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Faces of Open Government: Aidan Eyakuze

In December, Aidan Eyakuze and the Government of Italy became the co-chairs of the OGP Steering Committee. Together, they've laid out an agenda to tackle the challenges in the year ahead. Aidan sat down with OGP to share some of the work he and his counterparts in Italy hope to achieve this year and his hopes for the future of the open government community. Read the interview here.

STEERING COMMITTEE SPOTLIGHT

2021-2022 OGP Co-Chair Agenda

During their co-chair year, the Government of Italy and Aidan Eyakuze will mobilize political leadership and collective action to support a citizen-centric recovery from the pandemic and lead the Partnership into its next decade. Read the full agenda here.

Looking Ahead for OGP: From a Mechanism to a Movement

Learn how the lead co-chairs of the OGP Steering Committee plan to make the most of their tenure and drive results for OGP members as the Partnership enters its second decade here.

Join the Steering Committee

The 2022 Steering Committee selection and election processes have begun. New members will join October 1, 2022.

Civil Society: Don’t miss the opportunity to guide OGP and represent the concerns and interests of the global open government civil society community. Apply by April 8. Learn more here.
Government: Letters of candidacy are due April 1. Learn more here.

STORIES AND RESOURCES

Voices of Open Government

This month on the podcast, host Stephanie Bluma discusses local open government with reformers in Austin, Texas and Elgeyo Marakwet, Kenya.

🎧 Building the Ladder of Citizen Engagement

In Austin, Texas, the local government has taken steps to level the playing field and include historically marginalized groups, like people experiencing homelessness, in open gov and policy processes.

Guest: Guest: Daniel Culotta, Acting Chief Innovation Officer and Austin Civilian Conservation Corps Program Coordinator
Co-Host: Nicole Anand, OGP Civil Society Lead, Los Angeles

🎧 Focus on the Reform. And the Reformer!

Reformers in Elgeyo Marakwet County, Kenya applied open government principles to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, and talk about the importance of recognizing the people behind the reforms.

Guest: Timothy Kiprono, Founder and Executive Director of the Open Governance Institute
Co-Host: John Maritim, Director of Economic Planning and Budgeting in Elgeyo Marakwet
County, Kenya

South Africa: A Quest to Open Up Budget Data

In South Africa, public budget data was static, unintegrated, and inaccessible to citizens. To address this, the National Treasury partnered with the civil society coalition to create an online platform called Vulekamali. Hear from one of its creators, Zuki Kota here.

Independent Evaluation of OGP

Earlier this month, we published an independent evaluation of OGP done by Oxford Policy Management. The report explores the relevance, effectiveness, and efficiency of OGP and provides new insights to improve performance.

Get started here.

Reform in Action

In this new series, explore how reformers leverage their engagement with OGP to achieve their open government goals and make progress that leads to systemic change.

Read the first three stories about open contracting in Kenya, environmental democracy in Ecuador, and beneficial ownership transparency in Nigeria here.

EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES

Join us for Open Gov Week 2022!

We are proud to announce that we will be hosting Open Gov Week from May 16-20, 2022.

This year as we come together, we will be celebrating the bold thinkers and reformers who have successfully opened governments around the world.

Learn more here.

10 Years On: What Does the Evidence Tell Us?

Join us on March 2nd at 11 AM EST to discuss the main findings of our OGP Vital Signs report and look at the data from action plans and commitments from the past ten years of OGP.

This event is in Spanish only. Learn more here.

Conversation on How We Can Get EU Recovery Right

On March 15, OGP is hosting an online conversation on the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility. The conversation will feature representatives from the European Commission, national governments, and civil society discussing how - and why it is so important - to open up recovery spending. Learn more here.

International Experts Panel

Do you or someone you know have experience in the open government field with leadership in a research or monitoring role? OGP’s Independent Reporting Mechanism (RIM) is now seeking nominations and applications for new members of the International Experts Panel.

Learn more here.

OGP LOCAL

Call for Applications - Join OGP Local

OGP Local is expanding with a planned intake of up to 50 new local governments in 2022. To that end, OGP launched a call for applications for new local governments and civil society organizations interested in joining OGP. Only one more month to go before we close applications on March 16. Apply today!

Four Highlights from OGP Local at the OGP Summit

At the OGP Global Summit in December 2021, OGP Local shared exciting news for 2022 and hosted three main sessions alongside members and partners. Here are a few things you may have missed.

WORLD OF OPEN GOV

- Check out OECD’s new publication - Regulation of Corporate Political Engagement - which covers topics like lobbying and political finance.

- Read ASEAN’s new report on emerging technologies in judicial integrity.

- Learn how Mexico City ensured a transparent and competitive procurement process in the expansion and upgrade of its eco-friendly and affordable bike share service in this story by the Open Contracting Partnership.

- Check out Luminate’s new report on Youth and Democracy in Latin America. It is available in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

- Explore People Powered’s Digital Participation Platforms Resource Center, which help reformers review the pros and cons of many comprehensive civic tech platforms, and make the right choice for their contexts.

- Check out ECNL's Learning Center, a new platform with explainers, videos, testimonials, case studies and readings, designed to walk you through the complex web of issues that impact civil society work.

- Check out OECD’s new report on public communications here.

- The World Justice Forum – the premier international event for the rule of law – is happening May 30 - June 2. Register here.

-Read this new guide by the International Budget Partnership and the Climate Finance Group for Latin America and the Caribbean to explore the role of public budgets in tackling climate change.

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