Winners of the IDRC grants for research on OGP announced

Earlier this summer we launched a call for proposals for research on OGP, with six mini-grants for the taking for ideas with the potential to inform the work of the Open Government Partnership. The rules were simple: the proposed research needed to shed light on cross-thematic or cross-country trends within OGP, explore correlations between progress on OGP and other development indicators, or provide new ways of thinking about how we can evaluate impact. Our main objective was to get the community mobilised to work on topics that haven’t been explored previously, using the wealth of OGP data that is now available, including the National Action Plans, IRM data and the OGP Explorer. 

The response was fantastic. We received over 55 proposals within a two week time frame on topics ranging from extractives, participatory budgeting, justiceTo address barriers that prevent citizens from having their justice needs met, OGP participating governments are working to expand transparency, accountability, and inclusion into all systems of justi..., linked open dataBy opening up data and making it sharable and reusable, governments can enable informed debate, better decision making, and the development of innovative new services. Technical specifications: Polici... and open parliaments to explorations of why OGP succeeds in certain countries and doesn’t do as well in others and the link between OGP and other international processes including the SDGs agenda.  Thank you to everyone who applied – it  was heartening to see so many interesting proposals on a whole variety of OGP topics. It did however make the job of the jury incredibly hard and meant that unfortunately, some really great ideas had to be turned down.  We’re very pleased to announce the names of the authors and paper titles of the six that were eventually selected after much deliberation.

• Daniel Berliner from Arizona State University for his paper on ‘Ambitions and Realities in OGP Commitments:  Analysis of CommitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action... CompletionImplementers must follow through on their commitments for them to achieve impact. For each commitment, OGP’s Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) evaluates the degree to which the activities outlin... Across Countries using Hierarchical Models.’
• Sandra Elena from CIPPEC for her paper on ‘Promoting Open JusticeAn open, independent, and impartial justice system serves as a foundation for better access to justice by fulfilling all people’s civil liberties and allowing individuals to more effectively protect...: Assessment of Justice-Related Commitments in OGP National Action Plans.’
• Rafael E. Valenzuela from Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez and J. Ignacio Criado and Edgar Ruvalcaba from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid for their paper on ‘Measuring the Impact of the Open Government PartnershipThe Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving government transparency, ensuring opportunities for citizen participation in public matters, and strengthen... More in Member States using an Implementation Size Model.’
• Adegboyega Ojo, Niall Ó Brolcháin, Edobor Osagie and Lukasz Porwol from the Insight Centre for Data Analytics, National University of Ireland Galway for their paper on ‘How can Open Government Partnership members bridge the “Commitment-Indicator” Gap for greater Return on Investment?’
• Vinay Bhargava and Sarah Little from the Partnership for TransparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More Fund for their paper on ‘Open Government Partnership and Sustainable Development Goal Number 16: Similarities and Differences.’
• Vitus Azeem from the Ghana Integrity Initiative for his paper on ‘A Comparative Study of the OGP National Action Plans of Participating African countries.’

Of the six, Berliner, Elena and Ignacio et al’s papers were adjudged as the three best submissions and will be presented as lightning talks at the upcoming OGP Global Summit in Mexico.  So do stop by at their session if you are joining us in Mexcio. Over the next few weeks, each of the six grantees will also be blogging about their papers – their main findings and the opportunities their work presents for further research, advocacy or action.  Keeping watching this space for more!

A big thank you to jury members Jose Hernández Bonivento from GIGGAP, Fernando Perini from the International Development Research Centre, and colleagues from the Support UnitThe OGP Support Unit is a small, permanent group of staff that work closely with the Steering Committee and the Independent Reporting Mechanism to advance the goals of the Open Government Partnership.... who helped review and select the winning entries, and congratulations from all of us to all the authors!