CSO Day – European Regional Meeting May 2014

Time

Session

Information

15:30-16:00

Registration

At the registration you can pick up your name badge for the civil society day and the OGP conference on Thursday and Friday.

16:00-16:15

Opening

Opening speech by Denis Parfenov (OKF Ambassador Ireland) and  Paul Maassen (OGP’s Civil Society Coordinator)

Track 1

Main Room

16:20-17:20

Using the OGP cycle to advocate for open government

This session will elaborate on how civil society organisations can use the various advocacy moments of the OGP cycle. We will revisit successful country cases of the following stages, asking the public to complement:

1. How to set up a successful campaign?

2. How to smartly prepare a NAP?

3. How to successfully create a consultation round?

4. How to set a permanent dialogue mechanism?

5. How to work with the government on implementation?

6. How to effectively engage in CS monitoring of the NAP and use the IRM strategically?

Facilitated by Paul Maassen, contributions from various European CS advocates .

17:30-18:20

Openness vs privacy: what role can OGP play?

What is the difference between open data and personal data? How do we draw the line and distinguish between the two?

In the wake of revelations about surveillance and compromised cryptographic security, there has been growing discussion about better oversight and protection for citizen’s rights to privacy as well as issues of net neutrality. What role can OGP play to ensure a safer, fairer and more resilient internet for the future? What steps must be taken to steer us away from a 21st century version of Orwell’s Big Brother reality?

Facilitated by Irina Bolychevsky (Commercial Director Open Knowledge Foundation, CKAN and founder of redecentralize.org) contributions from Smári McCarthy (IMMI and Pirate Party Iceland) participating virtually!

18:30-18:40

Opening Government survey

Using the innovative “nano-survey” methodology, the Global Opening Government Survey is based on a brief questionnaire and aims to collect nearly 50,000 complete responses from 61 countries. To date, it is the largest perception survey ever conducted on the topic of open government.

Led by Felipe Estefan (Open Government cluster, World Bank Institute)

18:40-19:30

Problems faced with FOI implementation

In this session we will consider problems faced with the implementation of Freedom of Information requests. As one of the pillars of OGP, ATI regulation and implementation is an important issue to discuss. Both the international and European context will be sketched, and there will be also space to discuss problems experienced at the national level, like the imposition and abolition of FOI fees.

Facilitated by Fred Logue (Information Rights Consultant), contributions from Gavin Sheridan (thestory.ie) and Victoria Anderica (Access Info Europe)

Track 2

Unconference space (Atrium)

17:00-17:30

Involving the EU in OGP

On the surface, the EU and OGP are remarkably complementary: the EU institutions play an important role in supporting open governance in and beyond Europe; the accession process for membership includes important conditions for transparent and accountable governing institutions; and the EU’s own treaties require that the institutions develop policy and laws in as open a manner as possible. Why is the EU not a cheerleader for OGP? And what might EU membership of OGP look like in practice? This is a timely discussion as the EU moves towards leadership changes and parliamentary elections amid calls for enhanced accountability of EU institutions to European citizens. OGP was not initiated for regional bodies but as its relations with multilateral institutions show, neither is it closed to new forms of engagement and participation. European civil society could play the essential role of pushing EU leaders, institutions and officials towards a better understanding and implementation of open government.

Led by Neil Campbell (Head of EU Policy Development, Open Society European Policy Institute)

17:45-18:15

Stop secret contracting

Open Contracting is a collaborative effort to enhance transparency and participation at all stages of the contracting cycle. It is estimated that every year, governments around the world spend US $9.5 trillion dollars through contracts. Contracting is a the nexus of revenue generation and spending for governments, and as such openness in contracting is crucial to open government more broadly. This unconference session will allow participants to explore concrete actions that they can take – from disclosure of contracting data, to advocating for legislative reforms, to monitoring contract implementation – to ensure that we stop secret contracting.

Led by Felipe Estefan (Open Government cluster, World Bank Institute)

18:30-19:00

Creating a European platform for budget monitoring

There has been a growing interest within European organizations to monitor their governments budgets and advance transparency. However, there is not a platform yet on which organizations can express their challenges, exchange skills and extract lessons learnt. BTAP organizes a meeting to bring together organizations and to start identifying the work groups are doing on budget issues and monitoring OGP commitments. Challenges and needs will be formulated with the aim of identifying the best platform or forum to address the groups’ needs.

Led by Marjan Delzenne (Centre for Budget Monitoring and Citizen Participation) and Rocio Moreno Lopez (Global Movement for Budget Transparency, Accountability and Participation (BTAP) Coordinator)

19:30-20:30

Networking buffet dinner