Opening up local government: OGP subnational pilot meeting

On 15-16th September, open government champions from the 15 governments that are in OGP’s subnational pilot program, will meet in Washington D.C. This workshop will be the first time they have met as a group and I am really looking forward to the chance to spend time with people I’ve been working with since April, and to them all meeting each other.

As participants in OGP these 15 governments are currently working with local civil society to develop specific commitments to launch at the OGP Global Summit in Paris in December. The subnational pilot was, in part, designed to diversify commitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action... to OGP – from a wider range of civil society, as well as governments – and to discover and promote new approaches to open government. My experience so far of working with these people is that they will bring that, and much more, to the partnership. I am already seeing a focus on how open government is relevant to the provision of public services, really interesting approaches to citizen engagement and some of these reformers are addressing challenges like how to broaden support and make open government relevant to other parts of government.

During this workshop the participants will strengthen the network of subnational reformers that OGP is building, and will share their experiences and ideas so far. They will strengthen emerging commitments in subnational action plans, through advice from the OGP Support UnitThe OGP Support Unit is a small, permanent group of staff that work closely with the Steering Committee and the Independent Reporting Mechanism to advance the goals of the Open Government Partnership.... and other partners, and talk about how to ensure ongoing strong civil society partnership throughout implementation. They will also have the chance to talk about the subnational track at the OGP Global Summit in Paris, and offer ideas and advice about how to shape that in ways that will be most useful to them and their peers in other governments.

These are still the early stages of this program and I’m really looking forward to what we will continue to learn and what these governments will be able to achieve through OGP.