Open Government Partnership New Zealand National Action Plan 2018-2020
Progress report for: January 2019 – April 2019
Commitment 5 progress report: January to April 2019
Commitment 5: Public participation in policy development
Lead agency: The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC)
Objective: DPMC will assist the New Zealand public sector to develop a deeper and more consistent understanding of what good engagement with the public means (right across the International Association of Public Participation’s spectrum of public participation).
Ambition: New Zealanders increasingly experience a timelier and collaborative approach to public participation when policies are developed, and consider their concerns, diversity of views, life experience, and time are valued in the policy process.
Improvements in public participation can result in better design of policy and services, and increase their legitimacy. Improving public participation requires an informed approach to applying public participation methods throughout the policy development process. Developing a deeper understanding of what good engagement looks like and providing guidance about best practice methods across government, will achieve a more consistent and coherent approach to public participation
OGP values: Civic participation
Milestones
Milestone 1
Extend existing Policy Method’s Toolbox public participation guidance to include a decision tool that will assist agencies and Ministers to:
- Choose the appropriate engagement approach on the public participation spectrum when they tackle a specific [policy or service design issue
- Understand the characteristics and enablers of effective public participation at whichever point on the spectrum they choose
- Ensure that the engagement approaches selected appropriately include and reflect the diversity of those interested and affected by the policies.
Start/End dates: October 2018/March 2020
Progress: Underway
Milestone 2
Develop and share recent case studies documenting New Zealand innovation success stories in public participation in the policy development process
Start/End dates: October 2018/March 2020
Progress: Underway
Milestone 3
Identify a ‘live’ policy issue in which to trial public engagement in policy development that is higher on the public participation spectrum than inform or consult, as a demonstration project.
Start/End dates: October 2018/March 2020
Progress: Underway
Milestone 4
Widely disseminate the results of the above actions.
Start/End dates: March 2020/June 2020
Progress: N/A
What we have been doing
In the period since the last report until 30 April 2019, the Policy Project (the team within DPMC responsible for Commitment 5) have:
- Met with the Independent Reviewer, Keitha Booth, in an interagency forum to answer her questions regarding the meaning of the Commitment’s objectives
- Developed an Engagement and Communication Plan for the first phase (Discovery) of the Commitment 5 project, for engaging and keeping key stakeholders informed
- Developed a preliminary Timeline for the Commitment 5 project’s three phases (Discovery, Design and Dissemination)[1] – which can be shared with key stakeholders
- Commenced Discovery Phase meetings with engagement specialists and other key stakeholders in public, private and community sectors to:
- inform them about Commitment 5
- learn their experiences of engaging with government
- get their feedback on the IAP2 Spectrum of Public Participation
- get their feedback about including diverse voices
- get their advice about the engagement approach for Commitment 5
- engage professional engagement facilitators and propose initial workshop dates
- Completed the project scoping document
- Completed an initial draft of a domestic and international literature survey to identify insights about:
- public participation decision tools
- best practice engagement at different IAP2 stages
- enabling diversity and inclusion in stakeholder engagement
- Investigated policy initiatives that are potential candidates for the live demonstration project involving public participation at point on IAP2 Spectrum higher than “consult”, and commenced developing paper for the Prime Minister with recommendations and related letters of approval to be basis for Prime Minister’s selection decision
- Continued identifying candidates for recent case studies of innovation success stories in public participation in the policy development process.
[1] Note that the timeline, as well as the project scope document and the Engagement and Communication Plans for each phase of the project (referred to lower down in this list of what we have been doing) will be living documents that are reviewed and revised, as appropriate, as the project proceeds.
How we are including diverse voices
The preliminary stakeholder meeting programme has begun the process of incorporating diverse voices by first making contact with internal to government representatives of those voices (e.g., Maori Crown Relations, Office for Disability Issues) and civil society groups (e.g., BusinessNZ, PSA, Inspiring Communities, Combined Trade Union, Transparency International).
We are continuing discussions with engagement specialists (Empathy Design, Auckland Co-design Lab) and key stakeholders (named above) to identify engagement approaches that will include diverse voices and will balance the need for public engagement with the available resources.
Discussion is planned with the Open Government Partnership External Advisory Panel (EAP) on engagement approaches that will capture diverse voices and are feasible within the available resources.
How we are keeping diverse communities informed
At initial meetings with key stakeholders we discussed the Commitment 5 ambitions, objectives and milestones, involving them at the earliest possible stage in the design of our engagement approach.
Further thinking about how to keep diverse communities informed about the Commitment 5 project will be undertaken as part of implementing the Engagement and Communications Plan – Discovery Phase and planning the Engagement and Communications Plan – Design Phase.
Discussion is planned with the EAP on possible approaches to keeping diverse communities informed.
What's next?
In the quarter ending 31 July 2019, we will focus on:
- Further meetings with engagement specialists and other key stakeholders in public, private and community sectors to assist the project team to develop the detailed design of approaches to implement Commitment 5 and include diverse voices
- Initial stakeholder workshops facilitated by engagement professionals (Auckland Co-design Lab) with policy practitioners, and other activities that will enable us to understand what drives public participation decision-making and user needs for tool and guidance contents
- Planning and beginning to implement design phase workshops and activities
- Meeting with the EAP to discuss likely engagement options for Commitment 5, in light of feedback from engagement specialists and other key stakeholders
- Completing the literature review of domestic and international literature survey
- Completing the selection process for the live demonstration projects and once approved, begin observation of that project and its engagement
- Continuing to identify candidates for recent case studies of innovation success stories in public participation in the policy development process
Links – Evidence of progress and milestones achieved
- Project Scoping Document
- Preliminary Timeline
- Engagement and Communication Plan - Discovery phase.