Civil Society Candidates for the Steering Committee 2022

Results of the 2022 Selection Process

Updated July 18, 2022

Following a competitive and rigorous process, Barbara Schreiner (Water Integrity Network), Natalia Carfi (Open Data Charter), and Eka Gigauri (TI Georgia) will join the OGP Steering Committee starting October 1, 2022. In addition, in line with the Civil Society Mandate and Selection, Amitabh Behar (Oxfam India) has been nominated as the official runner-up, who will automatically join the Steering Committee should a spot open up during the coming year.

Final scores of the shortlisted candidates are now available in the chart below.

Overview of the 2022 Selection Process

A call for candidates was launched in February to fill three civil society seats in the OGP Steering Committee that are opening in October as the terms of Helen Darbishire, Elisa Peter and Zuzana Wienk come to an end. A total of 30 completed applications were received after the open call for nominations. A Selection Committee individually ranked candidates against core eligibility criteria (outlined in the Civil Society Steering Committee Mandate and Selection Criteria) based on the application materials they submitted. The wider community was also invited to submit comments/endorsements during a public comment period. Non-attributed comments and endorsements can be found here.

This year’s Selection Committee was made up of two volunteers from the civil society community (Romina Damini, IOM; and Laura Neuman, Carter Center), two current Steering Committee members (Anabel Cruz, ICD Uruguay; and Blair Glencorse, Accountability Lab), and one representative from the OGP Support Unit (Paul Maassen, Chief of Country Support).

The initial scores served as a starting point for the Selection Committee discussions. In their deliberations, the committee also looked at other elements of balance and diversity (including gender, regional, type organization, background and thematic expertise). In addition, the committee was guided by the specific needs and priorities for recruitment that were defined by the Civil Society Steering Committee (CS SC) members for this year. These were strong leaders from Asia Pacific and Latin America, and to bring in additional expertise in the fields of anti corruption, civic tech, and digital governance.

This process yielded a shortlist of nine candidates who were interviewed by the Selection Committee. All shortlisted candidates were also invited to join public consultations for the development of OGP’s new strategy where they had the opportunity to weigh in on some of the main challenges & opportunities of open government, and what could be the best role and/or contribution of OGP within that. The full list of candidates along with their application materials and assessment scores awarded by the Selection Committee to the shortlist can be found below.

Following this rigorous process and extensive deliberations, the committee shared a list of preferred candidates that in their collective view best meet the criteria, needs and priorities, striving for diversity and balance in the composition of the new CS SC. We deeply appreciate the effort and time dedicated by the Selection Committee who acted in line with the mandate provided to them, and guided by the priorities set out for this year.

In a novel situation, the unanimous approval by the existing CS SC members of the Selection Committee recommended slate of candidates was not achieved. The current cohort put forward a number of questions and proposals to the Selection Committee for consideration. After considering these, the Selection Committee felt it would fall outside their mandate to reassess their recommendation. The Selection Committee asked the co-chairs to find a way forward, shared a ‘shortlist of shortlist’ of the six top-ranked candidates and gave a number of suggestions on clarifying the selection mandate and process to avoid similar situations in the future. The co-chairs spoke to most CS SC members individually to build consensus on the final 3 candidates. This was followed by a meeting of the CS SC on July 13 to endorse the final recommendation by the co-chairs. This recommendation considered role fit, the scores and assessment provided by the Selection Committee, the outcomes of the interviews and the needs outlined for this selection round which would complement the existing membership of the CS SC and individual perspectives of the current CS SC members.

The full CS SC expressed their deep appreciation for the work of both the Selection Committee and the co-chairs to select the best candidates and find consensus and welcomed the strong shortlist of potential candidates to choose from. A majority of the CS SC endorsed the co-chairs recommendation of the final three candidates, while strongly recommending a review of the selection process to clarify the mandate and role of the overall CS SC, the Selection Committee and the co-chairs. One member (Helen Darbishire) did not endorse the co-chairs recommended list of candidates, also for process reasons. Members’ process review recommendations will be carefully considered in the governance review that is part of the ongoing OGP strategy refresh process.

Shortlist

(published May 3, 2022, updated July 14, 2022)

Following an open nomination process and a public comment period, the OGP Steering Committee Selection Committee selected a shortlist of 2022 Civil Society candidates for the OGP Steering Committee, available below.

Longlist

(published April 11, 2022)

An open nomination process produced a longlist of candidates, available below.

A form for public comments was available until April 22, 2022. All comments received during this period are available here. The comments are taken into account throughout the selection process.

For more information on the rotation process, please visit this page.

Learn more about the 2022 Civil Society Steering Committee Selection here.