Sustaining Open Government through Uncertain Times

Dear friends and colleagues,

We understand that many of us are confronting a moment of deep uncertainty, anxiety, and pain. We recognize and share in your concerns as our community of committed governments and civil society champions face a new and challenging landscape. 

Many—including key partners in the open government community—depend on US and other bilateral government support to promote transparency, accountability, public innovation and participation. The recent shifts in funding has serious impacts on the whole OGP community, platform and processes and our collective ongoing efforts to advance open government reforms and improve public services.

The Open Government Declaration, endorsed by all 77 national members of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), sets out the values and principles we all embrace ‘with a view toward achieving greater prosperity, well-being, and human dignity in our own countries and in an increasingly interconnected world.’ Delivering on that vision needs the Partnership to make a collective effort to protect the OGP dynamic and processes that drive reform, especially at national and local level.

The partnership paradigm that we have built in the last decade, rooted in mutual trust, integrity, dialogue and action will help us navigate the stormy weather ahead. It will bring out the best in us and in our communities just as it did during the Covid-19 crisis. We will stand together as a global community and support each other as best we can. 

However, to achieve this, we must all step up. Together with the Steering Committee we are developing a dynamic response, based on our mandate:

• We will connect and convene the community, be a listening post, share, amplify and disseminate useful tips, resources and lessons. 
• Between now and our OGP Global Summit in Spain in October, we will call on our political leaders, our partners, and our MSFs to recommit to our shared values, principles and objectives, and build a broad coalition to drive our collective ambition.
• We will explore how to mobilize more financial support for core OGP work at the local and national levels, focusing on where real opportunities are at risk of being lost.

We will continue to acknowledge and celebrate the incredible efforts of brave reformers across the Partnership – particularly by those in civil society and those in the US – to lift up open government principles and make them real.

If your organization has been affected and is struggling to continue its engagement with OGP, we encourage you to reach out. 

We are committed to supporting you as we navigate the changing and evolving realities. It will have to be a collective effort in the spirit of what defines this Partnership. Together, we will continue to advance open government principles and practices with unwavering resolve.

On behalf of the OGP team,

Paul Maassen
Interim CEO of OGP and Chief of Global Programs