Open Government benchmarking for the State of Geneva

Abstract

This article presents a comprehensive benchmarking study of the State of Geneva and several of its citizen centered services, with the aim of connecting them to the open government movement and to add some empirical evidence. It is the result of a participatory research effort of students at the University of Applied Sciences in Geneva, doing desktop analysis and conducting interviews of several key actors. The tracking and evaluation of the selected activities took place in mid-2020 and includes public or public and private services, projects, as well as, other initiatives. The activities presented were categorised under four, open government inspired, benchmarking categories: information, participation, collaboration and cooperation. This analysis allows us to map and document: a) the activities in which the State of Geneva creates a participation friendly environment for its citizens and b) the open government data related to them. The results help us to understand the structure and governance of these services and propose concrete action for their improvement. Most importantly, this work provides a framework for an ongoing analysis around the evolution of open government (data) practices in the State of Geneva.