Letters Sent to Countries Encouraging Submission of Action Plans
Every two years OGP participating countries are required to submit new National Action Plans (NAPs) which are co-created with civil society. As the largest batch of OGP participants joined in 2012, this has been a particularly busy year for countries delivering new NAPs. The NAPs were due by the end of June, and thus far 32 of the countries that were due to submit plans have done so. These are on the OGP website on the relevant country page.
All participating governmentsOGP participating countries and locals – often referred to as OGP members – are committed to working with civil society to strengthen their adherence to open government values. To join OGP as a pa... are expected to develop NAPs that specify concrete commitments over a two-year period. The OGP Articles of GovernanceThe OGP Articles of Governance establish the mandate and high-level policies of the Partnership, including the Steering Committee, the Support Unit, and the Independent Reporting Mechanism. They also ... state that participating countries are expected to: Make concrete commitments, as part of a country 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..., that are ambitious and go beyond a country’s current practice.
According to OGP rules, countries more than four months late in submitting their NAP will be considered acting contrary to OGP process for that action plan cycle. The Support UnitThe OGP Support Unit is a small, permanent group of staff that work closely with the Steering Committee and the Independent Reporting Mechanism to advance the goals of the Open Government Partnership.... is now publishing the letters sent to countries whose plans were due by the end of June, 2014, but have not yet submitted them. The notification from the Support Unit encourages countries to complete their new NAP soon in order to avoid a review by Criteria and Standards Subcommittee of OGP in the future.
Letters were sent to the following ten countries that have not submitted NAPs within four months of the due date (click on the country name to view the letter):
Additionally, two letters were sent to countries to inform them of future deadlines as a consequence of their request to be shifted to the ‘odd year’ calendar group, whose plans are due in June 2015:
- Azerbaijan (Submitted a 3 year action plan in 2012)
- Israel (Officially ‘late’ as per the above group of countries; formally requested a shift to the 2015 submission date)
Finally, two countries received letters for the second consecutive action plan cycle (for a blog post and copies of past letters, click here). These countries will now be referred to the Criteria and Standards Subcommittee.
The Support Unit encourages government and civil society engaged in the OGP process in these countries to move swiftly in completing new NAPs and implementing open government reforms.