OpenTepic
Better public service delivery through openness and citizen engagement
We collaborated with the British Embassy in Mexico and the Government of Tepic to encourage the creation of strategic partnerships between local communities and their governments. The Tepic initiative aimed at solving local challenges by creating an engagement opportunity between government and community in the restoration of a central public area.
This resulted in an increased feeling of safety for residents and improved community development.
Tepic
WHY THIS MATTERS
The city of Tepic, the capital of the state Nayarit, spreads over 2,000 km2, an area that is in continuous expansion as a result of the urban sprawl of its 400,000 inhabitants. This expansion is making it ever more difficult for the municipal government to respond to citizens’ needs when it comes to public service delivery and governance mechanisms.
WHAT WE ARE DOING ABOUT IT
We joined forces with the municipal government to strengthen their open government agenda and help them be better prepared to drive change. This partnership allowed for the following elements: a signed declaration of the Mayor´s commitment to drive openness across all his government agencies; the formation of a citizen advisory group through an open process that included the highest standards of transparency and public engagement; the coordination of their first Open Government City Encounter, which brought together 260 public servants from all government agencies, UN-Habitat, Grupo Medellin and the UK Embassy to learn from best case studies, open standards and to explore better mechanisms to enable institutional collaborations and effective citizen participation in public life. A main component of our strategies with city governments includes transforming rhetoric into action. We co- developed and implemented an open government case study for public space recuperation in marginalized areas, which had been declared as one of the city’s priorities.
OUR INNOVATIVE APPROACH
The model engages neighbors and civil society experts right from the planning phase through to the implementation of design thinking workshops, which were carried out with the help of government institutions.
This initiative was designed through three design workshops led by the community and government. Its implementation brought together over 500 government officials and neighbors during. Over 12 different public institutions participated actively and in a coordinated way in the park recovery and the Mayor himself participated actively with the community. These actions also helped create effective mechanisms to for safer community through crime prevention and community development strategies.
OUR STARFISH MODEL
The Tepic initiative is now a part of our Open Cities Program and it will be used as a case study to carry out similar projects elsewhere.
OUR VISION
We want communities that are able to take on similar initiatives to these by themselves, seeking to solve their biggest challenges through strategic collaborations with their local government.