Paul Maassen,
Open Government Partnership
Development Initiatives
North Quay House
Quay Side
Temple Back
Bristol
BS1 6FL
Re:Nomination of Judith Randel for the OGP Steering Committee
Tel: +44 (0) 1179 272 505
Cell:+44 794 776 2238
E: judith.randel@devinit.org
Development Initiatives would like to nominate Judith Randel for the OGP Steering Group. We hope the
letter below will demonstrate Judith's motivation for applying and the experience, skills and track record
relevant to open government
Track record in open government related issues (including OGP).
Judith Randel is the co-founder and executive director of Development Initiatives (DI) an organisation focused on
empowering and enabling people to make evidence-based and data-informed decisions that deliver more effective
use of resources for ending poverty. Since 1992, Judith, and her co-director, Tony German, have built a team of
people at DI with a unique set of tools and information to help influence decision-making on the financial
allocations for poverty, humanitarian aid, and all other resource flows that directly impact on the poorest.
Judith’s work includes acting as a key architect and co-promoter of the landmark International Aid Transparency
Initiative (IATI) endorsed widely by key donors and multilaterals at the High Level Panel in Accra with the support
of CSO partners. This common, open, electronic standard aims to add value by making information on
development cooperation useful to all stakeholders, particularly those in developing countries: as well making the
data easier to understand, compare and use.
Other key work includes the launching of aidinfo, a programme working to ensure development cooperation is
transparent and accountable and that donors and recipients have the technical know-how to work together more
effectively. The programme has helped stimulate the growing open data movements in Nepal and East Africa.
Judith launched DI’s Investments to End Poverty report in New York last September, a flagship report that
pulls together data on all resources which can be harnessed for the goal of eradicating absolute poverty.
Relevant skills, expertise and experience
Judith has extensive experience of transparency and open government on the international, regional and national
stage. This has been developed over 20 years, including promoting and implementing the International Aid
Transparency Initiative (IATI), providing the background data and analysis for the ONE campaign’s DATA Report
which tracks donors’ performance on their commitments and working with the UK Prime Minister’s Africa
Partnership Initiative under Tony Blair where she promoted transparency. She was a founding member of the
collaborative working group which launched the Reality of Aid in 1992, the first yearly independent review of the
OECD DAC donors’ aid spending.
Development Initiatives is the trading name of DI International Ltd. Registered in England and Wales No. 05802543.
Development Initiatives Poverty Research is the not-for-profit partner of DI International Ltd. Registered in England
and Wales No. 06368740. Registered office: North Quay House, Quay Side, Temple Back, Bristol, BS1 6FL, UK.
www.devinit.org
Judith is well known across NGO and donor communities for her research and expertise in the areas of aid
statistics, financing instruments, humanitarian assistance and aid policy. She is a regular speaker at global policy
forums on aid and poverty, such as the Global Partnership High Level Meeting in Mexico in 2014, the High Level
Panel on post-2015 consultations in London in November 2012, the 2012 New Delhi Measuring Well-Being for
Development and Policy Making conference, the UN Economic and Social Council in several years on chronic
poverty and humanitarian assistance , the 2009 Development Cooperation Forum in Vienna and the Chronic
Poverty conferences in 2008 and 2012. Possessing exceptional energy, she would bring to the role a unique set of
skills and contacts that bridge the gap between civil society, academia and policy makers.
Judith’s work on various international and multi-stakeholder projects, including IATI, has given her the
understanding of what it takes to succeed as part of a small, virtual team delivering an international programme.
She has keenly promoted the work of the Open Government Partnership since its inception, particularly its
relationship with aid transparency, which has seen DI play an emerging role within the UK civil society OGP group –
pressing for commitments on real-time information about aid and other spending to be included in national action
plans. Judith participated in the London OGP Summit in November 2013.
Judith is a native English speaker and is willing to dedicate the necessary time to ensure that OGP delivers.
Connections to other actors and participation in networks
Over her career, Judith has developed a strong network including key figures in NGOs, donor and recipient
governments, parliamentarians and academics. For example, this work has included providing expert advice to
International Network on Conflict and Fragility on transition issues and the importance of access to data, the Africa
Progress Panel, the Commission for Africa, advising the UK Department for International Development on its civil
society organisation strategy and supporting the creation and development of IATI’s multi-stakeholder approach.
Judith has contributed papers to the Human Development Report, the UK DFID’s White Papers on the role of civil
society and the need for improved data, and was co-author of the publication ‘Stakeholders: Government NGO
Partnerships for International Development (OECD)’.
Judith has been involved in various long-term partnerships including with HelpAge International on social
protection, with Development Research and Training (DRT) in Uganda on resource transparency and access to
information for the poorest, and with the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC) on chronic poverty issues.
Judith has also worked with a number of CSOs and foundations on the use and application of data,
including African Monitor, WaterAid and the Gates Foundation. Through DI’s Nairobi Office and aidinfo
programme, Judith has strong connections to the open data community in East Africa which build on long term
collaboration with a number of NGOs on issues around data, transparency and the use of resources. Judith tries to
make connections between official institutions - an example is the seminar organised in early 2012 to bring World
Bank BOOST programme to the attention of NGOs. She also works with governments and NGOs to apply access to
information to drive better decisions, for example most recently she worked with Swedish International
Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) to bring new sources of information into their humanitarian decision
making process.
Participation in regional or international coalitions/networks
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International Aid Transparency Initiative – key architect and co-promoter, former member of Steering
Committee (DI is now part of the hosting consortium for IATI)
Bond Beyond 2015 campaign – CSO representative to the High Level Panel in London
CSO Platform for Development Effectiveness – member of international CSO delegation to Global
Partnership High-Level meeting in Mexico
The Chronic Poverty Action Network
Council member for the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex.
International Expert Group on the Global Nutrition Report (2014- 2016)
World Humanitarian Summit (2014 -2016)
OECD DAC Expert Group on Modernising ODA
Former Council member for ODI and for VSO
Relevance of strengths and experience to the challenges facing OGP
2
Development Initiatives is the trading name of DI International Ltd. Registered in England and Wales No. 05802543.
Development Initiatives Poverty Research is the not-for-profit partner of DI International Ltd. Registered in England
and Wales No. 06368740. Registered office: North Quay House, Quay Side, Temple Back, Bristol, BS1 6FL, UK.
www.devinit.org
Judith’s work as a key architect and co-promoter of the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) provides an
excellent grounding from which to tackle the challenges faced by OGP in the immediate term. As a multistakeholder initiative IATI has faced very similar challenges, such as agreeing a new hosting arrangement (of which
DI is a part), formalizing governance arrangements and introducing a sustainable, membership-based funding
model. Judith’s navigation of these issues will add great value to OGP.
In under four years since conception, over 240 organisations including bilateral donors, multilateral institutions,
national and international NGOs, philanthropic foundations and private sector actors have published to the , IATI
standard. 24 Partner Countries have joined the initiative. This has meant facing challenges to not only in gaining
support to publish to the standard but to work with partners to make sure the data is of sufficient quality to
ensure that the initiative grows into a trusted mechanism. It has also required considerable interaction with
multilateral fora and institutions, such as UNDP, UNDCF and OECD DAC.
Her work advising the UK Department for International Development on its civil society organisation strategy
demonstrates Judith’s ability to skilfully safeguard the equal role of civil society and government actors at all
levels.
Conclusion
At Development Initiatives we see the Open Government Partnership as one of the most potentially
transformative changes in the relationship between citizen and state. DI is founded on the principle that access
to information is critical to poverty eradication and to empowerment. Our work on data and finance is centred
around the imperative for people, especially people in chronic and extreme poverty, to have more choice and to
be able to exercise more control over their own lives. This is why we would like to be part of the Steering
Committee.
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Development Initiatives is the trading name of DI International Ltd. Registered in England and Wales No. 05802543.
Development Initiatives Poverty Research is the not-for-profit partner of DI International Ltd. Registered in England
and Wales No. 06368740. Registered office: North Quay House, Quay Side, Temple Back, Bristol, BS1 6FL, UK.
www.devinit.org