3. Self-Assessment System in the field of freedom of information
| Commitment Start and End Date: | 11.2022 - 06.2024 |
| Lead implementing agency: | Prime Minister's Office |
| Person responsible from implementing agency: | Office of the Prime Minister |
| Title, Department: | Office of the Prime Minister |
| Email: | armen.khachatryan@gov.am |
| Phone: | +37410515712 |
Other actors involved
Other state actors involved
Office of Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan, Security Council, National Security Service, Ministry of Justice
Civil society, private sector
"Freedom of Information Center" NGO
Other NGOs and organizations that will join the commitment
State administration bodies
Issue subject to regulation
What problem does the commitment aim to address?
Promote the publicity, accountability and freedom of information (FoI) of the state administration system by introducing a (pilot) public and transparent evaluation system.
Main objective
For the purpose of fulfilling legal obligations in the field of freedom of information, as well as for collecting systematic and evidence-based data on their efficiency, forming and publicizing an information database, it is proposed to develop and introduce a unified system for self-assessment and statistics maintenance/publicizing of the field of freedom of information, which will be used by the state authorized body every year for evaluating the process of execution of the right to freedom of information within the state administration system.
The results of self-assessment will be combined with the external assessment results, enabling to make the problem mapping more targeted, comprehensive, and the proposed solutions — more effective. This is also a tool for introduction and development of a unified and combined evaluation culture for freedom of information, which will bring field analyses and reforms aimed at the development of the field to a new level.
Brief description of commitment
For the purpose of fulfilling legal obligations in the field of freedom of information, as well as for collecting systematic and evidence-based data on their efficiency, forming and publicizing an information database, it is proposed to develop and introduce a unified system for self-assessment and statistics maintenance/publicizing of the field of freedom of information, which will be used by the state authorized body every year for evaluating the process of execution of the right to freedom of information within the state administration system.
The results of self-assessment will be combined with the external assessment results, enabling to make the problem mapping more targeted, comprehensive, and the proposed solutions — more effective. This is also a tool for introduction and development of a unified and combined evaluation culture for freedom of information, which will bring field analyses and reforms aimed at the development of the field to a new level.
OGP challenge addressed by the commitment
Currently, the system, mechanisms and tools for evaluation, statistics maintenance and publicity of the field of FoI is missing. In this context, it is not possible to receive substantiated and reliable data about the general state of application of the law on FoI by state institutions of the Republic of Armenia, and the objectivity and purposefulness of existing data processing process is questioned both by the public and CSOs, as well as by state institutions/experts working with these data. The absence of an evaluation system deprives the expert community and the State of having the overall picture of various components of FoI, such as, for example, information availability/accessibility, coverage of subjects, received requests, rejections and appeals, quantitative and substantive data, etc.
Relevance to OGP values
1. How will the commitment promote transparency?
FoI self-assessment standards will enable the state institutions (if desired, not only state institutions) to reveal the FoI proactive and reactive problems and develop specific targeted solutions. This process will directly and indirectly improve the access to information and data.
2. How will the commitment help foster accountability?
FoI self-assessment standards, contributing to proactive transparency, also promote the accountability of state agencies. Within the framework of development of self-assessment standards, such components are taken into account that their application would also reveal the problems of the monitoring and evaluation systems for further development and implementation of solutions aimed at them.
3. How will the commitment improve citizen participation in defining, implementing, and monitoring solutions?
The publication of self-assessment results can be an excellent opportunity for CSOs and citizens in terms of verification of these results, as well as submitting their own observations and opinions. In the long term, this also provides a platform for systemic dialogue in the field; the State raises the problems detected thereby, CSOs compare them with the results of external evaluation, and in this case, both the mapped problems and the solutions proposed for them will become more targeted and realistic, which will make the State-CSO co-operation more effective.
Ambition
The system will also include a unified format for maintaining and publicizing statistics, which will enable to apply, at least in an identical and comparable manner, the norms established by the law with regard to statistics. At the same time, this is an excellent way to form a unified practice of developing and publicizing statistics, ensuring their combination and effective use by all actors in the field.
Potential Impact:
Implementation status
UN Goals
«ԲԱՑ ԿԱՌԱՎԱՐՄԱՆ ԳՈՐԾԸՆԿԵՐՈՒԹՅՈՒՆ» ՆԱԽԱՁԵՌՆՈՒԹՅԱՆ ՇՐՋԱՆԱԿՆԵՐՈՒՄ ՀԱՅԱՍՏԱՆԻ ՀԱՆՐԱՊԵՏՈՒԹՅԱՆ 2022-2024 ԹՎԱԿԱՆՆԵՐԻ ԳՈՐԾՈՂՈՒԹՅՈՒՆՆԵՐԻ ԾՐԱԳԻՐԸ