Document Type: Perspective

Before the global pandemic, political scientists, policy experts, and public health scholars told us, democracies do better in pandemics. So then, why did Belgium lead the news for a long time with the highest death rates anywhere in the world?

The Director of the State Chancellery of the Republic of Latvia on public administration policy issues Inita Pauloviča shares her views on Open Latvia, a platform created to help Latvia in its co-creation process.

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

In South Africa, public budget data was static, unintegrated, and inaccessible to citizens. Zuki Kota shares how the Vulekamali platform is addressing these issues.

In this episode, learn how Elgeyo Marakwet County, Kenya applied open government principles to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and the importance of recognizing the people behind the reforms in government and civil society.

This year, OGP will also develop a new strategy for the growing Partnership. It is a singular opportunity to apply the lessons learned over the past ten years. We must collectively contribute to tackling the major challenges facing our societies from declining democracy and civic space, to equitable pandemic recovery.

OGP civil society co-chair Aidan Eyakuze shares some of the work he and his counterparts in Italy hope to achieve this year and his hopes for the future of the open government community. 

At the 7th Global OGP Summit in December 2021, OGP Local shared exciting news for 2022 and hosted three main sessions alongside members and partners. Here are a few things you may have missed. 1. W..

Learn how Nigeria is achieving key milestones in beneficial ownership transparency through their engagement in OGP – from gaining political will within key institutions to navigating conversations between government, businesses, and civil society.

Learn how Kenya is making progress on open contracting reforms through strong civil society-government collaboration and ambitious OGP commitments.

Learn how Ecuador is advancing environmental democracy by applying open government approaches to their implementation of the Escazu Agreement.

In this Voices of Open Government episode, we learn how the local government in Austin, Texas has taken steps to level the playing field and include historically marginalized groups, including people experiencing homelessness, in open government and policy processes.