Ambition

Category: Evaluations | Back to Glossary

According to OGP’s Articles of Governance, OGP commitments should “stretch government practice beyond its current baseline with respect to key areas of open government.” Ambition captures the potential of a commitment to have this transformative effect. OGP’s Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) assesses ambition using an indicator called “Potential for Results”. An ambitious commitment is one that, if fully implemented, will achieve demonstrable improvements in transparency, citizen participation, and/or public accountability. The IRM assesses commitment ambition four months after an action plan’s submission, in the Action Plan Review.

Beginning with 2020 action plans, the IRM assesses ambitionAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, OGP commitments should “stretch government practice beyond its current baseline with respect to key areas of open government.” Ambition captures the po... using an indicator called “Potential for Results”. This indicator is an early marker of a commitment’s potential to yield meaningful results, based on how the commitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action... is articulated in the action planAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen... and the state of play in the respective policy area. The indicator is assessed on a three-point scale:

• Unclear: The commitment is aimed at continuing ongoing practices in line with existing legislationCreating and passing legislation is one of the most effective ways of ensuring open government reforms have long-lasting effects on government practices. Technical specifications: Act of creating or r..., requirements, or policies, without indication of the added value or enhanced open government approach that would differ from existing practice.
• Modest: An initiative or change to process, practice or policies that is positive but standalone. Includes commitments that do not generate binding or institutionalized changes across government or institutions that govern a policy area. Examples include tools like websites, data releases, training, and pilot projects.
• Substantial: A possible game changer to the rules of the game (or the creation of new rules), practices, policies or institutions that govern a policy area, public sector and/or relationship between citizens and state. The commitment would generate binding and institutionalized changes across government.

For the purpose of OGP data analyses, commitments with Substantial “Potential for Results” are considered ambitious commitments. In past years, commitments with either Moderate or Transformative “potential impact” (an older indicator for assessing ambition) were considered ambitious.