Progress through Partnership: National-Local Collaboration to Advance Open Government

Today’s challenges are complex. Tackling climate change, protecting democracy, and ensuring access to services require coordination. Finding practical solutions means working across society and at multiple levels of government.

Local governments are often at the forefront of tackling these challenges. Local governments are responsible for policies and services that can have a tangible impact on citizens’ lives. They can also be laboratories for innovation in governance. National governments need local governments to collectively tackle these major issues and ensure that policies are implemented. And local governments thrive when national policy supports collaboration, innovation, and credible implementation.

In OGP, national and local governments have worked together to solve difficult problems. For example, since the launch of OGP in 2011, members have used the action planAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen... process to advance the principles of 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, participation, public accountabilityAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, public accountability occurs when ”rules, regulations, and mechanisms in place call upon government actors to justify their actions, act upon criticisms ... More, and inclusionOGP participating governments are working to create governments that truly serve all people. Commitments in this area may address persons with disabilities, women and girls, lesbian, gay, bisexual, tr... at the national and local levels. To date, around 65 members have included at least one local 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... in a national action plan.

This note shares some key considerations based on practical experiences on how national governments can collaborate with local governments.