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What is open government?

The Open Government is conceived as a process of adaptation of the institutions to the changes of an increasingly open, educated and informed society, which demands a greater democratic role. It is oriented to the new social needs with a clearly digital orientation by default, based on a social contract and the need to participate in the decision-making of the administration.

Open Government are those tools, reforms and laws that inaugurate a new form of relationship between institutions and citizens, more direct, close, empathic and symmetrical; giving citizens a greater role in the construction of democracy.

With a double objective:

  • Design more representative and legitimate public policies, with the participation of more actors, with a greater plurality of voices, especially those communities directly involved or affected by said policies.
  • But also, to make better policies, as more information is captured with the result of producing more public and social value.

In Spain, each Public Administration has exclusive competence in matters of Open Government, except in relation to transparency, for which Law 19/2013, of December 9, on transparency, access to public information and good governance establishes common minimum obligations for all public administrations. In the Canary Islands it is regulated by Law 12/2014 on Transparency and Access to Public Information of the Canary Islands.

Open Government Components

To fulfill the purposes, Open Government is basically made up of three dimensions:

Mandate of the institutions to present truthful, clear, accessible, up-to-date and usable information, which allows any citizen to know effectively what happens within each institution or organization affected by the principles of transparency. It is about offering true, complete and useful information about the activity of a certain public organization. The main purpose is to guarantee the legitimacy of the institutions , and, of course , to increase the confidence of citizens in it.

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Citizen participation are those processes and mechanisms developed to involve citizens in the design of public policies , through which they can exercise their ability to influence and decide on the final result of such policies. Citizen participation in public management implies a process of social construction of public policies. It is a right, a responsibility and a complement to the traditional mechanisms of political representation. It is a duty and a right that citizens should and can participate in all stages of the public policy management cycle (Design and Formulation, Planning, Execution, Monitoring and Evaluation).

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Mandate of the institutions to present truthful, clear, accessible, up-to-date and usable information, which allows any citizen to know effectively what happens within each institution or organization affected by the principles of transparency. It is about offering true, complete and useful information about the activity of a certain public organization. The main purpose is to guarantee the legitimacy of the institutions , and, of course , to increase the confidence of citizens in it.

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Mandate of the institutions to present truthful, clear, accessible, up-to-date and usable information, which allows any citizen to know effectively what happens within each institution or organization affected by the principles of transparency. It is about offering true, complete and useful information about the activity of a certain public organization. The main purpose is to guarantee the legitimacy of the institutions , and, of course , to increase the confidence of citizens in it.

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Public Innovation Laboratory - InnoLAB

Founded by the Innovation, Projects and Information Society Service of the Cabildo de La Palma, the Innovation Laboratory is a public service aimed at citizens and public entities to promote Co-Creation in technological and business development. “The Public Administration must assume a leadership role with respect to innovation, through the improvement of public services, orientation towards citizens and companies, and operational efficiency. In this sense, public innovation should be understood as the application of new ideas and practices in the field of public management with the aim of generating social value” (INAP)

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