North Austin News

Work is underway on the City of Austin's Third OGP Action Plan, focusing on anticipatory governance and climate, economic resilience and workforce, AI and accountability, and enhanced equity assessment tools. A significant step in this process has been establishing a local Monitoring Body through student leaders from Austin Community College’s Center for Government and Civic Service.

According to the OGP Local Handbook, accountability and learning are crucial elements of participating in OGP Local. These elements aim to promote the ambitious implementation of open government reforms. Therefore, local jurisdictions must select a Monitoring Body to independently evaluate and assess the co-creation process and results achieved from implementing commitments.

On October 28, 2024, representatives from the Office of Innovation met with student leaders from Austin Community College’s Center for Government and Civic Service. The meeting aimed to develop a shared understanding of the role that local independent monitoring bodies play in ensuring transparency, accountability, and civic engagement at the community level. Inspiration for designing this meeting came from guidance found in the OGP Youth Toolkit and youth engagement work done by Quintana Roo, Mexico’s OGP initiative.

During this meeting, "the Office of Innovation presented a status update on developing the City of Austin’s Third Action Plan" while leading discussions about roles and responsibilities of the Monitoring Body. The session concluded with group activities aimed at identifying specific examples related to guiding principles outlined in "IRM in a Box: A Toolkit for OGP Local Monitoring Bodies."

The collaborative session generated practical examples for each principle while fostering an understanding of how monitoring bodies can promote effective governance. Next steps involve assessing "the degree and quality of the co-creation process" through completing an online inception report.