Section Overview
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- National OGP Members are required to implement their action plans in line with Standard 5 and meet the relevant minimum requirement.
- Stakeholder engagement during implementation helps to hold the government and implementing partners accountable, and is linked to higher commitment completion rates and stronger results.
- Civil society organizations play a key role in monitoring progress, providing feedback, and working with partners on implementation.
- Strong stakeholder engagement and an ambitious application of Standard 5 can be achieved through implementation planning, understanding how stakeholders can make contributions, and conducting monitoring and assessment activities.
CONTENTS
Overview
Standard 5
Sustaining Engagement
Implementation Planning
Stakeholder Contributions to Implementation
Monitoring and Assessments
Self-Assessment Report
A well-structured and inclusive action plan development process lays the groundwork for the effective implementation of commitments. Once commitments are finalized within an action plan or in standalone versions (see Development of Action Plans and Commitments and Engagement of Other Levels and Branches of Government), efforts shift from designing to execution.
During the implementation of an action plan, countries should strive to meet the following OGP Participation and Co-Creation Standard to ensure meaningful participation.
Providing inclusive and informed opportunities for ongoing dialogue and collaboration during implementation and monitoring of the action plan.
Minimum Requirement 5.1
The MSF where established, or the government where there is no MSF, holds at least two meetings every year with civil society to present results on the implementation of the action plan and collect comments.
IRM Assessment
The IRM will assess whether the country complies with two key measures:
- Did the government hold meetings with civil society stakeholders or the MSF meet during the implementation of the action plan?
- Were results on the implementation of the action plan presented and the opportunity made for civil society to comment?
See IRM Guidelines here.
Implementation is an ongoing process that requires all involved actors to stay engaged, monitor progress, and adjust approaches as needed. Regular engagement helps stakeholders hold the government and implementing partners accountable and make corrections if priorities or circumstances change. Evidence from IRM reports and OGP’s Decade Report shows that continued stakeholder involvement during implementation is linked to higher completion rates and stronger results.
Successful implementation depends on strong coordination within the government and sustained collaboration with civil society. Governments should align agencies, allocate resources, maintain open communication, and integrate commitments into institutional processes. For instance, involving ministers or senior officials at least once a year to review progress, address delays, and discuss challenges can help sustain political support. Governments or MSFs may also introduce amendments to the action plan to respond to new developments. This can be done at any time as long as the milestones end before the end date of the action plan (see Amendments).
Civil society organizations play a key role in monitoring progress, providing feedback, and working with partners on implementation. They can co-own the process and contribute to reporting, often through the continued engagement of thematic working groups formed during commitment development (see Standard 3).
Good to Know
The Role of the OGP Support Unit
The OGP Support Unit can facilitate collaboration with other OGP members, connect domestic actors with peers and partners to exchange lessons and sustain engagement, provide technical expertise, share global best practices, and support workshops to strengthen implementation efforts.
Implementation plans help guarantee specific activities are defined, resourced, and assigned. The commitment template for action plans identifies milestones and outputs, setting out what needs to be achieved. It does not detail the specific activities required to achieve these milestones. In other words, while the commitment template focuses on the “what,” the implementation plan focuses on the “how.” Conducting implementation planning among the stakeholders identified in the commitment template helps build stronger working relationships and a support base for the commitment. It also helps guarantee that specific activities are defined, resourced, and assigned to achieve milestones. Implementation planning can be done for each commitment individually.
In brief, to complement the higher-level focus of the commitment template, implementation plans should include:
- Specific activities to be undertaken;
- Resources required;
- Timelines and deadlines;
- Expected outputs;
- Responsibilities assigned to individuals, ministries, or groups; and
- Identified risks and strategies to manage them.
Lead implementing agencies can be supported by other stakeholders, including civil society during the implementation process. As a good practice, MSFs (or governments if no MSF exists) should hold open meetings and establish regular communications with additional stakeholders. These allow implementing agencies to provide updates on progress and respond to questions and input from civil society and other stakeholders.
Additional stakeholders can contribute to the implementation of open government commitments in some of the following ways.
- Communications. Raising public awareness of new or modified policies or programs resulting from commitments, such as new laws, regulations, or services.
- Expertise. Providing advice and technical support for policy implementation.
- Service Provision and Co-Production. Partnering with the government to implement policies and deliver services.
- Enabling Use and Feedback. Supporting beneficiaries to access new policies, programs, or services enabled by commitments, and channeling user feedback to lead agencies.
Monitoring should occur at the level of each commitment and include opportunities for dialogue and collaboration. Thematic working groups can play a critical role in engaging specific stakeholders to monitor planned activities. At regular intervals, stakeholders should meet to review progress made towards the implementation of commitments, address challenges, and adjust plans as necessary. These meetings also allow implementing institutions or agencies to report on milestones and provide an opportunity for civil society and other stakeholders to:
- Offer feedback,
- Raise concerns about risks and challenges,
- Foster accountability, and
- Discuss potential ways forward.
In addition to monitoring, periodic assessments of the entire action plan or broader strategy are also necessary to evaluate progress toward overall goals. These assessments allow stakeholders, including MSF members, to:
- Reflect on the advancement of commitments,
- Validate achieved results, and
- Identify and implement corrective measures where delays or gaps exist.
To support meeting the minimum requirement of a document repository and corroborate findings within, members can choose to support systematic assessments and results monitoring by maintaining a public dashboard with up-to-date information on progress, delays, and other developments for additional transparency.
Participating governments are encouraged to produce an End-of-Term Self-Assessment Report on the final results of reforms completed in the action plan, consultation during implementation, and lessons learned. A template for a self-assessment report is available for download here (also available in French and Spanish).