A thought exercise for Civil Society within the OGP

Open government is about enabling citizens to participate in the decisions that affect their lives, and making government more transparent, responsive and accountable.  The Open Government PartnershipThe Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving government transparency, ensuring opportunities for citizen participation in public matters, and strengthen... More has emerged as a leading platform in realizing that ambitionAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, OGP commitments should “stretch government practice beyond its current baseline with respect to key areas of open government.” Ambition captures the po..., with civil society being the principal partner in realizing it. Governments that join OGP have to meet minimum requirementsAll OGP participating countries are expected to adhere to the Participation and Co-Creation Standards. Each Standard includes clear and measurable minimum requirements that all OGP participating count... around openness and are monitored closely.  What if – in the spirit of partnership – civil society was asked to meet some minimum level of openness? What would it look like?

In order to be eligible to participate in the Open Government Partnership (OGP), governments must demonstrate a minimum level of 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... to open government principles in four key areas: Fiscal 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, Access to Information, Income and Asset Disclosures and Citizen Engagement. A country is eligible to join the OGP if its government meets these criteria measured by objective governance indicators using public data sources. 

In addition, the OGP encourages governments to do other things: follow guidelines on openness and transparency, ensure timely delivery of action plans and hold meaningful consultation with civil society. OGP encourages governments to define commitments that are relevant to open government, house OGP at an appropriate ministry and use OGP as a domestic accountability mechanism.

There have been increasing calls for civil society organizations to be more transparent, responsive and accountable. CSOs have influence in society and politics albeit to varying degrees in different countries. They are providers of essential services, advocates for marginalized groups and advisors on public policy. They are important players in national and international governance; however the OGP does not place requirements on civil society in the way that it does for governments.  

The civil society members of OGP can adapt transparency tools such as Glasspockets and IATI to assess their own transparency and make it easily accessible to the general public.  OGP inspired criteria for civil society openness might look something like the table below:

Encouraging a transparency standard for civil society engaged in OGP would show benefits similar to those we see in governments that have embraced the OGP criteria: increase in public trust, enhanced collaboration and peer learning and collaboration between different civil society actors both nationally and internationally. Should the OGP begin developing a set of principles for civil society members to sign on to? And while we are thinking on it: what about the private sectorGovernments are working to open private sector practices as well — including through beneficial ownership transparency, open contracting, and regulating environmental standards. Technical specificat... More, media and multi-laterals that are also part of the OGP platform?