open Government], https://transparencia.gob.es/transparencia/transparencia_Home/index/Gobierno-abierto/EduGobAbierto.html#Componente0; Government of Spain (2017[38]), Third National Action Plan of Spain 2017-2019 of the Open Government Partnership, www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Spain_Action-Plan_2017-2019_EN.pdf.

Financing open government initiatives

Responsible institutions require a budget to implement open government initiatives; however, fewer than 20% of OECD countries use the central institution in charge of open government to allocate funds for open government initiatives; however, countries ensure funding through the institutions implementing each project. In some cases, funds are also provided by the European Union (EU) or donors and multilateral organisations (OECD, 2016[2]). Lebanon is currently in a tight fiscal situation with an immense public debt, which led to the CEDRE conference. While the international community has pledged financial support, and some projects such as with the OECD, UNDP and the World Bank exist to financially support specific reform efforts, the government is called upon to develop cost-effective and innovative open government initiatives. Partnerships with civil society, academia and the use of digital tools are therefore advisable.

Recommendations:

• Formalize the role OMSAR as the leading agency of Lebanon’s open government agenda by nominating an open government co-ordinator and defining the responsibilities and tasks of the open government team. This could be linked to other proposed open government reforms such as developing an action plan and elaborating guidelines for stakeholder participation.

• Establish a committee on open government, which functions in accordance with existing government committee structures. This would include coordination and dialogue with the Anti-corruption Ministerial Committee, the Access to Information Committee, and the Ministerial Committee for Digital Economy and Digital Transformation.

• Introduce responsibilities and skills related to open government in certain job positions/descriptions. In doing so, develop training courses on open government principles and initiatives, taking advantage of the existing e-learning platform.

References

[9] Canada School of Public Service Digital Academy (2020), “Busrides” webpage, https://busrides-trajetsenbus.ca/en/ep-3-en/ (accessed on 2 July 2020).

[19] Division for Sustainable Development Goals (2018), Lebanon: Voluntary National Review on Sustainable Development Goals, United Nations, https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/19484Lebanon_VNR_2018.pdf (accessed on 29 October 2019).

[14] Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (2017), Lebanon commits to implement EITI, https://eiti.org/news/lebanon-commits-to-implement-eiti (accessed on 29 October 2019).

[8] Government of Canada (2020), “Open Government” webpage, https://open.canada.ca/en (accessed on 2 July 2020).

[6] Government of Canada (n.d.), Multi-stakeholder Forum Terms of Reference, https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NHSHqGDQBEuY76d5VA3lcz-AtaMegyUa6C7XE9DKQv0/edit (accessed on 20 November 2019).

[11] Government of Lebanon (2019), Lebanon Digital Transformation: Strategies to Actions.

[22] Government of Spain (2017), Third National Action Plan of Spain 2017-2019 fo the Open Government Partnserhip, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Spain_Action-Plan_2017-2019_EN.pdf.

[21] Government of Spain (n.d), Educacion en Gobierno Abierto [Education in Open Government], https://transparencia.gob.es/transparencia/transparencia_Home/index/Gobierno-abierto/EduGobAbierto.html#Componente0 (accessed on  April 2020).

[15] Lebanese Coalition for Good Governance in Extractive Industries (2018), Code of Conduct of Civil Society Organisations involved in EITI, https://logi-lebanon.org/KeyIssue/code-of-conduct-process (accessed on 29 October 2019).

[18] Lebanese Forces (2019), “تفاصيل البيان الوزاري للحكومة الجديدة”, https://www.lebanese-forces.com/2019/02/12/new-gov-2/.

[10] May, K. (2018), “Feds launch ‘digital academy’ for public service”, Online article, iPolitics online, https://ipolitics.ca/2018/10/18/feds-launch-new-digital-academy-for-ps-to-help-drive-technology-makeover/ (accessed on 2 July 2020).

[13] OECD (2019), OECD Recommendation on Digital Government Strategies, https://www.oecd.org/gov/digital-government/recommendation-on-digital-government-strategies.htm (accessed on 29 October 2019).

[1] OECD (2019), Open Government in Argentina, OECD Public Governance Reviews, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/1988ccef-en.

[17] OECD (2019), Recommendation of the Council on Public Service Leadership and Capability, https://legalinstruments.oecd.org/en/instruments/OECD-LEGAL-0445 (accessed on 29 October 2019).

[12] OECD (2017), Recommendation of the Council on Open Government, https://legalinstruments.oecd.org/en/instruments/OECD-LEGAL-0438.

[16] OECD (2017), Skills for a High Performing Civil Service, OECD Public Governance Reviews, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264280724-en.

[3] OECD (2016), Open Government in Tunisia, OECD Public Governance Reviews, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264227118-en.

[2] OECD (2016), Open Government: The Global Context and the Way Forward, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264268104-en.

[4] OGP (2019), OGP Handbook Rules and Guidance for Participants, Open Government Partnership, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/OGP_Handbook-Rules-Guidance-for-Participants_20190313.pdf (accessed on 15 November 2019).

[5] OGP (2018), OGP Participation and Co-Creation Toolkit, Open Government Partnership, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/stories/ogps-participation-and-co-creation-toolkit-from-usual-suspects-to-business-as-usual/ (accessed on 15 November 2019).

[20] OPSI (2018), Education in Open Government, Observatory of Public Sector Innovation, https://oecd-opsi.org/innovations/education-in-open-government/ (accessed on 3 April 2020).

[7] Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (n.d.), “Open Government Team: Work packages”, unpublished draft.