Independent Reporting Mechanism Accountability Report
(2024-2025)

Strengthening accountability and promoting new learning

• Publications
• Fostering Learning and Accountability
• Behind the Scenes in 2024/2025

Introduction

The Independent Reporting Mechanism’s (IRM) Accountability Report 2024/25 provides an overview of the activities of the IRM from 1 January 2024 through to 31 March 2025. It enables the IRM to be transparent and accountable towards the Open Government Partnership (OGP), broader open government community and the public.

Over 2024/25, the IRM published 82 products in 2024/25, provided over 60 different services to OGP members and collaborated with over 90 researchers, expert reviewers, copywriters, and translators. We launched two new products – Midterm Reviews and Open Government Journeys. We also completed internal restructuring as part of the implementation of OGP’s new 2023-2028 strategy.

Into next year, the IRM will focus on strengthening our support materials and guidance for researchers and anyone interested in our methodology. We will also continue to improve our templates and the quality of our written products.

A message from the International Experts Panel

“The IRM continues to strive for excellence in research and reporting, ensuring that OGP members are recognized for their achievements while also being held accountable when they fall short. In the current political context—marked by unprecedented democratic backsliding and increasing barriers to civic engagement—the IRM’s accountability mechanism is more critical than ever in ensuring that governments remain committed to transparency, participation, and accountability.

The IEP continues to play an instrumental role in safeguarding the IRM’s independence, ensuring that reports adhere to the utmost principles of quality and assurance, and maintaining the integrity of the data collected across the Partnership. Our oversight role this year has focused on ensuring the quality of IRM results assessments and lessons learned from the action plan cycle.

Alongside the implementation of OGP’s strategy this year, the IRM introduced two new products: the Mid-Term Review for four year action plans, and the Open Government Journeys. The IRM will continue to be a robust accountability and learning mechanism, responding to the evolving needs of the Partnership in the year ahead.”

This report is endorsed by the IRM’s International Experts Panel (IEP). During the reporting period 2024/25, the IEP was composed of three members: Snježana Bokulić, Maha Jweied, and Rocio Moreno Lopez. They play an important role overseeing the development and implementation of the IRM research methodology and ensuring the highest quality of reports. The IEP also sets the vision for the IRM and promotes its findings.

Publications

Between 1 January 2024 and 31 March 2025, the IRM produced 87 publications, and introduced two new products:

• 43 Action Plan Reviews
• 23 Results Reports
• 17 Co-creation Briefs
• 2 Midterm Reviews
• 2 Open Government Journey

IRM Midterm Review

The year saw the publication of the IRM Midterm Review.

This new product evaluates the refresh process and any updated or new commitments half way through the implementation of four-year action plans. It provides a general update on progress during the first two years of implementation. Latvia and Jordan were the first countries to receive a Midterm Review.

With over 15 four-year action plans currently being implemented, there will be more Midterm Reviews conducted next year.

Open Government Journey

This year, the IRM began the publication of a new series of products – Open Government Journeys. In this new series, the IRM tells the story of challenges, major achievements, and the future of open government in some of OGP’s oldest members. Understanding the steps it takes to shift the status quo to more transparent, accountable, and responsive governance holds lessons for all reformers looking to apply open government principles to real-world challenges.

Brazil was the first country to receive an Open Government Journey, launched at America Abierta in December 2024. The report focuses on how the country has improved access to information, used the OGP platform to nurture environmental and open science policies, and supported efforts to embed open government practices at all levels of government.

The IRM also published an Open Government Journey for the Philippines. It spotlights efforts to advance fiscal openness through innovative practices, alternative approaches to ensuring access to information, and actions that have opened up the extractives sector. In 2025/26, the IRM will publish Open Government Journeys for Kenya and Spain.

IRM Guidance

The IRM developed updated and comprehensive reference materials for researchers and other OGP stakeholders. This Handbook has been rolled out to researchers for the new fiscal year, and the updated IRM Procedures Manual is available on the OGP website.

Fostering Learning and Accountability

The IRM provides multiple services to support the in-country work of OGP and national stakeholders. In 2024/25, this included 23 in-person meetings at regional events, over 40 practical workshops, meetings and sessions with stakeholders on the OGP process and findings from IRM reports.

Case Study: Eastern Partnership

In June 2024, the IRM joined the Eastern Partnership Community Dialogue in Yerevan, Armenia. The IRM ran a workshop to help attendees better understand how we assess early results and encourage more ambitious implementation of commitments. As all four countries were implementing OGP action plans during 2024, the workshop prepared stakeholders in Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine for future IRM assessments.

Case Study: Zambia

In December 2024, the IRM and the OGP Support Unit visited Zambia to onboard government and civil society stakeholders looking to join OGP and participate in developing its first OGP action plan. Working with the OGP’s Member Services team, the IRM conducted workshops and meetings on an introduction to OGP, setting up a multi-stakeholder forum, and designing their first action plan. The IRM used examples of MSFs from across the region to provide a menu of options for Zambian reformers to adopt for their own context. Following this trip, Zambian stakeholders have formed an Interim Steering Committee and work plan to co-create their first action plan, with the expectation to submit an OGP action plan and thus formally join the Partnership in 2025.

Ongoing Training

In February 2024, the IRM conducted an in-person training session in Brussels for our researchers. It focused on the assessment of potential for results and minimum requirements in our action plan reviews, as well as writing recommendations and assessing early results in results reports. The second day focused on the emerging and increasingly important open government area of digital governance. Researchers heard from experts and asked questions about governance of artificial intelligence and mis/dis-information.

A second in-person training was also organised in March 2025 for our newest researchers. This primarily focused on IRM products and indicators, as well as discussing with experts about digital governance reforms and their application to open government commitments.

We also held online training sessions for researchers and external reviewers to ensure our methodology is followed, understood and applied consistently across our products.

“I’ve always found the Early results coding more difficult as they take many aspects into account and are open to interpretation. Listening to the experience of other researchers and doing the exercises gives a broader perspective for the result reports.” (Participant at in-person training in February 2024)

Ensuring our Methodology

During 2024, the IEP conducted Quality Assurance checks – an ongoing process to validate and oversee consistent application of the IRM methodology, practices, and guidelines. It provides the IEP and IRM staff with a systematic approach to identify issues proactively and resolve problems as they arise. The recommendations of these sessions have been used to inform training of researchers and external reviewers. The IEP conducted two Quality Assurance sessions in 2024 and produced numerous recommendations. The process is conducted through periodic sessions and summaries of the discussions can be found here.

IRM on Social Media

The IRM aims to promote its work far and wide to encourage learning and ensure public accountability. The IRM publishes its work via the OGP website, but also actively via the OGP on social media. In 2024/25, we shared updates from engagements with civil society and government reformers, and published video interviews with our researchers. We also began sharing interesting reforms to watch as well as those which have had impressive results.

Below are some highlights:

• LinkedIn: “Brazil’s Open Government Journey”
• LinkedIn: Maha Jweied (IEP) on the role of the IRM in OGP’s strategy
• Instagram: Reforms to Watch (Ghana’s 5th OGP Action Plan)
• Instagram: Reforms in Action (Morocco’s 2nd OGP Action Plan)
• Instagram: Reforms to Watch (Ukraine’s 6th OGP Action Plan)
• Instagram: Reforms in Action (Finland’s 4th OGP Action Plan)

Feedback

“I wish to express [our] gratitude to the IRM Team for the objective capturing of the OGP process in the Action Plan Review, and for appropriately capturing the African Peer Review Mechanism complementarity as a key anchor of [our] OGP revival process.”
(Government Point of Contact, Africa and Middle East)

“…the IRM standards and tools that you presented in one of the workshops significantly helped agencies frame better their commitment proposals.”
(Government stakeholder, Asia Pacific)

“The Results Report will be very useful for highlighting best practices and challenges for the co-creation process that we are now starting for NAP 2025-2027.”
(Government Point of Contact, Europe)

“The work carried out by the OGP team allows us to see our trajectory from a different perspective. It helps us perceive connections between facts, results, and learnings in our context. It also connects us with insights and learnings from people [across the Partnership]. Furthermore, interactions and debates contribute to ensuring that everyone learns something new throughout the process.”
(Academia stakeholder, Americas)

“It was helpful to introduce the Action Plan Review at our MSF meeting – The promising commitments helped us figure out where to put our energy.”
(Government Point of Contact, Asia Pacific)

“Brazil’s Open Government Journey represents an effort to systematize the progress achieved in Brazil based on the Action Plans. The report is an important instrument because it presents a panoramic view, considering analyses of local and national initiatives. In addition, the analyses demonstrate the importance of strengthened institutions and committed public servants in leading open government initiatives, ensuring their permanence, even in challenging political times.”
(Government stakeholder, Americas)

Behind the Scenes in 2024/2025

Team and Community

The IRM team consists of a Lead, a Senior Research Officer, three Research Officers and a Research Associate.

At the start of 2024, OGP and the IRM internally restructured to ensure effective implementation of the 2023-2027 strategy. As such, the IRM is located within the Accountability & Learning Cluster of the OGP Support Unit. The Director of the Accountability & Learning Cluster oversees the Lead, who oversees IRM staff.

However, the IRM maintains independence from the Support Unit and has ultimate ownership over IRM products. To maintain independence, the IRM reports to the International Experts Panel (IEP). There are three members of the IEP. The IEP guarantees the independence and quality of the IRM through governance and advisory of the IRM as a whole, and quality assurance of the IRM process.

The IRM worked with over 90 external partners including research consultants, expert reviewers, copy editors, and translators, etc.

Conflict of Interest Management

The IRM IEP Ethics Taskforce has continued to manage and process conflict of interest cases. The policy can be found here. During 2024/25, the IRM IEP Ethics Taskforce reviewed three cases, and decided that two cases gave rise to a perceived conflict of interest and one case gave rise to an actual conflict of interest. The Taskforce outlined mitigating measures in all three cases to manage the actual and perceived conflicts of interest.

Financial Resourcing

OGP follows an April to March fiscal year. During the 2024/25 fiscal year (April 2024 – March 2025), the IRM spent USD $376,421 on non-salary expenses. Final audits and financial declarations by OGP are published on the Financial Information section of the OGP website.

Accountability Report Drafting and Review Process

This accountability report was drafted by Andreas Pavlou, IRM Lead, reviewed by the IEP and published on 2 July 2025.