On April 15, 2019, the Department of Budget and Management hosted the “Open Government Partnership (OGP) Commitment Design Workshop for Project DIME (Digital Imaging for Monitoring and Evaluation).”
The event comprised of sessions that illustrated the background of Project DIME, the application of Open Government principles in the Project, the drafting of the OGP commitment, and the metrics of success, among others.
Project DIME uses existing technologies such as satellites, drones, and geotagging in monitoring the status, program, and activities of big-ticket government projects to ensure that public funds are well-spent. This project is especially important in overseeing projects in far-flung areas wherein physical inspection would prove difficult.
“The only reliable judge of the work that we do in the Philippine government are the Filipino people,” said Assistant Secretary Clarito Magsino during his Opening Remarks “so what better way to move forward than to open up [Project] DIME and engage more of our citizens in this process?”
The workshop was held to prepare the proposal that Project DIME become a commitment in the next Philippine Open Government Partnership (PH-OGP) National Action Plan. The event was also attended by both government and non-government entities.
“We see that the Open Government Partnership can be an enabling platform that can facilitate our journey towards the achievement of this goal of making Project DIME more meaningful and transformative” said Assistant Secretary Magsino.
The Open Government Partnership gathers together government and non-government reformers to genuinely craft and implement programs that prevent corruption, promote transparency, and empower citizens with participatory governance.
“OGP is built by people. It is about changing the culture of governance, but to be able to do that, it will also have to be about identifying reform champions in different sectors and at all levels of the bureaucracy” said Director Yolanda Reyes, head of the PH-OGP Secretariat.
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