OGP Announces Government of Canada and Nathaniel Heller as Lead Co-Chairs for 2018-19

WASHINGTON, D.C. – October 11, 2017 – The Open Government Partnership (OGP) is pleased to announce that the Honourable Scott Brison, President of the Treasury Board of Canada, will represent the Government of Canada, alongside Nathaniel Heller, Executive Vice President of the Results for Development Institute. They will serve as lead co-chairs for the 2018-19 year.

OGP is a multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance. In the spirit of multi-stakeholder collaboration, OGP is overseen by a Steering Committee, including representatives of governments and civil society organizations. The Steering Committee is led by rotating co-chairs – a government and a representative from civil society.

The current lead co-chairs of the Open Government Partnership are the Government of Georgia, represented by Minister of Justice Tea Tsulukiani, and Mukelani Dimba of the International School for Transparency. They became lead co-chairs on October 1, 2017, and will hold their positions for one year. During their term, the Government of Canada and Nathaniel Heller will serve as supporting co-chairs, before assuming lead co-chairmanship in October 2018.

“Co-chairing the OGP for 2018-19 is a tremendous opportunity that Canada is honoured to accept,” said Minister Brison. “We look forward to building on the Open Government Partnership’s ambitious agenda by focusing Canada’s chairmanship on the values of inclusion, participation and impact in open government work. The participation of marginalized or under-represented groups, including Indigenous communities, the LGTQ2 community, and women and girls, is a priority for Canada.”

“I’m thrilled to assume the co-chairmanship, and hope to use this opportunity to spotlight the link between open government reforms and concrete development outcomes,” said Heller. “Greater transparency, accountability and citizen engagement, in particular, are vital to building equitable and resilient health and education systems. At a time when political support for open government is waning, we need to recommit to making a more compelling investment case for open government. I look forward to working with Canada to demonstrate the value of open government through the lens of improvements in health, education and nutrition.”

OGP CEO Sanjay Pradhan expressed enthusiasm for Canada and Heller’s co-chairmanship.

“We are delighted to welcome the Government of Canada and Nathaniel as the lead co-chairs of OGP for 2018-19!  In a world where citizen distrust in government is at an all-time low, their combined focus on participation, inclusion and impact, including through better delivery of services that touch the lives of ordinary citizens, will be vital in shepherding the open government movement to rebuild trust in government.  With the Government of Canada and Nathaniel, we are privileged to have co-chairs who will work together in the spirit of co-creation to achieve the precious OGP vision of governments truly serving and empowering their citizens.”