Current OGP Commitments
Almost 200 commitments specifically impact civic space.
Legislative/Institutional Commitments to open space for civil society
20112013
cycle
9 legislative/regulatory
commitments impacting
public participation and/or
nonprofits.
8 countries: Albania, Chile,
Croatia, Guatemala,
Montenegro, Peru, Ukraine,
Turkey
20132015
cycle
27 legislative/regulatory
commitments impacting
public participation and/or
nonprofits.
16 countries: Ireland,
Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria,
Georgia, Sierra Leone, UK,
Philippines, Guatemala,
Uruguay, Ghana, Panama,
Armenia, Tunisia, Latvia,
Ukraine
Examples
Bulgaria (2013-2015): Amendments to the
Non-profit Legal Entities Act to set up a
Council for Development of the Civil Society.
Latvia (2013-2015): Establish a sustainable
model of financing NGOs to enhance the
institutional capacity of associations and
quality participation of NGOs in decision
making, in order to strengthen them as social
partners and promote the delegation of public functions to associations and foundations, especially in matters
of civic education.
Process Level Commitments to enable civil society participation
I.
CAPACITY BUILDING FOR CIVIL SOCIETY: These commitments cover the set of activities to enhance the skills,
competencies, abilities, understanding, systems, processes, and institutional infrastructure of civil society or citizens to
achieve or accelerate results in a particular open government policy area. Activities include but are not limited to
training programs for civil society representatives, development and distribution of guidelines, standards, toolkits, and
other learning resources.
Examples
201118
12 countries: Brazil, Mexico,
2013
commitments
Philippines, South Africa,
Colombia (2011-2013): Policy guidelines and statute
cycle
Azerbaijan, Colombia, Estonia,
of citizen participation: The country will work on
Georgia, Latvia, Macedonia, Peru,
Slovakia
strengthening the national policy on citizen
participation mechanisms to generate actions aimed
201336
20 countries: Brazil, Ireland,
at capacity building of officials, public authorities and
2015
commitments
Macedonia, Croatia, Estonia,
citizens, and the implementation of effective
cycle
Greece, Lithuania, Mongolia, US,
opportunities for participation. Within these actions a
South Africa, Chile, Guatemala,
unified methodology of accountability for all entities
Uruguay, Finland, Netherlands,
Denmark, El Salvador, Jordan, Latvia
of the national government and the regional
governments will be developed.
Slovakia (2011-2013): Proposal for three processes "Dialogue on Strategy...: using the participatory methods and
training of involved public administration staff and representatives of non-governmental organizations.
II.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION: These commitments cover the forums (formal or informal), mechanisms, and processes that
allow citizens to consult, comment or provide feedback on the actions of government either through organized
discussions with government agents and CSOs or through online interfaces that allow for public feedback on policy,
public service delivery, etc.
20112013
cycle
20132015
cycle
111
commitments
192
commitments
35 countries : Brazil, Philippines, South
Africa, UK, US, Albania, Azerbaijan,
Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Croatia,
Denmark, El Salvador, Greece,
Guatemala, Israel, Italy, Latvia,
Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro
Peru, Romania, Slovakia, South Korea,
Spain, Sweden, Tanzania, Ukraine,
Uruguay, Honduras, Kenya, Turkey,
Lithuania, Norway
23 countries: Brazil, Ireland, Macedonia,
Sweden, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia,
Georgia, US, UK, South Africa, Indonesia,
Philippines, Mexico, Norway,
Guatemala, Finland, Netherlands,
Panama, Tunisia, New Zealand, Serbia,
Ukraine
Examples
Tanzania (2011-2013): Establish an open forum in
collaboration with civil society to review quality,
integrity, depth and pace of progress against OGP
commitments.
Kenya (2011-2013): Improving service delivery by
government, both National and Devolved
Government, by engaging the public in defining
County and Constituency Electoral boundaries as a
means of bringing government closer to citizens.
Public participation has to be inclusive through
available channels: web, mobile, radio, TV and public
hearings.
Chile (2013-2015): The government submitted a bill
on communal plebiscites to strengthen citizen
participation in public policy to Congress.
Types of Public Participation Commitments
PARTICIPATORY BUDGETING: These commitments cover mechanisms and processes of involving the public (individuals or
CSOs) in various phases of the budget cycle.
Examples
Honduras (2011-2013): Implement assessments jointly
with civil society organizations on fiscal management
and public services.
20112013
cycle
20132015
cycle
5
commitments
3 countries: Philippines,
Croatia, Honduras
8
commitments
8 countries: Brazil,
Ireland, US, Philippines,
Dominican Republic,
Guatemala, Finland, El
Salvador
Croatia (2011-2013): Support cooperation programs
between local and regional self-government units and civil society organizations in strengthening budget
transparency and citizen participation in planning and monitoring local budget implementation.
Brazil (2013-2015): Develop a methodology for Social Participation on the monitoring of the Pluriannual Plan and
on the formulation of the Federal Public Budget, in order to promote participation, training and dialogue with the
civil society for the monitoring of the public planning cycle.
E-PETITIONS: These commitments cover the electronic tools that enable the public to petition their government and call for
action on issues in the public interest.
Examples
Ukraine
(2011-2013):
Development
and
implementation of a unified single online platform
enabling citizens to file petitions and information
requests with government agencies and local selfgovernment bodies.
20112013
cycle
10
commitments
7 countries: US,
Georgia, Macedonia,
Moldova, Montenegro,
Slovakia, Ukraine
20132015
cycle
6 commitments
5 countries: Georgia,
Moldova, US, Tunisia,
Latvia
Montenegro (2011-2013): By affirming dialogue and
partnership as the core directions and principles of work, in December 2011 the Government announced that it
will open an online platform to enable citizens of Montenegro to create and sign electronic petitions about
anything that the Government is responsible for.
Georgia (2013-2015): Launching electronic platform I-change (www.ichange.ge) for e-petitions will increase civic
engagement in public policy; it will enhance transparency of government activities and decisions and will further
stimulate interrelation between the government and Georgian society. The portal will enable citizens to initiate epetitions on the issues within the competencies of the Government.
SOCIAL AUDITS: These commitments pertain to the process of a public review (by the public or through intermediary CSOs)
of government financial records to determine if the reported expenditures match the actual disbursement of funds or
delivery of services on the ground.
20111
1 country: Philippines
2013
commitment
Examples
cycle
20137
6 countries: Brazil,
Philippines (2011-2013): The Commission on Audit will
2015
commitments Macedonia, Philippines,
create an internal unit as a mode to institutionalize the
cycle
Guatemala, El Salvador,
engagement of civil society organizations in conducting
Serbia
participatory audits of government projects. For 2014,
the Commission will jointly conduct four pilot audits of infrastructure projects with partner CSOs.
El Salvador (2013-2015): Promote citizen oversight to ensure participation in the formulation of budgets,
presenting of proposals or investment needs, and in monitoring through observatories or other mechanisms for
the efficient use and allocation of public resources.