Update from the Second OGP European Outreach and Support Meeting in Dubrovnik
David Slinn, UK Ambassador in Croatia, speaking at the Second European Outreach and Support Meeting in Dubrovnik
The second European Outreach and Support Meeting of the Open Government Initiative (OGP) was held on October 4-5, in Dubrovnik. Meeting was organized by the Government of the Republic of Croatia and Croatian NGOs, in cooperation with the Government of the United Kingdom, which is one of the co-chairsThe leadership of the Steering Committee is made up of four co-chairs who provide strategic guidance and support to advance OGP’s overarching priorities. Co-Chairs serve two-year terms beginning on ... of the Initiative, and with support of the EU project for technical assistance to civil society organizations (TACSO).
In the opening session, participants were greeted by the Deputy Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Joško Klisović; the Open DataBy opening up data and making it sharable and reusable, governments can enable informed debate, better decision making, and the development of innovative new services. Technical specifications: Polici... and 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 Advisor at the UK Government, Charlotte Alldritt; the Head of the Delegation of the EU to Croatia, Paul Vandoren and the ambassador of the United Kingdom in Croatia, David Arthur Slinn. Joško Klisović welcomed the participants on behalf of the Croatian Government, thanking for the trust that was given to Croatia by selecting our country to be the host of the event. “Croatia will continue actively participating in the OGP”, he stated, emphasizing that the role of the government is to serve, and not to rule over people. Klisović also emphasized the importance of the international component of the conference as it gives participant a chance to exchange experiences and to learn from each other.
In his address, Head of the EU Delegation in Croatia Paul Vandoren said that transparency of state service is extremely important for society in whole, as it opens a world of possibilities, and at the end it encourages economy growth and creates positive business environment. “Open government is an important instrument for development because transparency encourages prosperity”, said Ambassador David Arthur Slinn, emhasizing that co-chairing of the OGP Initiative is an honour for the United Kingdom, but a responsibility as well. “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 is an idea that progresses”, said Slinn.
Charlotte Alldritt from UK Government emphasized that OGP is a political initiative that in its one year of implementation has gathered big significance, meaning and respect. In the workshops that were held in the morning of the first day of the meeting, before official opening, and on which participated the representatives of the governments and members of civil society organizations, it was emphasized in particular that it is important to strengthen the implementation of action plans in countries which are members of the Initiative. “Workshops are very useful to see how things are in praxis, where ther might be some problems and on which areas additional work is needed”, said Alldritt and added that meeting such as this serve as help to the governments in reaching their given goals.
Director of the Government’s Office for Cooperation with NGOs Igor Vidačak said that the UK experience in this area is particularly interesting to Croatia, especially regarding models of cooperation with civil society organizations, since UK is one of the most advanced countries when it comes to the openness of the Government towards citizens. We are in particular interested in the experiences of the UK in the context of big projects such as the “data.gov.uk.” , website on which there are available, among other things, information about transactions from the budget of all ministries so citizens can see how public money is being spent and on what. Because one of the priorities of Croatian 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... is precisely fiscal transparency, said Vidačak. “When we are talking about publishing information on our website, it is not important just to publish them”, said Alldritt. “Attention needs to be given to quality of information, is information published regularly, on time, and are there any obstacles in obtaining data, in the sense of format and other technical obstacles. It is all very important and the government needs to take care of that aspect as well.”
On the second day of the meeting, discussion were held on different aspects of Partnership, from transparency of government, with special notion on fiscal transparency, over the use of IT, to access to information. Participants exchanged experiences on best practices and key challenges in providing complete, relevant, accurate, understandable and timely information on state budget, namely how and what is state money being spent. Also, they discussed on experiences regarding the use of IT in order to increase transparency, facilitate 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... in decision making process and to improve efficiency of public services. A report on the outcomes of the event is now being prepared and will be published shortly.