Looking for your feedback on the Open Government Guide

In 2011, the Transparency and Accountability Initiative worked with more than 20 expert organizations to put together the first Open Government Guide as a a resource for governments and civil society working to improve transparency, accountability and participation in their countries, especially in relation to the process of establishing commitments for OGP National Action Plan.[1]

Since the launch of the Guide nearly 4 years ago, the discussions and experiences around open government have evolved, both broadly speaking and in relation to the specific topics covered by the OGG. To ensure that the Guide reflects these changes and remains relevant, we have continuously worked to keep the OGG up to date. At the 2013 London OGP Summit, a new and expanded Open Government Guide was launched. This year, at the OGP Mexico Summit, we presented four revised chapters on Aid, Land, Public Contracting and Records Management, as well as a special edition on the role of open government in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development . Moreover, we have re-vamped the OGG Website to make it easier to navigate the 22 open government topics and their related illustrative commitments, standards and guidance, and country examples. Lastly, we are very excited to announce that more topics will soon be added to the Guide: Political FinanceProviding for transparency in the funding of campaigns, political parties, and democratic politics is an essential accountability mechanism for democratic government and is a growing focus area in OGP... More, Civic Space, and Access to JusticeAccessible justice systems – both formal and informal – ensure that individuals and communities with legal needs know where to go for help, obtain the help they need, and move through a system tha... More.

We have worked hard to maintain the OGG as a relevant and useful resource for the open government community. So far, we are aware that it is valued as such by many of you, as the survey conducted by OGP’s Civil Society Engagement team prior to the Mexico Summit reveals. Participants in this survey placed the OGG in the top 3 “extremely useful or very useful” OGP resources used in the last 12 months. [2]

But now we need your input on how the Guide has been useful to you, and how we could make it better. We would be grateful if those of you who have accessed and used the Guide could take five minutes to fill out our survey by clicking on the link below (this can be done from a computer, smart phone or tablet), by December 20.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ZLF7ZHM (English)

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/QD6QNDF (Spanish)

If you have any questions or concerns, please write to Tania Sánchez, taniola@gmail.com

[1] The Guide collects recommendations from a range of different international standards, sources and expert organizations working on different areas of opening government and presents these as a series of SMART ‘illustrative commitments’ across 22 different cross-cutting and topic areas and at different levels of ambitionAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, OGP commitments should “stretch government practice beyond its current baseline with respect to key areas of open government.” Ambition captures the po... and comprehensiveness.

[2] According to this survey, the top 3 OGP resources considered “extremely useful or very useful” are: In-person OGP events, workshops and presentations – 74,9%; Open Gov Guide – 74,1%; and Independent Progress Reports, IRM databases and/or IRM papers – 69,8%. 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.... will blog in more detail about results next month.