CoST Buenos Aires Province (Affiliate member from 2019 to 2021)
Buenos Aires excelled in the publication of infrastructure data during its membership.
Prior to CoST: Public infrastructure in context
Argentina and the Province of Buenos Aires specifically had been working towards greater transparency and accountability in government through a variety of measures.
In 2016, the Strategic Plan for the Modernisation of Public Administration was passed which led to the creation of the Open Data Portal in the same year which publicised data from across government departments on various projects. In 2018 Open Province which drew together different transparency initiatives, and specifically focused on Buenos Aires.
One of the main challenges in increasing transparency in Buenos Aires was a lack of online information. As much of the data held by the Province was paper based, accountability measures were difficult to implement and government departments found themselves duplicating efforts.
However, with the online platforms put in place, the Province aimed to reach international standards in infrastructure transparency and saw CoST membership as key to achieving this. The Province of Buenos Aires was the CoST’s first affiliate member, and the second sub-national government to join the initiative after Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly, Ghana who joined in early 2019.
CoST Buenos Aires: How it all began
In 2016, the City of Buenos Aires created BA Obras, a platform allowing residents to monitor 800+ ongoing public work projects in the city. In 2017 the Province of Buenos Aires decided to replicate BA Obras on a provincial scale in a platform called the Portal of Open Works in Buenos Aires.
The Province of Buenos Aires decided to adopt certain CoST tools and standards as part of the affiliate membership category. Incorporating open data standards into the Portal of Open Works formed a fundamental part of their proposal, which included ensuring that information on the portal was easily accessible to citizens.
While expanding the data portal to the whole of the Province was a challenging task given the lack of online data available, CoST supported Buenos Aires by drawing on its experience developing similar tools in Honduras, Ukraine, Thailand and Malawi. The portal was expected to hold information on 3,000 public work projects, a huge step towards more transparent and accountable infrastructure transparency.
The application to join CoST as affiliate members was conducted by Emmanuel Ferrario, the Undersecretary of Planning, Coordination and Evaluation of Management. The office of the Chief of Cabinet of Ministers was also responsible for developing the application, with support from the Ministry of Infrastructure, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Education. These departments all carried out projects which would be included in the Portal of Open Works in Buenos Aires.
On 8 May 2019, the Province of Buenos Aires announced its CoST membership at Argentina Abierta, the leading event celebrating open government in Argentina. Argentina Abierta attracts over 1500 attendees annually and hosts open government advocates from across civil society, the media and government, and so was an excellent platform from which to announce the initiative.
The CoST Affiliate Member Programme in the Province of Buenos Aires was implemented over a three-year period, successfully achieving key milestones in infrastructure transparency. One of its main accomplishments was the launch of a public infrastructure data platform, GEOINFRA, which allows citizens to access detailed information on public works across the province.
In addition, the programme organized three social audit workshops with active citizen participation. These workshops, funded by the British Embassy in Argentina, empowered local communities to monitor infrastructure projects and engage with public officials using open data tools and CoST methodologies.
The initiative showcased the power of transparency, civic engagement, and international cooperation in improving the quality and accountability of infrastructure delivery.
End of Affiliation
The Province of Buenos Aires withdrew its affiliation in 2021 due to a change in the new Government priorities, the Government migrated the data publication platform to the Infrastructure Ministry of the province of Buenos Aires.