A Practical Roadmap for National Stakeholders
This Handbook is a practical, self-use resource designed to guide national stakeholders through the OGP process. It outlines the rules, guidance, and best practices for OGP participation, promoting ambitious open government reforms while supporting members in fulfilling minimum requirements. Each section contains clear rules, key recommendations, and links to further resources. Use it as both a reference and a guide for planning, decision-making, and implementation.
The Handbook is designed for key stakeholders involved in coordinating OGP-related activities at the national level. This includes but is not limited to Points of Contact (POCs) and their teams within governments and key civil society organizations (CSOs) playing coordinating roles.
This section introduces the Open Government Partnership, its foundation, mission, and vision. It explains the guiding principles of transparency, citizen participation, and public accountability, and highlights collaboration between governments and civil society as the core of the OGP model. It also presents OGP’s 2023–2028 Strategy.
This section explains how national governments join OGP by meeting eligibility criteria and passing the Values Check. It outlines member responsibilities: submitting action plans, ensuring co-creation, showing progress, and upholding OGP values. It also describes key actors, accountability mechanisms, country contributions, and ways members engage through the Action Framework.
This section explains how the Participation and Co-creation Standards guide collaboration between government, civil society, and other stakeholders at every stage of the OGP process. It highlights the minimum requirements members must meet, while encouraging them to go further to realize the Standards.
This section focuses on creating space for ongoing dialogue and co-creation between government, civil society, and other stakeholders, typically through a Multi-Stakeholder Forum. It describes the MSF’s key roles—including strategic planning, engagement, communication, and oversight—and encourages ambition in its design and functioning.
This section explains how to provide open, accessible, and timely information on OGP activities and progress. Members must maintain a dedicated website and an online repository, both updated regularly. It also offers guidance on content and design to support usability, inclusiveness, participation, and accountability.
This section focuses on developing action plans and commitments through co-creation. It outlines key rules, timelines, submission procedures, and the choice of two- or four-year action plans. It also provides guidance and templates to help plan, structure, and formalize ambitious and inclusive commitments.
This section introduces the Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) as OGP’s accountability arm, providing independent, evidence-based assessments throughout the action plan cycle. It describes key IRM products—Co-Creation Briefs, Action Plan Reviews, Midterm Reviews, and Results Reports—and explains how the IRM evaluates whether members meet minimum requirements.
This section outlines the Open Gov Challenge, a campaign to drive ambitious reforms in ten priority areas. Participation is open to OGP’s national and local members, including institutions at any level or branch of government. It explains how members can use the Challenge to co-create bold, transformative commitments with tangible results.
This section introduces the engagement of local governments, parliaments, judiciary institutions, and national autonomous bodies in advancing open government. It describes participation opportunities through OGP Local, national action plans, standalone action plans, and the Open Gov Challenge.