Cristal: A Tool for Transparent Government in Argentina

Abstract

The mission of the Cristal Government initiative, launched by the current administration, is to disseminate online, and in an easily understood format, all information concerning the use of public funds in Argentina. This includes information not only about the amounts of money devoted to different programs, but also how these funds are administered.

Application Context

Perceptions of government corruption were a major political issue in the Argentine electoral campaign of 1999. The ALIANZA candidate for president, Fernando de la Rua, promised that, if elected, he would head a Gobierno de Cristal, eliminating the corrupt practices that periodically came to light during the previous adminstration, and thereby restore citizens' confidence in government.

A New Approach

The Cristal website was specifically created to fulfill the mandate establised under Article 8 of the Fiscal Responsiblity Law (No. 25.152), promulgated in September 1999. That law requires that the state make available "to whatever institution or interested person" the following information related to the administration of public funds:

• execution of budgets, to the lowest level of disaggregation
• purchase orders and public contracts
• payment orders submitted to the National Treasury and other treasuries of the National Pubic Administration
• payments issued by the National Treasury and other treasuries of the National Public Administration
• financial and employment data concerning permanent and contracted staff, and those working for projects financed by multilateral organizations
• a list of retirees and pensioners of the armed forces and security forces
• an account of the public debt, including terms, guarantees, interest costs, etc.
• inventory of plant and equipment and financial investments
• outstanding tax and customs obligations of Argentine companies and people
• regulations governing the provision of public services, and the regulatory organizations themselves
• all information necessary for the communitary control of social expenditures

It is a primary goal of the Cristal program to create a better informed citizenry that can exercise more effective control over their political representatives. While the content of the website is directed to all citizens, journalists are a particularly important audience for the site, as newspapers and television enable a much wider dissemination of its contents.

The information of the Cristal site is organized around three thematic areas:

1. "The State Within Reach of All": explains how public monies are redistributed between the national government and provinces
2. "Goals and Results": gathers information on all national policies to evaluate their management and the manner in which public funds are assigned
3. "Accountability of Representatives": consolidates information related to the control of corruption, both in government and the non-governmental sector

The site is audited externally by Foro Transparencia, a body made up of 15 non-governmental organizations concerned with government transparency.

Implementation Challenges

The Cristal site was lauched at the end of Februrary 2000. The site was then heavily advertised, promising content that it did not actually contain at that time. This generated false expectations and a loss of confidence on the part of the public.

On August 1st, 2000 the site was re-launched, but without fanfare. The new version of the site adopted much easier navigation, a more attractive design, and greater information. Since then, the average number of visitors to the site each month has risen steadily, increasing by nearly 200%. A new version of the site was released on March 20, 2001.

The site has received favorable evaluations in the Argentine press. In November 2000 the Cristal site was a finalist in the Government category for the mate.ar award for best Internet sites in Argentina.

Benefits and Costs

The website is maintained in the Subsecretariat of Public Administration by a team of three content especialists and a designer.

Website staff will respond to a user's question within 24 hours. To date, most user comments are critical of the quality of information available, and many include suggestions for further improvements. The growing number of visitors to the site and the feedback from the press and other users suggest that the Cristal website is emerging as an Internet brand of the National Government.

Key Lessons

• With the second launch of the Cristal site, the designers signaled that the site "would seek to fulfill" the requirements of the Fiscal Responsibility Law. This shift reflected the lesson learned from over-promising at the first launch of the site in February 2000.
• Organizing the content of the website around thematic areas has helped to generate current, useful material and has enabled to legitimate a genre of information for public use.
• The existence of the Fiscal Responsibility Law has been important as a legal anchor for the Cristal site. The Law also provides stability and continuity for the program.
• The information required by the Fiscal Responsibility Law must be gathered from a multitude of different government agencies. To obtain the cooperation of managers in these agenies, those responsible for the Cristal site have stressed that it can bring positive publicity to their initiaitves. Many agencies are improving their data gathering practices in response to the site's requests.
• Naturally, links to the Cristal site are provided on all of the principal websites of the National Public Administration, as well as on the sites of many non-governmental organizations. This helps to ensure a steady traffic of visitors.

Case study author: Lic. Gustavo Axel Radics, General Coordinator for the Cristal website.
Date submitted: April 3, 2001