2024 Civil Society Steering Committee Selection

Updated September 16, 2024

Results of the 2024 Selection Process

A call for candidates to fill five Civil Society Steering Committee seats was launched in November 2023. Thirty-eight applications were received and reviewed by the Selection Committee. Following a thorough selection process, we are pleased to announce that Anabel Cruz (Instituto de Comunicacion y Desarrollo) and Doug Rutzen (International Center for Not-for-Profit Law) have been re-selected to serve a second term. Additionally, Katerina Hadzi-Miceva Evans (European Center for Not-for-Profit Law), Cielo Magno (Bantay Kita), and Laura Neuman (Carter Center) joined the OGP Steering Committee on October 1, 2024. They will serve on the Steering Committee for three years, in line with the Civil Society Mandate and Selection. Cielo Magno was invited to fill a vacant seat immediately following the departure of Juan Carlos Fernandez from the Civil Society Steering Committee earlier this year.

On October 1, 2024, the current Lead Chairs, the Government of Kenya and Blair Glencorse of Accountability Lab, handed over leadership of OGP to the Government of Spain and Cielo Mago of Bantay Kita-PWYP Philippines. The Government of Brazil and Steph Muchai of the International Lawyers Project will serve as 2025-2026 Lead Co-chairs.

Shortlist (published February 27, 2024, updated March 21, 2024)

Following an open nomination process and a public comment period, the OGP Steering Committee Selection Committee selected a shortlist of Civil Society candidates for the OGP Steering Committee. The list is available below with the final scores of each candidate as determined by the Selection Committee.

Longlist of Candidates (published January 26, 2024, updated March 21, 2024)

An open nomination process produced a longlist of candidates, available below.

Overview of the OGP Steering Committee

The SC is OGP’s executive, decision-making body. Its role is to develop, promote and safeguard OGP’s values, principles and interests. It also establishes OGP’s core ideas, policies, and rules and oversees the functioning of the partnership.

The SC is composed of 22 members (11 from national governments and 11 from civil society), with parity maintained between the two constituencies. The SC has three standing subcommittees to support its work, the Governance and Leadership Subcommittee (GL), the Criteria and Standards Subcommittee (C&S) and the Thematic Leadership Subcommittee (TLS). Each subcommittee comprises equal numbers of government and civil society representatives drawn from the SC.

Some of the key responsibilities of the SC include:

• Set OGP’s agenda and direction with principled commitment to the founding nature and goals of the initiative;
• Lead by example through upholding OGP values, adhering to OGP processes to co- create and implement ambitious open government reforms, and fulfilling financial support of OGP.
• Advance OGP priorities through their participation in the Global OGP Summit, OGP regional and thematic events, and other international opportunities to promote open government;
• Actively participate in Steering Committee and Subcommittee meetings (in-person and virtually), with Ministerial representation when necessary (at least once per year).

SC members serve for a term of three years and are eligible to serve for a maximum of two consecutive terms. SC members seeking a second term must be reelected to stay on the SC. All SC terms begin on October 1 of the year in which they are elected. For more details on the functions of the Steering Committee, please refer to the OGP Articles of Governance.

Criteria to Run for a Civil Society Seat on the Steering Committee

General Criteria

Civil society members are selected and serve in their individual capacity. To ensure the highest standards of work, we are looking for candidates that model OGP principles by practicing high levels of openness, integrity and accountability.

Each civil society member of the SC must fulfill the two key responsibilities listed in the mandate:

• To perform the international governance role for OGP in the Steering Committee;
• And to represent the concerns and interests of the global OGP civil society community in the Steering Committee.

The civil society member must be able to meet the following requirements:

• The working language of the SC is English; all members must be proficient.
• Dedicate up to ½ day a week to OGP – with intensity increasing around SC and OGP meetings.
• Available to travel internationally to represent OGP at high-level meetings, including up to two mandatory in-person SC meeting(s) per year.

Selection Criteria and Scoring

The skills outlined below serve as the selection criteria and will be scored as per the scoring criteria table in the Annex of the Civil Society Steering Committee Mandate and Selection.

Required Skills and Experience:

• Advocacy: Strong track record in powerfully and clearly articulating core open government issues, including at global and regional (political) fora;
• Representation: Proven ability to canvas and represent the interests of the civil society community with government or at multistakeholder fora;
• Political Acumen: Demonstrable experience in strategically engaging with senior government and civil society members and exercising sound political judgment;
• Leadership: Noteworthy leadership experience in civil society and recognition as a respected and legitimate actor in national, regional, and/or global civil society networks;

Desired:

• Sound technical expertise and strong track record in influencing policy processes and partnering with government – and proven ability to draw on that experience to support national (OGP) processes beyond their own country;
• Provide an informed international perspective on core open government issues to leverage global standards and/or partners;
• Track record as an effective board member, preferably with demonstrable experience chairing (sub)board meetings;
• Strong interpersonal skills (e.g. excellent communication skills, ability to exercise good judgment, thoughtful interactions with others)

Additional Considerations:

Candidates that meet one or more of the following additional criteria are strongly encouraged to apply:

• Have experience working in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly at the local level;
• Are from and are physically based in primarily the Asia-Pacific region;
• Have thematic experience in one or more of the strategic goals of the new strategy;
• Identify as Black, Asian/Asian-Pacific, and/or Indigenous.

With the above in mind, please note that:

• Candidates may be nominated by an organization or network, or may nominate themselves. The organizations/networks that the nominated candidates are affiliated with could be national, regional or global. However this does not mean that the candidates represent the affiliate in particular.
• Since SC members serve in their individual rather than organizational capacity, should a member leave the SC before their term ends, no presumption would be made that their replacement will come from the same entity.
• CS SC members will declare their financial and non-financial interests, apart from those which could not potentially lead to or be perceived as a conflict of interest. These declarations of interest will be made publicly available. Where there are personal safety or similar serious concerns about full publicity, parts or even the whole of the declaration should be submitted to the CEO, who will hold it and act upon it as appropriate, in confidence.
• Civil society comes in many definitions and flavors across the world, which is why OGP never adopted a formal definition of our own. However, for selecting suitable representatives of the community, the Selection Committee is provided with some guidance on who in principle would not be eligible to join to avoid potential conflicts of interest. Namely candidates working for:
  • Donors/Funders
  • Government/ Parliament/Judiciary/ Semi-autonomous bodies (e.g. state auditor, ombudsman, etc.)
  • Multilateral organization or OGP-like platforms
  • OGP (employees or consultants)
  • Private sector

Timeline