More than 30 civil society organisations and public authorities are meeting on 14 and 15 July 2021 in Rabat to discuss the role that civil society can play in transparency policies in Morocco as part of the project “Information and Integrity: Strengthening the role of civil society in promoting transparency”.
During the panel discussions, CSO representatives will start with the INSPIRED (Integrated Support Programme for Inclusive Reform and Democratic Dialogue) participatory policy analysis to assess transparency and anti-corruption policies in Morocco. They will also launch the discussion on digital tools to facilitate the monitoring and evaluation of these policies. They will then discuss how civil society can be better integrated into the effective implementation of transparency policies and try to identify possibilities for collaboration and partnership between the different actors involved.
This event will also be the occasion to officially launch this project, which is supported by the European Partnership for Democracy (EPD) in collaboration with Impact for Development and the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, with the financial support of the European Union.
Working together to advance accountability
After adopting its new constitution in 2011, Morocco launched a series of reforms to promote greater transparency and accountability in public policies, while strengthening citizens’ participation in public policies and programmes. With the adoption of the law on the right of access to information, the Kingdom joined the Open Government Partnership in 2018 and is now in the process of co-creating a second national action plan with civil society. Within this framework, digitalisation plays a central and essential role in streamlining initiatives to promote access to information and transparency. And recent years have seen the acceleration of digital transformation within public institutions. “The digital device offers a systemic solution to the fight against corruption and allows for more advanced citizen participation,” said Mr. Tarik Nesh Nash, President of Impact For Development. It is in this context and in recognition of the central role played by civil society that this new initiative “Information and Integrity: Strengthening the Role of Civil Society in Promoting Transparency” is launched.
Empowering civil society through dialogue and civic tech
By providing digital tools and creating spaces for dialogue, the project aims to support civil society organisations in advocating, monitoring and evaluating transparency and anti-corruption policies in cooperation with public authorities and independent institutions. Most importantly, the action seeks to raise awareness among citizens of the benefits they can gain from a more effective implementation of transparency policies.
“Transparency is essential to ensure equitable service delivery policies and enable citizens to exercise their rights,” says Majda Chafoui, EPD’s Programmes Officer. “This can only be achieved if political actors come together and work for the common good. This initiative will provide the space and develop the tools for an informed and inclusive dialogue.”
The four main components of the project are:
- Analysis and knowledge creation: The project will – in a participatory manner – monitor and evaluate public policies on transparency and anti-corruption, including the effectiveness of legislative initiatives. We will do this by supporting CSOs in analysing and monitoring public authorities’ transparency and public access to information.
- Civic tech solutions: The project will facilitate the creation of digital tools and platforms to publicly document the monitoring and evaluation activities of civil society groups, thereby providing civic tech solutions for both the transparency of public action and collective citizen participation. In parallel, training for authorities and civil society on access to information will be provided.
- Dialogue and cooperation: The project will focus especially on creating mechanisms to systematically involve social groups that do not usually participate in public affairs, such as young women or women from remote areas.
- Communication and awareness raising: The aim is to disseminate the actions and results achieved by the project in order to increase public support for better implementation of transparency policies.
For more information, visit the project website or contact [email protected].
