OVERVIEW
In 2018, Morocco joined the Open Government Partnership (OGP), a multilateral global initiative to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance. The Moroccan government and civil society have made ambitious commitments at the national and sub-national levels: two regions, Beni Mellal-Khenifra (BMK) and Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima (TTA), and the city of Tetouan are members of OGP Local. In November 2022, Morocco hosted the Africa and Middle East regional OGP summit in Marrakech, where the GOM reiterated their commitment to the OGP agenda at both the national and sub-national levels.
USAID's ILTIZAM program, implemented by the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS) through the International Republic Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI), supports the development of innovative approaches by civil society representatives of marginalized populations to more effectively engage with subnational government institutions. These mechanisms prioritize the inclusion of these groups in the creation and implementation of OGP committments in Morocco and enable civil society to engage effectively with key government decision makers and pursue innovations that advance local priorities for strong, transparent, and open government. Ultimately, ILTIZAM aims to improve the lives of underrepresented Moroccans and support OGP Local comittments in BMK, TTA, and Tetouan.
PRIORITIES
PHASE ONE: DESIGN
Between December 2022 and February 2023, ILTIZAM partners conducted a listening tour with local Moroccan government officials, community members, and civil society focused on top advocacy issues affecting women, persons with disabilities, youth, ethno-linguistic minorities, geographically marginalized populations, and economically disadvantaged groups. The goal of the listening tours was to understand the needs, priorities, and concerns most relevant to open government initiatives. During the listening tours, partners conducted 63 focus group discussions and 59 individual interviews with 911 participants, including 588 men and 323 women. Over half of participants were youth. USAID and CEPPS used the outcomes and learning from the listening tour to refine the design of the program in collaboration with government and civil society stakeholders.
PHASE TWO: IMPLEMENTATION
ILTIZAM partners will use strategies and recommendations from the listening tour and co-design process to support marginalized groups’ engagement with key government decision makers and pursuit of innovations on local priorities for strong, transparent, and open government. Activities will include:
- Interactive events with civil society organizations to reflect on the results of the listening tour, highlight shared challenges, discuss opportunities to engage with OGP Local processes, and preview the call for innovations;
- Capacity building of civil society to innovate in the governance space and empower groups that have been traditionally excluded;
- Selection of innovations focused on making OGP commitments more inclusive and transparent through an open and competitive call for ideas;
- Incubation of OGP innovation projects through the provision of funds, tailored consultations, and capacity building;
- Workshops for Regional Councils and consultative bodies on citizen outreach to support expanded inclusion of diverse communities in participatory democracy; and
- Presentation of the innovations implemented by award recipients and further collaboration and engagement between citizens and government through OGP.
ANTICIPATED RESULTS
- Subnational governance officials and members of underrepresented groups will have the capacity and means to more effectively engage on open government and develop innovations;
- Subnational government will foster greater space for meaningful, locally owned mechanisms of engagement with often-excluded Moroccan populations to inform OGP implementation; and
- Civil society, and marginalized groups in particular, will develop a greater awareness of OGP commitments and opportunities for engagement with subnational government officials to promote open government and ultimately improve their lives, communities, and futures.
