Malta's 4th National Action Plan

Malta’s participation in OGP is now ensured by the Ministry for Justice and Reform of the Construction Sector representing the Maltese Government who has now taken the lead and assumed the responsibility for coordinating the government’s OGP process and activities and to serve as the official contact point for the Partnership. A working-level Point of Contact (POC) is to be appointed to coordinate a participating government’s domestic and international OGP activities, including engaging and convening stakeholders on a regular basis and coordinating OGP initiatives to promote transparency, participation, and accountability.

The two-year National Action Plans (NAPs) shall contain ambitious commitments defined in collaboration between government and civil society which are relevant to the values of transparency, accountability and public participation; and contain specific, time-bound and measurable commitments.

These documents are the prerequisite for participation in the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and define the strategic actions on open government and the related expected results over time.

The first phase consists in the definition of the commitments, co-created thanks to the collaboration of public administrations and civil society organizations and then subjected to public consultations.

Once the draft of the NAP has been approved, the implementation and monitoring phases follow. The verification of the progressive implementation of the commitments is entrusted to civil society organizations, citizens and all interested parties.

Furthermore, an Independent Review Mechanism (IRM) produces reports on the design and implementation of NAPs, evaluates governments on the progress made in applying open government principles in practice and makes suggestions for improvement.

OGP participating countries must also produce two Self-Assessment Reports. The first on the drafting of the Plan at the end of the first year of implementation; the second on the final results of the reforms included in the NAP at the end of the two years.

Malta launched its co-creation process to develop its 4th NAP in mid-2023 when an exercise across ministries/government entities was carried out to identify potential themes to serve as basis for discussion. Themes relating to Justice, Victims’ Rights and Support and Youths were identified as possible themes. In September 2023, a call was issued inviting interested CSOs to participate in the discussions relating to the identified themes in a multi-stakeholder forum format. Twelve (12) Civil Society Organistions shown interest to participate. The Multistakeholder Forum was established and a first meeting was held on the 30th November 2023. 

The 4th NAP contains 4 commitments: 

• Commitment 1 – Creating a Justice Forum
• Commitment 2 – Mutual collaboration towards raising public awareness in support of victims’ rights and victim support services
• Commitment 3 – Facilitating access to justice for minors
• Commitment 4 – Youth Proofing

The 4th National Action Plan was submitted to the OGP on the 27th December 2023 and is now published. The reasoned response by government given in respect of the feedback received from stakeholders during the co-creation process can be found here.