Across WhatsApp chats and Zoom screens, from Dakar to Rabat, a quiet movement is threading its way through Francophone Africa. It’s not loud, but it’s determined: a growing network of civil society actors working to reshape how governance is done openly, inclusively, and aligned with local realities.

The initiative, known as Open Dev Africa, is not a formal institution. It has no headquarters, press office or hierarchy. But it’s a network of more than 700 members across 21 countries unified in the belief that the Francophone world should have a stronger voice in 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 (OGP), where English-speaking countries have long dominated the conversation.

“At the first OGP meetings, the gap was obvious,” recalls Abdoulaye Ndiaye of Senegal’s Article 19. “The Anglophone countries came in with full action plans. We came with energyEnsuring universal access to sustainable, dependable, and affordable energy is critical to every aspect of prosperity. Increasing public oversight and transparency in the energy sector can help to ens... More, but also delay. Still, we showed up.”

What began as an informal exchange of emails and group chats has become a continent-spanning web of collaboration. Organizations, youthRecognizing that investing in youth means investing in a better future, OGP participating governments are creating meaningful opportunities for youth to participate in government processes. Technical ... More movements, women’s collectives, and local associations are self-organizing around webinars, sharing tools and strategies, and drafting common agendas. Coordination happens horizontally. Titles don’t matter. Contributions do.

“There’s no center of gravity here,” says Tunisian activist and co-founder Mouna El Mekki. “Everyone brings what they can. That’s the strength.”

Official launch of the OpenDev Network at the OGP Africa and Middle East Regional Meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, March 2025.

Learning Together, Organizing Fast

In less than a year, the network has hosted over a dozen webinars, each drawing around 60 participants—from journalists and legal experts to public servants and student leaders. The focus is practical: how to ensure budget 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, what citizen participationAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, citizen participation occurs when “governments seek to mobilize citizens to engage in public debate, provide input, and make contributions that lead to m... More means in practice, and how to foster accountability at the local level.

“We don’t do events to impress,” says Malick Lingani of Burkina Faso’s Beog Neere. “We do them to be useful.”

A common thread across the network is technology.What ties these efforts together is a shared belief in the power of technology to democratize information and amplify civic voices. In Cameroon, ADISI runs OpenGovLoc, training youth in digital monitoring of municipal budgets. In Rabat, Samia El Baouchi works with civil society groups to adopt tools like participatory budgeting and open dataBy opening up data and making it sharable and reusable, governments can enable informed debate, better decision making, and the development of innovative new services. Technical specifications: Polici... dashboards.

All it took was a single webinar organized by Impact for Development that catalyzed the movement. Ten people joined the call. Today, there are hundreds. With the support of OGP, a monthly rhythm has taken hold, linking participants across geographies and causes. The issues they rally around—climate justiceTo address barriers that prevent citizens from having their justice needs met, OGP participating governments are working to expand transparency, accountability, and inclusion into all systems of justi..., genderOGP participating governments are bringing gender perspectives to popular policy areas, ensuring diversity in participatory processes, and specifically targeting gender gaps in policies to address gov... More equity, inclusionOGP participating governments are working to create governments that truly serve all people. Commitments in this area may address persons with disabilities, women and girls, lesbian, gay, bisexual, tr... More, and transparency—emerged from a network-wide survey.

“Now we have an action planAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen..., a roadmap we built ourselves,” says El Baouchi. “But we still need to grow. We need resources, training, and communication strategies that match the 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....”

Staying the Course Amid Uneven Terrain

The network’s ambitions are clear. The road ahead is not.

Access to information remains unequal. Internet cuts and funding gaps persist. In many countries, political will is still hard to come by. Activist fatigue is real.

But the network endures because it addresses something essential: the need to build a public space that includes the excluded and values knowledge from below.

“Civil society can’t just oppose,” says Ndiaye. “It has to propose, to build. And we’re doing that step by step.”

What sets Open Dev Africa apart is its refusal to wait for top-down change. It is, instead, shaping a bottom-up infrastructure of openness, powered by collective memory, regional solidarity, and a sense of quiet urgency.

Telling the Stories That Matter

As Open Dev Africa becomes more organized in its approach, the next stop on the agenda is a portrait series. The  purpose is not merely a communications tool, but to bear witness to the stories and struggles behind the movement. To document the lives of those involved. To humanize abstract policy debates. To show what open government looks like when it’s rooted in everyday experience.

“Each journey is singular,” says El Mekki. “But together they tell a story: that of a continent refusing to be sidelined.”

April 2025 saw the official launch in Nairobi. But it was more than a symbolic milestone. It marked a pivot, from emergence to consolidation, from conversation to coordination.

With ongoing support from OGP and interest from potential partners, Open Dev Africa is positioning itself as more than just a network. It’s a proposal. A vision. A claim that Francophone Africa has not only something to say about governance, but something to teach as well.

This blog is supported by the French Development Agency (AFD). The ideas and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the French Development Agency.