Author: marina.stevanoska@inteligenta.io

Будва, 3 октомври 2019 година

Министерот за информатичко општество и администрација Дамјан Манчевски учествува на панел дискусија на високо ниво што се одржува во Будва, Црна Гора. Целта на настанот е размена на искуства и практични решенија во однос на спроведувањето на процесот на ОВП во земјите во регионот, запознавање со новите трендови преку презентации на регионални иницијативи, како и дефинирање на  областите во кои ќе се преземат заеднички мерки во иднина.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Во своето обраќање, министерот Манчевски потенцираше дека, преку концептот на транспарентност, отвореност и отчетност, Владата на Северна Македонија успеа да ги доближи институциите до граѓаните, така што тие се вклучени во процесите на креирање на сите владини политики.

„Основен предуслов за овој процес да биде успешен е довербата на граѓаните во институциите. Тоа го правиме преку активна транспарентност и отворање на податоците. Со таа цел го отворивме и новиот портал за отворени податоци. Бројот на податочни сетови достапни во моментов е 215 од повеќе од 48 институции. Ова е повеќе од тоа што беше предвидено во Акцискиот план. Преку порталот сакаме да ја подобриме  испораката на услуги и ефикасноста на јавниот сектор. Тој исто така овозможува да се зголеми учеството на граѓаните при креирањето на политики и при анализа на испорачаните резултати. Со еден збор, преку порталот за отворени податоци ја носиме транспарентноста и отвореноста на институциите на едно повисоко ниво. Отворањето на податоците директно и позитивно ќе помогне и во напорите за борба против корупцијата. Исто така, со малку иновативност, дава можност за отворање и на нови бизниси“, рече министерот Манчевски.

Во контекст на отворање на податоците, министерот Дамјан Манчевски додаде дека Владата воведе политики преку софтвер да ги објавува сите трошоци на министрите, замениците министри и државните секретари. На овој начин граѓаните имаат јасна слика за тоа како се трошат нивните пари.

Дводневниот настан во Будва е организиран во соработка меѓу иницијативата ОВП, РеСПА (Регионалната школа за јавна администрација), Владата на Црна Гора и Владата на Северна Македонија.

На панелот, обраќање имаа и министерката за јавна администрација на Црна Гора Сузана Прибиловиќ, министерот за правда на Босна и Херцеговина Јосип Грубеша,  Пол Масен, раководител на програмата за поддршка на земјите за Отворено владино партнерство, како и Горан Пастровиќ, програмски менаџер од РеСпа.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Министерство за информатичко општество и администрација

Ottawa, May 30th, 2019

The Minister of Information Society and Administration, Damjan Manchevski and Minister of Labor and Social Policy, Mila Carovska, attended the launch of the sixth Global Open Government Partnership Summit. This year, the Summit is held in Ottawa, Canada, and is expected to be attended by high representatives of governments and civil society organizations from around the world in the following two days.

North Macedonia was pointed out as positive example in terms of reforms concerning access to justice. During the event, this was also recognized by the Open Government Partnership Support Unit, as well as by the president of Open Society Foundations, Patrick Gaspard.

“10% of action plans for OGP now connect access to justice to open government. In North Macedonia, the Government is supporting four independent centers of access to justice, targeting marginalized groups and providing legal empowerment training to government officials”, said Gaspard.

Video is available on the following link:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ministry of Information Society and Administration

 

Skopje, May 23rd, 2019

Today, the Ministry of Information Society and Administration organized a work meeting with open data officials from public sector bodies and institutions.

The meeting was held as part of regular activities undertakend in the open data process, with a view to ensure coordination and streamlined application of measures and acitivities anticipated under the Open Data Strategy and Action Plan 2018 – 2020, as well as to ensure adequate compliance with provisions under the Law on Utilization of Public Sector Data.

The meeting also included a presentation of the open data portal, following which the participants discussed topics related to technical aspects and manners of publication of information, registration, and possible obstacles during publication.

With a view to support institutions involved in this process, MISA also provided additional guidelines for opening data and promoting quality of open data.

Ministry of Information Society and Administration

Skopje, March 12th, 2019

The Ministry of Information Society and Administration Marks the global Open Government Partnership week with a public discussion covering the topic: “Where We Stand and Further Steps Within the Open Government Partnership“.

The Minister of Information Society and Administration, Damjan Manchevski, opened the event. As he noted, in the previous year the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia and MISA made a large leap forward in meeting commitments that are part of OGP.

“When we defined the new Action Plan a year ago, I stated that the Government and MISA make commitments to prepare a document with specific measures and activities. Measures that would contribute to enhancing cooperation of institutions with civil society organizations, businesses, media and, most importantly, citizens. A year later, I could gladly say that we attained that goal. The Government succeeded in bringing institutions closer to citizens, by means of the concept of transparency, openness and accountability. They are involved in processes of development of all government policies. That is the only way to produce policies, laws, strategies that suit citizens’ interests and needs”, stressed Minister Manchevski.

The fundamental precondition to attain success of Open Government Partnership is to restore citizens’ trust in institutions. The Government and MISA perform that by means of active transparency and opening data.

“Late last year, we opened the new open data portal. There are 190 data sets from over 40 institutions currently available. This exceeds figures anticipated under the Action Plan. The awareness in institutions on the importance of opening data is continuously increasing. There is an assigned open data officer in every institution. The business community, media, civil society organizations and, most importantly, citizens, increase their use of the available data, which actually was the underlying aim of publication thereof”, noted Minister Manchevski.

For the first time this year, North Macedonia hosts a High Representative of the OGP Support Unit in Washington D.C., i.e. the Deputy-Director Jo Powell. He reiterated to the cooperation with MISA and the success North Macedonia has attained following adoption of the new OGP Action Plan.

“In terms of your county, I can see commitments toward an open treasury, amendments to the Law on Prevention of Corruption with focus on citizens, opening a large number of data…This is a truly ambitious and interesting plan that aligns with your goal on EU accession. OGP is here to assist you in attainment of all these goals. In terms of challenges, one of them is to implement these plans. That is not something that could be attained in a year, it also demands bravery and political will. However, I believe and can witness that North Macedonia has major potential, which I believe to be the biggest in the region, in terms of opportunities for OGP functionality. This is a place, a platform wherein all of you could acquire ideas, tools and new innovative solutions. We are not here to tell you what to do – that is yours to decide. We could only offer and provide our support”, said Powell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ministry of Information Society and Administration

Skopje, March 11th, 2019

Today, the Minister of Information Society and Administration, Damjan Manchevski, and the Minister Without Portfolio Responsible for Communications, Accountability and Transparency, Robert Popovski, held a meeting with the Deputy-Director of Open Government Partnership Support Unit in Washington D.C., Jo Powell.

At the meeting, Minister Manchevski focused on activites performed within open data as fundamental precondition for cooperation between institutuions and citizens.

“At present, 190 data sets are available from over 40 institutions. This is a mere begining, and the number of data is constantly increasing. Institutions are becoming aware of the importance of opening data, and businesses, civil society organizations, media intensify their use of available data”, underlined Minister Manchevski.

Minister Popovski introduced the set of measures that the Government of the Republic of Macedonia implements to develop the “Open Government” concept.

“The greatest challenge was to open institutions. We made information on Government operation available to citizens, and we create a criteria system for every government to come. Representatives of civil society organizations in the Republic of North Macedonia are involved in the development of strategies, amendments to laws and monitoring of implementation thereof, with a view to attain a more successful and comprehensive process”.

As Powell stressed, the Government is a leader in the region in terms of Open Government Partnership. According to him, the Action Plan adopted last year covers specific measures and therefore, there is an oportunity to enhance cooperation and support that OGP would secure for North Macedonia.

“This is the first visit of OGP High Representatives to the county, since the establishment of OGP in 2011. We would be glad if North Macedonia’s success serves as inspiration and if you are a leader for other countries in the region”, stressed Powell.

The Deputy-Director Jo Powell and his delegation are on visiting the Republic of North Macedonia as part of the Global Open Government Partnership Week. Therefore, MISA also organizes a public event discussing the topic “Where We Stand and Futrher Steps Within the Open Government Partnership“, to be held on March 12th, 2019 in the MPs’ Club.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ministry of Information Society and Administration

Skopje, January 24th, 2019

The Minister of Information Society and Administration, Damjan Manchevski, participated in the debate titled “Perspectives of Investigative Journalism”.

Minister Manchevski spoke on the panel session titled: “Do Open Databases Contribute to Improvement of Investigative Journalism?“, focusing on the new open data portal.

“A month has passed since we promoted the open data portal and, today, we could say that the number of published data sets is continuously increasing each day. At present, 148 data sets from 42 organizations are available. This number is nowhere near sufficient for us to be able to say that the job is done, but that could never happen. All new data created by institutions should be published on the portal, thereby increasing use thereof”, noted Minister Manchevski, discussing challenges the Government faces when changing the work culture in public institutions. Officials must be aware that information and data available to institutions actually belong to citizens. As he stated, the pressure from journalists in this process is more effective than that of any strategy or document adopted by the Government.

In terms of possibilities open data offer for improvement of investigative journalism, the minister said:

“Of course, journalists are also users of the portal and their work will greatly benefit therefrom, particularly in the area of investigative journalism. The role of journalists to build democratic capacities of a country by means of informing citizens is of utmost importance. Easy access to all data created by institutions, through the open data portal streamlines their operation. This, in turn, allows citizens as end-users to be timely and fully informed on all developments in the country. They would receive information on how their money are spent, prices of agriculture products and byers and exporters thereof, insight in cadastre plans, registers of medicines and doctors, reports on passenger flow, traffic accidents and factors, suicides, finance reports, signed IPARD contracts, number of registered vehicles…and many other data that could be used for further analysis“.

At national and local level, various state institutions provide many services that are often ignored, undermined or inadequately presented. By increasing visibility and transparency, citizens would understand and recognize the value and importance of data created by institutions.

“The open data portal is a living matter and the number of institutions and data therein will constantly increase. With that in mind, I would like to say that each and every one of you can share remarks and comments by means of a simple registration process. More importantly, the portal could be used to request publication of unpublished information. That means that every citizen, every journalist, could request publication of a specific data on the portal. This opportunity for interaction allows everybody to be part of the process and to jointly make this portal a tool that would benefit all“, said Minister Manchevski.

The debate was organized by the Center for Civil Communications, BIRN and NGO Infocenter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ministry of Information Society and Administration