On March 29, 2023, the Anti-Corruption Agency held the 2^nd meeting of the Commission for assessing the effectiveness and productivity of ongoing work in ensuring openness.

At the meeting, the Openness Index 2022 were announced, which assessed the effectiveness and productivity of the work carried out on openness in government agencies and organizations. The calculation of the Openness Index is carried out by the Assessment Commission on the basis of the Methodology approved in accordance with the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. DP-154, based on 8 indicators, consisting of 84 evaluation criteria.

 For reference: the Commission for Assessing the Effectiveness and Productivity of Ongoing Work in Ensuring Openness (the Assessment Commission) is a collegiate body that makes the final decision on the calculation of the Openness Index, and consists of highly qualified specialists and experts from the Anti-Corruption Agency, the Agency for Information and Mass Communications under the Administration of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the State Inspectorate for Control in the Sphere of Informatization and Telecommunications, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Statistics Agency under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Legislative Chamber and the Senate of the Oliy Majlis, as well as representatives of NGOs.

 The Openness Index 2022 assessed 86 ministries, departments and institutions, including 21 ministries, 14 local government bodies, 32 organizations with state participation, 19 committees and agencies.

The performance indicators of the points scored were divided into categories in accordance with the procedure defined in the Methodology, in accordance with which the ‘green’ category included organizations that scored from 71 to 100 points, the ‘yellow’ category - from 55 to 71 points, and those who scored less than 55 points were included in the ‘red’ category.

At the event, Akmal Burkhanov, Director of the Anti-Corruption Agency, spoke about the successes achieved in recent years in ensuring openness, measures related to the organization of work on the Openness Index, the digitization of assessment processes, including this year’s workshops for employees of government agencies and organizations responsible for ensuring openness.

 For reference: in 2022, the Anti-Corruption Agency organized 10 workshops with the involvement of foreign experts, during which 200 employees of government agencies and organizations improved their skills in the field of ensuring openness.

Within the framework of the meeting, a presentation of the Open.index electronic platform was held, which aimed at assessing the effectiveness and productivity of the ongoing work to ensure the openness of the activities of government agencies and organizations.

The platform was developed with the OSCE support, and the final results of the assessment of the annual Openness Index will be published online on this resource.

It is noteworthy that the assessment system was completely digitized, and the general public was given the opportunity to monitor the effectiveness of the work carried out in the field through this platform online.

The next on the agenda was hearing the report of the government agencies directly involved in the assessment for each indicator, after which the Commission made a final decision on the Openness Index 2022.

The assessment included 86 ministries, departments and institutions, according to the results, 15 government agencies fell under the ‘green’ category (71-100 points), 44 organizations under the ‘yellow’ category (55-71 points) and 27 government institutions fell into ‘red’ category (below 55 points).

The highest performance indicators were scored by the Statistics Agency (89 points), the Customs Committee (88 points), Tashkent Regional Administration (83 points), Khorezm Regional Administration (79 points) and Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Combine (79 points).

According to the analysis of the assessment results in the section of local government bodies, Samarkand, Sirdarya and Andijan regional administrations entered the ‘red’ category with a score of less than 55 points.

Among the departments included in the ‘red’ category, the lowest score is for the Cinematography Agency (40 points), the Ministry of Youth Policy and Sports (47 points), the Agency for Youth Affairs (52 points), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture (54 points each).

In addition to the issues included in the agenda, following the results of the meeting, it was decided to develop a comprehensive program of measures to eliminate and prevent shortcomings identified during the assessment.

Following the event, government employees who showed the highest efficiency in ensuring openness, and a group of journalists who actively covered the openness topic, were awarded certificates of gratitude and memorable gifts.

 For reference: in accordance with Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. DP-154, based on the decision of the Assessment Commission, it is planned to encourage responsible employees of government agencies and organizations included in the ‘green’ category, and the application of disciplinary action against employees of organizations classified as ‘red’ category, in accordance with the law.

Press Office, the Anti-Corruption Agency