Early Results

Category: Evaluations | Back to Glossary

Early resultsEarly results refer to concrete changes in government practice related to transparency, citizen participation, and/or public accountability as a result of a commitment’s implementation. OGP’s Inde... refer to concrete changes in government practice related to transparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More, citizen participationAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, citizen participation occurs when “governments seek to mobilize citizens to engage in public debate, provide input, and make contributions that lead to m... More, and/or public accountabilityAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, public accountability occurs when ”rules, regulations, and mechanisms in place call upon government actors to justify their actions, act upon criticisms ... More as a result of a commitment’s implementation. OGP’s Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM)The Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) is OGP’s accountability arm and the main means of tracking progress in participating countries. The IRM provides independent, evidence-based, and objective ... assesses early results four months after the conclusion of 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... period. These assessments only take into account changes that occurred during the action plan period.

Currently, the indicator that measures early results is called “Did it Open Government?”. Beginning with reporting on the implementation of 2020 action plans, the new Results Report will feature a refreshed indicator for the assessment of early results.

The IRM assesses early results using an indicator called “Did it Open Government?”. This indicator compares the state of transparency, citizen participation, and/or public accountability before the action plan with the state at the end of the action plan. The indicator is assessed on a five-point scale:

• Worsened: Government openness worsened as a result of 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....
• Did not change: No changes in government practice.
• Marginal: Some change, but minor in terms of its effect on level of openness.
• Major: A step forward for government openness in the relevant policy area, but remains limited in scope or scale.
• Outstanding: A reform that has transformed “business as usual” in the relevant policy area by opening government.

The “Did it Open Government?” indicator only covers changes achieved during the implementation period of the action plan. Given that OGP reforms often take many years to mature, this indicator does not capture the actual impact of OGP commitments. For the purpose of OGP data analyses, commitments with Major or Outstanding early results are considered commitments with strong early results.