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

January 2011

A small meeting of governments

and international experts decides to

create the OGP.

July 2011International outreach meeting for

all eligible countries.

February 2011

Steering Committee formed,

eight countries initially join OGP.

September 2011

Launch of OGP in New York with

Presidents Obama and Rousseff joined

by Ministers and representatives from 44

other countries.

April 20122012 Annual Meeting in Brasilia

with almost 1,000 people

participating representing 57

governments.

Principles of OGP

• 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?

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

Countries develop action plans with concrete ‘stretch’ commitments and

firm timelines

Independent reporting to promote accountability

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 InformationMeasured by Right2Info’s database of FOI laws and constitutional

provisions for access to information

Asset DisclosureMeasured by the World Bank’s Public Officials Asset Disclosure

database

Citizen EngagementMeasured by the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index 2012

Is Your Country Already Eligible?

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

Philippines: Roadmap to expand participatory budgeting to other phases of the budget cycle

Examples of Country Commitments

Turkey: Plots a risk map by determining the risk areas open to corruption and taking preventive measures

Chile: Legislative reforms on political party financing, lobbying activities and conflict of interest

Slovak Republic: Openness barometer measures transparency of public agencies and highlights any deficiencies

Initial OGP Success Stories

The US, Ukraine and Colombia agreed to join the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).

Brazil, Montenegro and Croatia have all passed Freedom of Information laws.

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:Governments publish self assessment reports, developed with public consultation after the first year of implementation. This

report 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

May 2013

Regional OGP meeting in Africa,

hosted by Kenya.

September 2013

Publication of first round of

Independent Reporting Mechanism

reports on the eight founding countries.

July 2013Working level Steering

Committee meeting focused

on further engagement and

opportunities for expansion.

October 2013

Annual OGP conference in

London, featuring open

government innovations from

around the world

April 2013Steering Committee meeting

in London with new countries

presenting action plans.

Contact the OGP Support Unit For More Information

+1 415 561 7806info@opengovpartnership.org

OGP Support Unit Staff:

Executive Director: Linda FreyDeputy Director: Joe PowellProgram Associate: Jack Mahoney

OGP Independent Civil Society Coordination (hosted by Hivos):

Civil Society Coordinator: Paul MaassenCSC for Latin America: Emilene Martinez

OGP Independent Reporting Mechanism:

IRM Program Manager: Joseph Foti

OGP Networking Mechanism (Global Integrity):

Director: Abhinav BahlManager of Projects: Nicole Anand

On the web: www.opengovpartnership.org and blog.opengovepartnership.orgFor civil society: www.ogphub.org, Africa Google group, newsletter, mailing listKey documents: ‘OGP orientation packet’ and ‘Opening Government’ (online), Country Articles