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OGP has joined the open gov community in unequivocally condemning the unjustified and unprovoked attack on Ukraine, an OGP member since 2011. Read statements from the OGP co-chairs, OGP Ambassador Helen Clark, and OGP CEO Sanjay Pradhan.

We stand in solidarity with all Ukrainians as they face an invasion intended to crush their hopes, replace those who lead their open, democratic institutions and unravel all the work done to make Ukrainian democracy work better for its citizens.

Faces of Open Government: Inita Pauloviča

Inita Pauloviča is the advisor to the Director of the State Chancellery of the Republic of Latvia on public administration policy issues. She is the former Deputy Director of the State Chancellery and has played a key role in developing an innovative co-creation platform - OpenLatvia - to allow citizens and civil society organizations to submit ideas to improve transparency and public participation. Read the interview here.

STORIES AND RESOURCES

Voices of Open Government

This month on the podcast, host Stephanie Bluma discusses local open government with reformers in Scotland, United Kindgom.

🎧 Hope Is Hard Work But Necessary Work

In this episode, Patrick Harvie, member of the Scottish Parliament, explains how open, participative, and deliberative approaches to decision-making helps turn the voices of citizens into concrete actions.

Guest: Patrick Harvie, Member of the Scottish Parliament and Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants’ Rights
Co-Host: Lucy McTernan, former Chief Executive of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organizations and former CEO of Citizens Advice Scotland
Host: Stephanie Bluma, Chief Communications and Campaigns Officer, OGP

Mabel's Fight for Women's Rights in Argentina

As an activist, feminist, and founder of the Foundation for Women’s Studies, Mabel Bianco has dedicated her life to ensuring and enhancing women's rights in Argentina, including through open government initiatives. Watch her story here.

BLOGS & PUBLICATIONS

Georgian Municipalities on a Journey to Become More Open

By Lasha Gogidze

Former IRM researcher Lasha Gogidze shares highlights from his new book, Peculiarities of Open Governance Practices at the Local Level and his career in the open government community here.

Democracies Do Better in Pandemics, But Does Transparency Matter?

By Joe Foti, OGP

If democracies do better in pandemics and in protecting public health generally, why did countries like Belgium lead the news for a long time with the highest death rates anywhere in the world? OGP’s head of research tries to answer that and other questions here.

Policy Brief - Bolstering Online Political Adversting Policy in Europe

Discover the key issues in regulating online political advertising and ideas for addressing them through policy action grounded by open government, fundamental rights, and democratic values here.

OGP National Handbook

This new edition of the handbook includes guidance, examples, best practices, templates, and information on participation requirements to help reformers in government and civil society navigate the OGP process. Check it out here.

EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES

Open Gov Week is May 16-20!

Find events from across the open gov community.

Submit your own events.

Spread the word. Check out our new communications toolkit with key messages, editable graphics to use to promote your events, and more in English, Spanish and French.

Send your stories to the OpenStories website!

OGP LOCAL

The Call for Applications for OGP Local is now closed!

The 2022 Call for Expressions of Interest to join OGP Local has ended. After receiving many applications, the OGP Support Unit and OGP Local Selection Committee will now begin to review all applications and supporting materials. New OGP Local members will be announced on May 16, 2022 during Open Gov Week. More here.

STEERING COMMITTEE SPOTLIGHT

The Steering Committee will meet virtually on March 24 to discuss ways to leverage its political and strategic guidance role to meet OGP’s objectives in 2022, including the development of an ambitious and compelling strategy to guide the Partnership's future. Agenda and pre-meeting documents can be found here.

WORLD OF OPEN GOV

- The 2022 SDG Gender Index by Equal Measures sounds the alarm on global progress towards gender equality and unveils a blueprint for change. Explore more here.

- Check out Brooking’s latest article on commitments from the Summit for Democracy, co- co-authored with OGP and other partners.

- Explore the latest V-Dem Democracy report, which documents several signs that autocratizaion is changing nature.

- Learn about the latest with Open Heroines, including recent around Open Data Day and International Women’s Day here.

- The World Justice Project recently announced the 30 finalists for the World Justice Challenge. The 30 finalists – plus 10 honorable mentions – will join WJP in person at the World Justice Forum in The Hague from May 30 - June 2. Register now for virtual and in-person participation.

- With the support of the Rockefeller Foundation, the Burnes Center at Northeastern University has launched applications for the Solving Public Problems (SPP) Accelerator, a 9-month challenge competition and coaching program to support the development of innovative ideas for improving education and learning outcomes leveraging data. Apply now!

- The Westminster Foundation for Democracy is hosting the Conference on Environmental Democracy online March 29-31.

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