Press Release: OGP Global Summit Ends with Progress on Global Goals and Implementation of Open Government on a Local Level

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Mexico City, Mexico –  October 29, 2015, The Open Government PartnershipThe Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving government transparency, ensuring opportunities for citizen participation in public matters, and strengthen... More (OGP) Global Summit concluded Thursday evening with innovative ideas for using OGP framework as a basis for achieving the Sustainable Development GoalsOGP countries are experimenting with open government innovations to accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 16+ which includes peaceful, just and inclusive societies... (SDGs), and agreement on a pilot project to develop open government on a sub-nationalRecognizing that much of what impacts people’s daily lives occurs at the local level, many OGP countries are working to open up lower levels of government by creating commitments focused on subnatio... level. Despite serious concerns about closing space for civil society, and challenges to press freedom in many OGP countries, the gathering of over 2000 participants reaffirmed their commitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action... to the potential of open government to create greater transparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More, accountability and trust in government.

“In just four years, OGP has grown to 69 nations who have made thousands of commitments to reform. Data has been made more open, information more available and accountability strengthened. OGP is on the side of reformers around the world and we welcome new countries into the partnership.” said Joe Powell, Acting Executive Director of the Open Government Partnership 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.....

As the government of South Africa takes over the lead co-chair position, Cyril Ramaphosa, Deputy President of South Africa shared some of his hopes for OGP over the next twelve months: “We all want to be part of solutions that ensure that ways of production and consumption are sustainable and that progress does not come at an irreversible cost to the environment” he said, adding: “It is upon us to guarantee that the world we inhabit in the next fifteen years and beyond is defined by peace and the emancipation of women.”

All eight OGP founding countries – Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico,Norway, Philippines, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States – presented their progress reports at the two day Summit. Commenting on the 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 completionImplementers must follow through on their commitments for them to achieve impact. For each commitment, OGP’s Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) evaluates the degree to which the activities outlin... of the plans, Joseph Foti, Program Director of OGP’s Independent Reporting Mechanism said, “The IRM reports for the founding countries show a big divergence. Some are at the cutting edge of public participationGiving citizens opportunities to provide input into government decision-making leads to more effective governance, improved public service delivery, and more equitable outcomes. Technical specificatio... and information disclosure, while reports show that others need to double down on the fundamentals of how to find the opinions of their citizens.”

Throughout the Summit participants discussed how to adapt the OGP model to work with subnational governments. There is a huge amount of momentum behind this effort and a pilot program to work more closely with a small number of subnational governments was announced by the OGP Steering CommitteeThe Steering Committee is OGP’s executive decision-making body. Its role is to develop, promote and safeguard OGP’s values, principles and interests; establish OGP’s core ideas, policies, and ru.... A plenary discussion at the end of day one brought together political leaders from Mexico City, Tirana, Pretoria, Paris and Washington D.C. Deputy Mayor of Paris, Pauline Veron, talked about the importance of engaging citizens in decision making processes and developing the most ambitious participatory budget in history.

Commenting on the open government work already happening on a local level in so many parts of the world, incoming civil society co-chair Manish Bapna said: “this kind of inspiring leadership and innovation is precisely the reason we are so excited about working more closely with cities and other subnational governments.”

OGP is a multi-stakeholder initiative aimed at securing concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, increase civic participation, fight corruption and harness new technologies to make government more open, effective and accountable. It is fostering new ways for civil society and government to work together to solve problems and improve citizen’s lives.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1. About the Open Government Partnership
The Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multilateral initiative that was launched in 2011 to provide a platform for domestic reformers to secure concrete commitments and make their governments more responsive, accountable and transparent to their citizens. The OGP promotes the principles of transparency, accountability, citizen participation and innovation in 69 member countries that have profited from its global platform to make over 2,000 open government commitments. For further information visit: http://www.opengovpartnership.org

2. About the Open Government Global Summit
Every two years, the Country Chair hosts the OGP Global Summit, the largest gathering of open government practitioners from all over the world. Representatives from governments, academia, civil society and multilateral organizations get together to exchange experiences and share best practices and major developments in open government. The Summit presents an opportunity to raise the profile of open government issues internationally and to explore how they link to some of the world’s greatest challenges.

3. For further information regarding the link between OGP and the UN’s 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development please see our paper: How Can the Open Government Partnership Accelerate Implementation of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development?

4. Over the next few months OGP will be developing and launching the pilot program
working with subnational governments. More details are available at opengovpartnership.org

5. Follow latest Summit developments:
● For more information about the Summit visit: http://ogpsummit.org/
● For more information about OGP visit: http://www.opengovpartnership.org
● Twitter:  @opengovpart  #OGP15
● Livestream: http://www.opengovpartnership.org
● Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/OpenGovernmentPartnership
● Special Huffington Post Series: ·         http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/open-government-partnership/
● Images for sharing will be available via our Flickr channel.

MEDIA CONTACT
Open Government Partnership Support Unit
Dietlind Lerner, Communications Director
press@opengovpartnership.org