OGP’s Year in Review (One more annual report?!!)

If you’re looking for the OGP Year in Review, please find it here.

In the weeks before we hit the finish line on our annual report, we came across Ruth Levine’s blog suggesting they can be a waste of time, and TAI’s blog arguing why they were not. Awkward timing, but we found ourselves agreeing with both.

Yes, they are a huge investment of time and effort. For a team of 40 supporting 96 national and local governments and thousands of civil society organizations, it can easily be low on the priority list. But they also give a bird’s eye view of what we achieved, and our place in this crowded landscape of governance work. Stepping back to reflect on that can be a luxury in OGP world, and that’s precisely why we need it.

In fact, late last year we did something unusual – we asked a blunt question to some of our donors on whether they found our annual reports useful at all. Thankfully, we got some blunt answers. Here’s what’s different:

It’s short(er). If OGP were to expound on its large portfolio of activities, the annual report would never end. We tried to be disciplined this time.

It’s data-driven. We leveraged data – both from our M&E efforts and from the IRM – to tell our story. We shifted from lengthy narratives to bullet points wherever we could.  

It uses examples. In a field where seeing impact can be years away, we needed to show examples of incremental, on-the-ground changes as we work with reformers in OGP countries.

If you’re strapped for time, read the first two pages for a high-level summary of results in 2017. If not, read on!