Description
The 3rd session is about the chances and challenges for countries joining the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and the role of governments, civil society organisations and other stakeholders in the OGP process. The OGP now includes fifty-five countries and a healthy spectrum of civil society and transparency organisations. The OGP clearly has potential to accelerate the transformation of governments and societies to become more open, transparent and participatory. Looking at the “action plans” from many countries joined the OGP it appears that right now the OGP is a flagship without destination. There is little common ground on basic concepts and minimal standards of Open Government. It is also unclear how the OGP process is structured and how the implementation of the action plans can be evaluated. These are critical issues, hence they hold potential for the OGP to become a vehicle that waters down the principles developed by international communities of best practice. This session includes four short contributions by leading experts of the civil society and concludes in a plenary debat as a forum for governments and civil society to exchange.
Part I: Inspiring thoughts (40min)
* Using OGP to drive progress on international transparency by Alan Hudson (ONE)
Description: Alan will talk about how a number of civil society organisations are working together to engage with the UK Government in its role as co-chair of OGP, to drive progress on international transparency issues and initiatives, in relation to aid, budgets and natural resource governance.
* Opening Parliament: Prospects for Partnership by Andrew Mandelbaum (National Democratic Institute)
Description: The international community of parliamentary monitoring organizations (PMOs) has released a Declaration on Parliamentary Openness that seeks to encourage parliaments to strengthen their commitments to openness and citizen participation. This discussion aims to review the Declaration and consider how collaboration between PMOs and parliaments can lead to enhanced openness and more democratic societies.
* Introducing the Civil society initiative to define what open government really means by Helen Darbishire (Access Info)
Description: Open Government is a hot topic right now, but what does it really mean in practice? What should governments be doing in the areas of Transparency, Participation and Accountability to qualify as “open governments”? What are the uses of new communications technologies which really advance openness as opposed to merely perpetuating existing bureaucratic practices in a digital environment? To what extent can existing standards and principles be drawn upon to provide a clear framework for our discussions around open government? The Open Government Standards initiative is the civil society response to the increasing use of the term “open government” without a clear definition and with a lot of confusion and overlap with other concepts (good governance, e-government, efficient government, etc.). Leading thinkers in the fields of transparency, accountability and participation are being consulted in order to produce a draft declaration of Open Government Standards which will be presented in Helsinki. We expect the standards to draw heavily on and/or incorporate existing standards in the relevant fields. During the period mid September to late November 2012 there will be a wider global consultation which will involved a wider circle of civil society actors, as well as others such as information commissioners and academics. For more information, see: www.opengovstandards.org
* OGP ‘standards’: measuring eligibility, commitment and progress by Paul Maassen (Co-ordinator for OGP)
Description: Paul will give an mini introduction to the OGP approach to eligibility, progress and monitoring and show some of the ongoing efforts to assess and monitor commitments, as well as share his ideas on what civil society could do additionally to strengthen the OGP process and the monitoring of the delivery of the commitments.
Part II: Civil Society & Government representatives discussing the Open Government Partnership process (50min)
Description: A plenary debate with representatives from Civil Society & Governments from around the world to discuss the the Open Government Partnership process. With more and more countries joining the OGP it is clearly becoming momentum. But what does it mean for countries to join? How is the OGP process structured at international, national and and local level and how are Civil Society Organisation (CSOs) and other stakeholders involved? How are the action plans being developed and how implementation evaluated? The plenary will provide an opportunity for governments to exchange experiences and to connect with the wider international Open Government Data community.
The debate will be opened, moderated and closed by Warren Krafchik (International Budget Partnership, and co-chair of the Open Government Partnership)
Panelists: Sophia Oliver (UK, government OGP lead), Ana Simundza, (Croatia, head of Deputy Minister Office), Liia Hänni (Estonia, CSO’s OGP network), John Wonderlich (US, Sunlight Foundation), Helen Darbishire (Spain, Access Info), Gisele Craveiro (Brazil, University of São Paulo, Brazil)
Session Host
Warren Krafchik (International Budget Partnership)
Contributors
* Alan Hudson (UK, ONE)
* Andrew Mandelbaum (USA, National Democratic Institute)
* Paul Maassen (Netherlands, independent civil society co-ordinator for OGP)
* Sophia Oliver (UK, government OGP lead)
* Ana Simundza, (Croatia, head of Deputy Minister Office)
* Liia Hänni (Estonia, CSO’s OGP network)
* John Wonderlich (US, Sunlight Foundation)
* Helen Darbishire (Spain, Access Info)
* Gisele Craveiro (Brazil, University of São Paulo, Brazil)
Bios
Coming soon!
Details
Location: Inspire Auditorium
Date & Time: Tue 16:00
Target Group: those with an interest in the OGP
Topic Stream: [Transparency and Accountability](https://2012.okfestival.org/transparency-and-accountability/)
Session Etherpad page: linked from [http://2012.okfestival.org/Tastream](http://2012.okfestival.org/Tastream)
