Multilateral Organizations

Through its partnerships with leading multilateral institutions the Open Government Partnership (OGP) is helping to mobilize new investments and technical support to strengthen open government reforms across the world.

Among others, the World Bank Group (WBG), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) pledged support to OGP member countries to promote open government and increase accountability.

The OGP Steering Committee sees these partnerships as critical to increase the resources available to support participating countries to implement their open government reform commitments. The multilateral partners are also working to expand OGP, by helping countries that wish to become eligible to join.

The OGP co-chairs invited each of the partner institutions to establish a relationship with OGP to coordinate efforts more closely. The partners have already made significant contributions to early OGP successes, including:

• The World Bank Group is actively supporting OGP member countries across regions as well as countries seeking to join the Partnership. The World Bank provides financial and technical assistance for the development and implementation of OGP national action plans and to facilitate knowledge exchanges among participating countries so that successful experiences on open government practices can be more quickly adopted. The World Bank has also created the Open Government Global Solutions Group to ensure an integrated approach to open government, to seek opportunities align OGP commitments and timelines with the Bank’s portfolios and measure, and to demonstrate the tangible value of openness for development.

• The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has been supporting the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean to formulate and develop their own action plans Open Government supported by three pillars: i) transparency and accountability; ii) collaboration within the government both civil servants and technological innovation with citizens for public co-creation and social value; and iii) participation in the process of actively engaging citizens in the design, development and implementation of public policies.

  In this context, ECLAC has developed training courses, technical consulting and research through the publication of documents, which combine theory with practice and systematize the experiences of the countries of the region in the implementation and development of the principles of Open Government. ECLAC also acts as regional platform to facilitate exchange of experience, good practices and innovative initiatives as well as catalyst of emerging networks of stakeholders from governments, civil society and the private sector in the areas of open government and open data.

• The Organization of American States (OAS) contributes to the promotion of Open Government principles through different programs and projects that seek to strengthen public institutions so they are more transparent, effective and have mechanisms for public participation. Through the OAS Fellowship on Open Government and the Course on Open Government strategies, the OAS contributes to improve technical capacities and leadership skills of public officials and political leaders in the Americas so they are prepared to address citizens demands today. The OAS also provides strategies, methodologies, mechanisms and tools to improve transparency in public actions, strengthen accountability and exercise public participation. This Organization supports its member states on the implementation of initiatives to fight corruption, improve access to public information, promotes e-government and open data, and facilitates dialogue and exchange of experiences on Open Government innovative practices.

• The IDB is supporting Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region to design and implement open government policies by: (i) providing reimbursable and non-reimbursable financial aid and technical assistance, like a geo-referential map in Colombia to monitor the investment of mining royalties; (ii) by generating knowledge, like an analysis of OGP action plans in LAC, and (iii) by facilitating policy dialogue for its 26 borrowing member countries. Among these countries, Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago received technical assistance to comply with different OGP action plan commitments. Particularly with Uruguay, the IDB will assist the country with a USD $ 35 million dollar loan to increase the availability of procedures and services online, simplifying the inter-action of citizens and businesses with the Administration, and promoting the interoperability between different government agencies (commitment 6.1 of the 2014-2016 country action plan). For more information about knowledge, videos and dissemination activities on open government, visit the IDB infoguide and the blog on public management.

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been facilitating knowledge sharing and peer exchange between government and civil society to identify successful open government practices and promote lesson sharing through a series of regional events and workshops since 2014. The ADB has also supported regional outreach events led by Indonesia in Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea. The ADB is currently working with the government of Armenia and its civil society to support community participation and monitoring to strengthen government school construction projects. ADB can support member countries in developing and implementing their National Action Plan, on request by the government.  The ADB will also be working with interested member countries to meet OGP eligibility criteria. 

• The OECD has been providing targeted technical support to countries that are aspiring to join OGP, by helping them implement reforms to meet the OGP Eligibility Criteria. It is also supporting OGP participating countries by improving their OGP Action Plans and the impact of their open government policies. For example, the OECD is providing technical guidance to Tunisia’s Ministry of Finance as it works with representatives of civil society to jointly produce a citizens’ budget. This, together with the publication for the first time of the Executive’s Budget Proposal, will allow Tunisia to join the OGP in 2014.

• UNDP supports the framing and implementation of OGP commitments in numerous countries. As highlighted by the UNDP Administrator at the OGP 2015 Summit, “UNDP has been at the forefront of helping countries build inclusive, responsive, and accountable institutions as a sustainable development imperative, including as a partner of OGP”. For instance, UNDP works with the Government of Mexico to integrate social inclusion indicators in an open data platform that enables citizens to follow Mexico’s development progress and to engage with the government in creating solutions. In Serbia, UNDP helped set up a parliamentary “mobile committee” which holds regular sessions outside the capital city, enabling greater public participation. In Chile, UNDP supported the elaboration of the first Action Plan for Legislative Openness within OGP. Starting in 2016, it will focus part of its support on aligning OGP commitments with national strategies and plans to achieve the 2030 Agenda. It will also help countries monitor the implementation of Goal 16 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the goal to which the OGP principles are most closely linked, starting with around 20 volunteers of first implementers. UNDP sees OGP’s unique multi-stakeholder engagement platform and open government principles as crucial in achieving the transformation envisioned in the 2030 Agenda and, in 2016, UNDP will more closely engage with OGP countries to foster peaceful and inclusive societies supported by institutions which are effective, accountable and responsive to all.

• The objective of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) is to consolidate democracy and sound economic management on the continent. Through the Programme, African leaders are making a commitment to the African people and the world to work together in rebuilding the continent. It is a pledge to promote peace and stability, democracy, sound economic management and people-centered development, and to hold each other accountable in terms of the agreements outlined in the Programme.