Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah Pangandaman on Wednesday called for the approach of co-creating, collaborating, and contributing toward a more open Philippine government.
“It is incumbent upon us that we co-create, collaborate and contribute in order to catalyze change toward a better and more open government,” Pangandaman said during the third day of the week-long event of the Philippine Open Government Partnership (PH-OGP) in Manila.
Pangandaman, who is also the PH-OGP Steering Committee chairperson, said co-creation allows for the delivery of better public services by capturing the needs and behaviors of the people and adapting to them dynamically.
She said the co-creation approach can be a collaborative process to develop the country’s open government action plans.
“As such, we should move co-creation from the sidelines of public service delivery to the center of public sector innovation. So let us scale up our actions and ensure that the co-creation implementation of our national action plan becomes a fundamental requirement for successful public service, rather than a “nice-to-have” feature,” she added.
On the other hand, collaboration among government, civil society, and other stakeholders is at the heart of the OGP process, Pangandaman said.
She said collaboration aids in identifying issues of most concern to citizens and promotes a community approach to problem-solving.
“So let us collaborate at all stages and make open government work so that we could provide platforms and amplify voices of the people in the decisions that affect their lives, especially those who don’t often have a seat at the table,” she added.
For the contribution component, Pangandaman said contributing to initiatives that promote open government would also advance citizen engagement, which has always been considered one of the key pillars of open government.
Pangandaman said the aim should not only be achieving increased participation but also pursuing quality citizen involvement.
“More importantly, we should keep in mind that these measures are put in place to provide us with better public services and quality of life. Hence when we contribute to such undertakings, we steer the government toward our decided future,” she said.
“So as you co-create, collaborate and contribute to a more open government, please note that the DBM stands with you as this aligns with the whole-of-society approach that we have been relentlessly advocating for in the government,” she added.
Pangandaman said the DBM, for its part, will commit to stimulating the adoption of co-creation even in the procurement processes through the efficient use of the public budget, mainstreaming more avenues to collaborate with different stakeholders, especially those in the vulnerable sectors and ultimately contributing to nation building.
The DBM also intends to energize citizen participation in governance through the establishment of Civil Society Organization (CSO) desks, which aims to harness CSO participation by responding to requests for information, data, and budget-related queries.
“We will also focus on utilizing technologies that will help build the capacity of CSO to properly monitor and evaluate national commitments,” she said.
Recognizing the vital role of e-governance in fostering an open government, Pangandaman said the digitalization of government services and processes remains a top priority.
She said Project DIME or Digital Imaging for Monitoring and Evaluation will be relaunched as a game-changing initiative that makes use of existing technologies and engages citizens in participatory monitoring.
“This is alongside the implementation of our digital transformation roadmap, which aims to facilitate faster release of data needed for government transactions, reduce government expenses for manual transactions, promote fiscal transparency and prevent red tape,” she said.
The week-long event dubbed as Open Gov Week carries a theme “Co-create. Collaborate. Contribute.”
The theme focuses on continuing efforts of the government and various stakeholders to promote deeper civil society-government engagement, amplified discourses on anti-corruption, strengthened mechanisms for public accountability, and advanced technological innovations to improve public service delivery.
Participants in the Open Gov Week include PH-OGP stakeholders from the government and civil society, members of the Steering Committee, representatives from the Independent Reporting Mechanism, government reformers, youth leaders and civil society advocates. (PNA)
