ParlAmericas participates in the international workshop “Open Congresses for Active Democracies” in the National Congress of Argentina
ParlAmericas participated in the international workshop on good practices in legislative openness entitled “Open Congresses for Active Democracies”. This workshop, organized by the Congress of the Nation of Argentina and EurosociAL, addressed issues related to the transformation of the State and parliaments in the modern world, the role of transparency, accountability, citizen participation and access to public information, among others.
The first panel entitled “Challenges in assuming commitments and experiences in action plans” was moderated by Mercedes De Los Santos of Fundación Directorio Legislativo, and included presentations by Álvaro Herrero, Undersecretary of Strategic Management and Institutional Quality of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires, Fernando Sánchez, Secretary of Institutional Strengthening of the Office of the Cabinet of Ministers, and Rudi Borrmann, Undersecretary of Public Innovation and Open Government in the Presidency of the Nation. The second panel focused on “Modernizing the State and opening public management” was moderated by Agustín Frizzera of the NGO Democracia en Red, and included presentations by Laura Montero, Deputy Governor of the province of Mendoza, Florencia Romano, Administrative Secretary of the Chamber of Deputies, Mariano Heller, Secretary of Planning of the Council of the Magistracy of the City of Buenos Aires, and Juan Pedro Tunessi, Parliamentary Secretary of the Senate.
In a third panel, Emilie Lemieux, Program Manager on Open Parliament at ParlAmericas, explained the process for building an Open Parliament Action Plan and the importance of its institutionalization, through the following steps: building political will, carrying out continuous consultations with the actors involved, identifying a parliamentary body to lead the process, designating a coordinator for the implementation of the action plan, integrating the participation of civil society in defining the process, and implementing the action plan. Following this presentation, EurosociAL + project consultant María José Méndez summoned the experts present to build the general guidelines to co-create an Open Parliament Action Plan for the National Congress of Argentina, through a “World Café” methodology.
On the second day of the workshop, the director of the Parliamentary Modernization Program of the Chamber of Deputies, Dolores Martínez, reflected on the discussions that took place on both days, and the next steps were presented: the systematized results of the workshop will be distributed, and a proposed process to develop an action plan will be developed, integrating the inputs obtained during the workshop and meeting international standards.
For more information about the workshop, consult the press release issued by the Chamber of Deputies of the Argentina.
