The need for dialogue and participation to push back on populism and polarisation

Paris Civil Society Morning Welcome Remarks

Good morning to you all, bienvenue a Paris and welcome to the OGP Civil Society Morning.

It’s hard to believe it has been a year since many of us met in Mexico. And what a year it has been! We have lost stars of the arts like Bowie and Cohen and open government stars are stepping down from power. We have seen terrorist attacks across the world, including here in France and in my hometown Brussels. In Europe the refugee crisis is feeding populism and adding to the tensions in society and the distrust in government.  

With the US election and the Brexit referendum we seem to have entered a new phase of democracy. One in which results always seem to be 50/50 – showing how polarized our societies are. Many feel liberal democracy, that gained so much ground since the 90s, has started to unravel.

So here we sit, in a glamorous ballroom, in one of the most glamorous cities of the world. A room full of friends and colleagues – some glamorous – that bring their passion and energyEnsuring universal access to sustainable, dependable, and affordable energy is critical to every aspect of prosperity. Increasing public oversight and transparency in the energy sector can help to ens... to making the world a better place. You are here to celebrate 5 years of OGP, and the results we achieved; to strategize, connect and be inspired. And to shape the future together. But somehow optimism, even for an optimist like myself, is more difficult to muster than a year ago. Let me give it a try though.

“When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going” – one of those crappy yet catchy songs from my youthRecognizing that investing in youth means investing in a better future, OGP participating governments are creating meaningful opportunities for youth to participate in government processes. Technical .... (Billy Ocean, remember him). And that is exactly how it is. Civil society being strategic and persistent is helpful in good times, essential in challenging times. Dialogue to build trust is helpful in good times, essential in polarized times. This is not the moment to sit down and sulk, but the moment to step up and be brighter, bolder, braver than ever before.

Let me start with a “thank you” though. Without your leadership and 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... we would not be discussing today what the next 5 years of OGP will look like – but would be looking back at yet another nice idea that failed to live up to its promise.

The last 5 years we have shaped national and global policy agendas around open government. The 2,700 commitments include many long fought for reforms –  including on beneficial ownershipDisclosing beneficial owners — those who ultimately control or profit from a business — is essential for combating corruption, stemming illicit financial flows, and fighting tax evasion. Technical... disclosure in the UK and Norway and lobbyingLobbying transparency allows the public to ensure that there is diversity of participation and contribution to public decision-making. Technical specifications: Policies and actions affecting lobbying... laws in Chile and Ireland.

As a partnership we can also be proud for explicitly standing up for our values by making one of those 71 inactive for seriously undermining the space for civil society to operate and another for not moving an inch on its open government commitment.

OGP has helped deliver access to information laws in Brazil, Tanzania and Kenya. At the same time has failed to do so in the Philippines and Ghana.

What does this tell us? For one, it shows that OGP by itself cannot deliver change. That is not surprising because for real change many forces have to come together – political will, expertise and a well-coordinated civil society. Let me share two examples from the ‘Early OGP results’ publication that we are launching today.

• The Costa Rica story shows that if a promise for participation – in this case of indigenous groups –  extends beyond political rhetoric and actually empowers the government machinery to act, inclusive dialogue can happen, the quality of public service deliveryTo ensure that citizens of all groups are better supported by the government, OGP participating governments are working to improve the quality of and access to public services. Commitments in this are... can improve, and mechanisms to protect the rights of the disenfranchised can be put in place. Even after being stalled for 23 years.

• The Italian OpenCoesione story shows that top-down 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... initiatives on public spending, if combined with bottom-up, data-driven monitoring can promote accountability and civic engagement. It shows that making progress is an iterative, complex process that involves many actors and asks for perseverance.

Both examples show that change starts with dialogue, making connections and building coalitions for change. There are many more examples from the 71 OGP countries that show there is momentum for our agenda.

Not that OGP has fulfilled everything I had hoped for. And I know most of you are not completely satisfied either.

There are two things I want to share with you this morning. First, the main observations coming out of the “Strategy Dialogues”, and how we will take it forward. Second, I want us to start thinking about the years ahead. How can open government counter the evils of our times?

The “Strategy Dialogues” are community conversations the civil society SC members held with close to 500 of you over the past year to hear about your experience to date and seek ideas for the next 5.

These are the headlines:

1. The space for civil society to operate is closing across the world, including in many OGP countries. Whereas OGP aims to tip the balance towards open, it seems in many places spaces are closing faster than we are opening them.

2. Shallow awareness and ownership of open government across governments and civil society. We are growing in numbers, breaking down silos, but we are still more of a trendy niche than a mainstream market. 

3. Overall low levels of ambitionAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, OGP commitments should “stretch government practice beyond its current baseline with respect to key areas of open government.” Ambition captures the po... and implementation of commitments. OGP delivered some big reforms, accelerated many small reforms, but is yet to change the culture of government or change people’s life at scale.

4. OGP “rules of the game” are seen as relatively weak in design and enforcement. As a community you feel that countries get in that shouldn’t, stay in despite undermining OGP principles, get away with not doing the OGP process right or not delivering on their promises. This is a big one and a priority for the Steering CommitteeThe Steering Committee is OGP’s executive decision-making body. Its role is to develop, promote and safeguard OGP’s values, principles and interests; establish OGP’s core ideas, policies, and ru... to address in 2017 – the new Participation & Co-creation Standards are just the appetizer.

5. And finally, we still face lack of resources for civil society to engage in national OGP processes and build coalitions.

Collectively we have to address all 5.  How will be a topic of conversation throughout the week, and later this morning you will hear perspectives from Sanjay and Manish.

Today, I want to focus on two related challenges. FIrst, moving from participating elites to participating masses. Second, delivering ambitious commitments that make a difference to citizens. If we address these, we will not only help OGP live up to its full potential, but also contribute to fighting closing spaces, growing polarization and declining trust.

Citizens feel increasingly disenchanted and distant from their governments and policy decisions. And to be frank, very often government also doesn’t trust its citizens.  

So the need for bringing people back to the heart of government, the need for dialogue and participation to push back on populism and polarisation seems clear.  It raises 2 questions though: First, do people want to be at the heart of government? Second, if they do, is it worth their effort? How attractive is the promise of OGP?

To be honest, many of the commitments delivered so far probably won’t make the heart rates of ordinary citizens go up.  And inviting them to the table as a mere gesture is also not good enough.

In many countries OGP has been able to create space for dialogue, opportunities for agenda setting and securing concrete reforms. This has worked particularly well for civil society that are active nationally and close to the open government agenda. We made the space for the participating elite slightly bigger, not yet government truly inclusive. Good start, but not good enough.

To be crystal clear, we need to make the OGP process itself better, broader and more inclusive. For sure. Our end goal though should not be to create a perfect niche product called OGP, but to bring about open, inclusive and participatory government that delivers on citizen priorities. Not just for the mere principle of inclusiveness but to ensure that collectively we have enough civic muscle to tackle the challenges at hand and outsmart vested interests that push back on our agenda. Why?

Because pushing through a technical reform can be done with 10 smart people in a room, implementing it properly will probably take a 1000. But changing the culture of government, restoring trust and making a difference in the lives of people – the real ambition of OGP – needs the open government agenda to be supported by a movement of millions.

There will be appetite for active citizenship if through OGP citizens get real opportunities to allocate budgets, unmask corruption or audit the quality of service delivery and get governments to address their grievances.

Let me give you an example of what that can look like. In the Philippines, the government disclosed spending data on five major expenditure programs, including roads and schools. Citizens and civil society started to carry out participatory social auditsInstitutional and legal frameworks are necessary for providing assurance of the integrity of financial information and of compliance with budgetary rules and procedure. Technical specifications: These... to check whether the roads exist, whether teachers and textbooks are showing up in schools.  The Commission of Audit, the formal accountability institution of the Philippines initiated  these participatory social audits, which local governments then responded to.  Each ghost road is estimated to save $300,000.

We need more such reforms.

Colleagues, I have laid out the key challenge: more change agents, working together to deliver more meaningful reforms.

And this is where you come in. OGP is as weak or as strong as we together choose to make it. I would love us to work together the coming years to:

1. Make the OGP process better and more inclusive, bring in new actors and build smart vertical and horizontal coalitions.

2. Use OGP commitments to create space for civic participation and government responsiveness and make sure that agenda resonate with the needs and passions of ordinary citizens

The great French writer Camus already back in 1949 said that we have replaced dialogue with official communiques. That is probably how a lot of citizens still experience government. More than ever before in my 5 years at OGP I feel that real dialogue is the start of the solution.

Which is why I like the Dutch OGP commitment to include FOI requests in their so-called ‘Pleasant Contact with Government’ project. It means that a civil servant will actually call the filer and discuss the request. What they found is that this informal approach led to significantly fewer complaints and appeals, lower costs and shorter lead times. Most interestingly, even if the government could not provide the information requested, public trust would still improve. That’s how simple it can be.

Participation and dialogue in government should be about citizens talking to citizens, together finding solutions to problems, especially in times like these when perspectives on what the right solution is are often far apart. The conversation might be uncomfortable at first, but it’s the only way to build mutual trust and counter polarization. We have to get out of our bubble and engage.

The years to come won’t be easier, perhaps won’t be more fun. As OGP we have no choice though than to step up our game. I am asking you as civil society leaders to do the same.

Thank you/Merci