OGP

COVID-19 has upended policy agendas across the globe. Governments have paused nonessential legislation and regulation and fast-tracked measures to respond to the pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has strained healthcare systems, weakened economies, and deepened inequalities. In response, development partners are mobilizing assistance through grants, loans, debt relief, and other forms of official development assistance...

The timely and proactive dissemination of information across social media and other channels is critical to saving lives and protecting livelihoods during COVID-19. However, the rapid spread of misinformation and disinformation presents a key challenge.

Governments are collecting unprecedented amounts of personal data to support vital public health efforts, such as tracking COVID-19 transmission and enforcing quarantine. In particular, governments and corporations are collecting and processing citizens’ health and geolocation data on a massive scale.

Shortly after the WHO declared a global pandemic, the OGP Support Unit announced a COVID-19 crowdsourcing exercise. We asked for examples from the open government community to tackle the pandemic using open government approaches including citizen participation, transparency and accountability.…

Transparency, participation, and accountability are essential to ensuring that social spending and services reach their intended populations and provide the outcomes that are needed.

The right to information is a fundamental right and an inherent part of the right to freedom of opinion and expression. It is essential to modern governance and a core part of the OGP mission. RTI permits the public to follow government decision making, participate in ensuring better decisions, and hold the government accountable.

Governments around the world are circumventing standards of sound public management and scientific processes in the rush to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the context of a rapidly unfolding crisis, governments are making swift changes to regulations and institutions that may inadvertently create openings for corruption and mismanagement.

Governments are taking exceptional steps in response to COVID-19, such as enforcing social distancing and quarantine measures. Prohibitions against in-person gatherings have had a dramatic impact on civic space across the globe.