Information Sharing: Toward Collaborative Governance. Donald G. Lenihan KTA Centre for Collaborative Government September 4-5, 4

Transcription

1 Information Sharing: Toward Collaborative Governance Donald G. Lenihan KTA Centre for Collaborative Government September 4-5,

2 Outline Multi-stakeholder councils: a new trend? Making information a public resource A challenge Information sharing as governance Two examples, two approaches Challenges to the collaborative approach

3 Multi-Stakeholder Councils A A New Trend? The Canadian National Health Council The Canadian Council of the Federation The Crossing Boundaries National Council More councils can be expected domestically and internationally

4 Why So Many Councils Now? Societies such as Canada are increasingly complex and interdependent globalization, ICTs,, migration, environmental impacts, etc. Policy capacity is becoming more distributed and service providers more numerous As governments, business and NGOs connect, issues and policy fields become more interdependent there there is a growing need to work together. In particular: Information sharing is critical to better management, policy and governance Multi-stakeholder forums, such as councils, are an effort to respond to the need for more collaboration

5 Information as a Resource There is a cascading relationship from information to knowledge to policy Better information will lead to better program design and delivery, reporting, transparency and accountability; better knowledge will lead to better policy, and, ultimately, new knowledge- fields that will contribute to growth and development Governments have vast quantities of information They could use the new technology to mine this resource for new knowledge and new linkages between policy issues and fields

6 Making Information a Public Resource In the Information Age, information will be to the knowledge economy what oil was to the industrial economy a a source of wealth, power, influence and prestige There is an historic opportunity for governments to work together to use it to: improve their effectiveness, transparency and accountability provide citizens, NGOs and business with new opportunities for growth and development

7 A Challenge But old habits die hard. Governments are used to controlling access to their information holdings and organizing it around their own priorities and interests In future, they must learn to share the resource with citizens and each other If information is to be a public resource, it must be reorganized around the priorities and interests of citizens How can this be accomplished?

8 Beyond Information Sharing: Creating New Knowledge Fields Information sharing that will lead to new knowledge fields poses more than a management challenge it poses a governance challenge It must be supported by the right kinds of governance structures, as well as a change in the existing political and public service cultures Such change happens by degrees Starting in the right places will be critical to success We should begin by distinguishing information sharing initiatives that rest on collaboration from those that lead to a political tug-of of-war over territory and responsibilities

9 The Politics of Information Sharing in Canada an Example Canadian National Health Council (NHC) In the Canadian Federation, health care is a provincial jurisdiction Consequently there is no reliable source of information on the performance of the health care system as a whole in Canada The NHC has been proposed as a body that can fill that gap. It will integrate information from across the country Supporters say that the NHC will lead to better policy development, program evaluation and accountability to citizens

10 The NHC: A Hard Road? The Federal Government has said that it will establish the NHC. Some provinces are strongly opposed. Why? Provinces fear federal intrusion into their territory and worry that they will be made accountable to the federal government, rather than to their citizens Entrenched interests and policy positions make it difficult to establish a new Federal-Provincial relationship based on information sharing in the health sector NHC plays into a political tug-of of-war

11 An Easier Path? Whatever the merits of NHC, it might be easier to experiment with policy fields that have less well entrenched interests Emerging knowledge fields, such as children or sustainable cities, are widely recognized as horizontal and Canadian governments are less committed to what they include or who owns the territory Governments and other stakeholders could begin by working together to set the principles, goals and values a framework that would guide information sharing in the development of such fields All sectors and levels of government have something to contribute to the development of these new knowledge bases Such fields thus would emerge from a collaborative effort to respond to citizens changing needs and interests in key areas: they would be no one s exclusive territory

12 New Knowledge Fields And a New Governance Relationship Defining such a framework for information sharing is not a science. It involves a complex mix of analysis and political choice expertise expertise must be balanced against a fair treatment of competing values and interests Councils can provide new multi-stakeholder forums for discussing these issues By establishing new information links through such a framework, governments would be building a new knowledge field together while avoiding the tug-of of-war

13 Going Forward: Four Principles Information sharing is critical to better governance and government in the future Efforts to explore it should aim at collaboration rather than risking a political tug-of of-war over responsibilities Governments experiments in information sharing should aim at improving the ability to address policy issues through the development of new knowledge fields Multi-stakeholder councils are a natural governance model for such efforts

14 The CB National Council Proposed as a new kind of forum/institution that would act as a champion for the transformation and improvement of government and governance in the 21 st century Council will be composed of : senior (department heads) public servants and elected officials from federal government and all 10 provincial governments Representation from municipal governments, the territories and Aboriginal organizations Eventually will include representation from civil society and private sector

15 Proposed Terms of Reference The Council s mission will be to act as a champion for: more inclusive governance through the use of deliberative processes involving citizens, organizations, other governments, etc. the transformation of government services, business processes and reporting practices to make government more citizen-centred centred,, outcome-oriented, oriented, transparent and accountable Information and communications technologies are a key tool for achieving the transformation

16 Challenges A key priority of the CB National Council will be to promote a national discussion and pilot projects around information sharing across jurisdictional boundaries. There are challenges: Putting public servants and elected officials together Getting individuals to act as council members rather than government representatives Picking the right areas Using technologies as link for building relationships Involving non-governmental stakeholders