OGP Participation and Co-Creation Toolkit

The updated OGP Participation & Co-Creation Standards were approved by the Steering CommitteeThe Steering Committee is OGP’s executive decision-making body. Its role is to develop, promote and safeguard OGP’s values, principles and interests; establish OGP’s core ideas, policies, and ru... on November 24, 2021, and are effective January 1, 2022. Guidance is being developed in line with the updated Standards and will be available in early 2022.

Dear reader,

Welcome to OGP’s Participation and Co-creation Toolkit! Following on the heels of the Participation and Co-creation StandardsCollaboration between government, civil society and other stakeholders is at the heart of the OGP process. The Participation and Co-Creation Standards are intended to support this collaboration throug... roll-out in 2017, this Toolkit is to guide you through the various steps and best practices laid out therein, illustrated with a multitude of rich examples and models from across the Partnership.

OGP’s promise is to do government differently, opening it up by bringing (back) citizens into the design, implementation and monitoring of government. Not just for the principle of it, but most importantly to make government more effective and efficient, less corrupt, more trusted. In short, to make government deliver better for the people. It is more important than ever that citizen engagement and public participationGiving citizens opportunities to provide input into government decision-making leads to more effective governance, improved public service delivery, and more equitable outcomes. Technical specificatio... are enacted properly to provide the necessary impetus and oversight for good governance.

As OGP we have learned a lot about creating opportunities for dialogue and participation. Getting co-creation wrong is very easy, getting it right is hard work. Sometimes it fails because there is no real willingness to engage, more often because we lack the skills and knowledge.

This handbook will hopefully help with getting it right. I hope it will not only inspire you to nail co-creation and participation within OGP but perhaps more importantly to get it right across government.

This Toolkit would not have existed without the great examples you have shared with 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.... over the years. Your experiences help us inspire your peers every day. Special thanks also to Tim Hughes and Peter Varga for pulling it all together in such a compelling way. I hope the Toolkit before you will be helpful and inspirational in your efforts to co-create open government reforms.

OGP is ultimately about making governments work for and with their people, to everyone’s benefit. We hope that this Toolkit will benefit you in this endeavor and trust that your efforts will yield ever more impressive results and examples of co-creating for a better and more open government.

Sincerely,

Paul Maassen, Chief Country Support, Open Government PartnershipThe Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving government transparency, ensuring opportunities for citizen participation in public matters, and strengthen... More