Open Government Partnership launches Independent Reporting Mechanism

On its first anniversary, the Open Government Partnership (OGP) has launched an Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) as a key means by which stakeholders can track the progress and impact among OGP participating governments. 

The IRM will be overseen by an eight-person International Expert Panel (IEP), which comprises three high-profile senior advisors and five technical or policy experts. The senior advisors will provide strategic advice during the initial development of the IRM’s overall assessment approach. The panel will play a key role in international and regional outreach on the IRM report findings and implications. 

Francis Maude MP, Minister for the Cabinet Office in the UK and co-chair of OGP, said: “I believe the ultimate success or failure of OGP rests on putting the new Independent Reporting Mechanism in place. This unique initiative will see governments voluntarily subjecting themselves to the formal scrutiny of researchers drawn from civil society.”

Minister Kuntoro Mankusubroto of Indonesia and co-chair of OGP remarked: “OGP has made significant progress over its first year but participating governments are aware that the hard work has only just begun. We need to focus on action and ensure that our commitments, which collectively number over 300, are met.”

OGP co-chair Warren Krafchik commented: “An independent and impartial review process and robust IRM reports are fundamental signs of OGP’s commitment to openness.”

 As well as being a key means to track participating governments’ progress, the IRM serves a key role in ensuring the continued credibility and legitimacy of OGP. It will issue annual independent assessment reports for each participating government and ensure the process is of high quality, credible and independent. 

Technical and policy expert panel members will play a direct role in overseeing the quality control process for IRM report production, including reviewing and approving final reports for publication. Members of the IEP will initially have a two-year term, with a possible one-year extension.  
 

About OGP

OGP is an international 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. 

The initiative formally launched last year when the eight founding governments (Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, Philippines, South Africa, United Kingdom & United States), endorsed an Open Government Declaration and announced their country action plans.

In the past year, the OGP has grown from drastically, from the founding eight to 57 participating governments from around the world. The combined population of the 57 countries participating in the OGP is 1.97 billion, based on the 2011 statistics from the World Bank (the latest available figures), which represents 28.2 per cent of the world’s population.

The OGP Steering Committee is led by a revolving two-member management team – the current co-chairs are the UK, Indonesia and a CSO chair, Warren Krafchik of the International Budget Partnership.
 

About the International Expert Panel

The IRM will be overseen by an eight-member international expert panel (IEP), which will be made up of five policy or technical experts and three senior advisors. The technical experts will play a direct role in overseeing the quality control process for IRM report production, including reviewing and approving final reports for publication.