Opening Governments
Transforming Societies
Africa Regional Meeting 29-30 May 2013
The Open Government
Partnership
A multi-stakeholder initiative through which
governments make concrete commitments to:
• Promote transparency
• Empower citizens
• Fight corruption
• Harness new technologies
to strengthen governance
A Brief History of OGP
Principles of OGP
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Original idea: Build upon open government
momentum to push agenda on transparency,
accountability and citizen engagement
Eligibility: Basic protection for civil liberties and
citizen engagement
Governance: Equal power governments and civil
society
Process: Broad consultation with citizens, civil
society, private sector to develop national Action
Plan
Plan: Country commitment to their citizenry
Goal: more open government and society; restore
trust citizen - state
What makes OGP Different?
Countries develop action plans with
concrete ‘stretch’ commitments and
firm timelines
Independent reporting to promote
accountability
OGP is a genuine partnership of
government and civil society at
all levels
Governments, civil society, and
the private sector come together
to learn from each other,
partner, and innovate
Participation in OGP
8 Countries
39 Countries
11 Countries
How Can Countries Join
OGP?
STEP 1: Meet the minimum eligibility criteria (86 Countries do as of March 2013)
STEP 2: Send a letter of intent to the OGP Steering Committee
STEP 3: Undertake the broad public consultation to inform the government's OGP
commitments, and identify a multi-stakeholder forum for regular public
consultation on OGP implementation
STEP 4: Develop an OGP country action plan with concrete commitments on open
government that address at least one grand challenge
STEP 5: Participate in peer consultation on the OGP country action plan
STEP 6: Publicly endorse the OGP Declaration of Principles and deposit the final
country plan on the OGP website
STEP 7: Publish a self-assessment report on progress after 12 months of OGP
implementation, and cooperate with the Independent Reporting Mechanism in
generating its own report
Eligibility to Join OGP
To be eligible to join OGP, governments must exhibit a demonstrated
commitment to open government in four key areas, as measured by
objective indicators and validated by independent experts.
Budget Transparency
Measured by the Open Budget Index 2012 (100 country survey)
Access to Information
Measured by Right2Info’s database of FOI laws and constitutional
provisions for access to information
Asset Disclosure
Measured by the World Bank’s Public Officials Asset Disclosure
database
Citizen Engagement
Measured by the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index
2012
Is Your Country Already Eligible?
The 86 Countries Eligible to
Join the Open Government Partnership
ALBANIA
ARGENTINA
ARMENIA
AUSTRALIA
AUSTRIA
AZERBAIJAN
BELGIUM
BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
BRAZIL
BULGARIA
CANADA
CAPE VERDE
CHILE
COLOMBIA
COSTA RICA
CROATIA
CZECH REPUBLIC
DENMARK
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
EL SALVADOR
ESTONIA
ETHIOPIA
FINLAND
FRANCE
GEORGIA
GERMANY
GHANA
GREECE
GUATEMALA
HONDURAS
HUNGARY
ICELAND
INDIA
INDONESIA
IRELAND
ISRAEL
ITALY
JAMAICA
JAPAN
JORDAN
KENYA
KYRGYZSTAN
LATVIA
LIBERIA
LITHUANIA
LUXEMBOURG
MACEDONIA
MALAWI
MALTA
MEXICO
MOLDOVA
MONGOLIA
MONTENEGRO
NEPAL
NETHERLANDS
NEW ZEALAND
NICARAGUA
NORWAY
PAKISTAN
PANAMA
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
PARAGUAY
PERU
PHILIPPINES
POLAND
PORTUGAL
ROMANIA
RUSSIA
SERBIA
SLOVAK REPUBLIC
SLOVENIA
SOUTH AFRICA
SOUTH KOREA
SPAIN
SWEDEN
SWITZERLAND
TANZANIA
THAILAND
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
TURKEY
UGANDA
UKRAINE
UNITED KINGDOM
UNITED STATES
URUGUAY
VENEZUELA
Countries in blue have already joined the Open Government Partnership.
Questions on the Eligibility
Criteria?
Dialogue with Civil Society and Citizens
• Practices will vary between different countries, but some
core guidelines:
– Process should be well advertised with a clear timeline.
– Wide consultation pool across the country, including civil
society and the private sector.
– A variety of consultation methods in order to capture as
diverse a group as possible, including both in-person and
on-line meetings.
– Establish a forum for multi-stakeholder engagement.
– Comments and a summary of the consultation posted
online.
The OGP Action Plans
Concrete Commitments
to Open Government
Grand challenges addressed
Increasing Public Integrity
306
Improving Public Services
208
More Effectively Managing Public Resources
142
Increasing Corporate Accountability
18
Creating Safer Communities
15
Global Integrity Analysis (July 2012)
Overview of Country Commitments
Examples of Country Commitments
Philippines: Roadmap to expand
participatory budgeting to other phases
of the budget cycle
Chile: Legislative reforms on political
party financing, lobbying activities and
conflict of interest
Turkey: Plots a risk map by determining
the risk areas open to corruption and
taking preventive measures
Slovak Republic: Openness barometer
measures transparency of public agencies
and highlights any deficiencies
Initial OGP Success Stories
Brazil, Montenegro and Croatia
have all passed Freedom of
Information laws.
The US, Ukraine and Colombia
agreed to join the Extractive
Industries Transparency
Initiative (EITI).
Uruguay, Israel, Italy, Jordan and
Colombia introduced prizes for
the best private sector or
government agency use of open
data.
Questions on Action Plan
Preparation and
Implementation?
OGP’s Monitoring Mechanisms
To Promote Accountability
Self Assessment Reports:
report
Governments publish self assessment reports, developed with
public consultation after the first year of implementation. This
should assess government performance in living up to its OGP
commitments, according to the substance and timelines
elaborated in its country action plan.
Independent Reporting Mechanism Reports:
After the self-assessment report, well respected national level
researchers write an independent report using an OGP IRM
questionnaire and interviews with national stakeholders.
Governments can comment on the report before it is released to
the public and uploaded on the OGP website.
Civil-Society Reports:
Civil society publish their own report on action plan
implementation and consultation process in parallel to the
government
self assessment report.
Country Support and Peer Learning
• Direct Country Support:
– Real-time tracking of progress on action plans and
implementation
– Referrals between OGP governments and other governmental
and non-governmental sources of expertise
– Coordinating multilateral support
– Support to civil society to play its part
• Peer Exchange
– Regional/global workshops
– Webinars
– Thematic Working Groups (e.g. access to information, fiscal
transparency)
• Learning and Impact
– Case studies
– Impact Research
OGP’s 2013 Calendar
Contact the OGP Support Unit
For More Information
+1 415 561 7806
info@opengovpartnership.org
OGP Support Unit Staff:
Executive Director: Linda Frey
Deputy Director: Joe Powell
Program Associate: Jack Mahoney
OGP Independent Civil Society Coordination (hosted by Hivos):
Civil Society Coordinator: Paul Maassen
CSC for Latin America: Emilene Martinez
OGP Independent Reporting Mechanism:
IRM Program Manager: Joseph Foti
OGP Networking Mechanism (Global Integrity):
Director: Abhinav Bahl
Manager of Projects: Nicole Anand
On the web:
For civil society:
Key documents:
www.opengovpartnership.org and blog.opengovepartnership.org
www.ogphub.org, Africa Google group, newsletter, mailing list
‘OGP orientation packet’ and ‘Opening Government’ (online), Country Articles