Every few years, the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Support Unit brings together leading researchers to share their work with the open government community and better inform OGP reforms. The most recent OGP Academy was held virtually from November 15-19, 2021 in partnership with the Korean Development Institute School of Public Policy and Management (KDIS).

The Academy took place amidst several concurrent crises: rising democratic backsliding and autocratization around the globe, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and the continued threats of climate change and rising inequality. These themes permeated every aspect of the event, from the virtual format to the nature of the conversations. But even in these challenging times, the OGP community is finding ways to push forward and build more resilient democracies. Take the Republic of Korea, our host country, whose democratic and open response to the pandemic has been among the most successful.

Taiwan’s Digital Minister, Audrey Tang, opened the event with a keynote speech on the importance of deploying digital social innovation to further the cause of democracy by “working with the people” to “crowdsource” democracy.  The opening session also previewed two OGP publications that have since been published, – OGP Vital Signs and the OGP at Ten Report.

Find other recordings from the week on our “2021 OGP Academy” YouTube playlist here.

Throughout the week, leading scholars and OGP partners presented major surveys, specific case studies, practical experiences and more around topics like access to justice, open contracting, digital governance, and youth engagement. See a full list of topics and partners here.

But the work of the Academy doesn’t end with the event. We’re excited to carry these projects into 2022:

• A second Skeptic’s Guide to Open Government, to be published during the second quarter of the year. The research presented in the Academy’s OGP-led sessions and the great feedback from sessions’ panelists and participants will serve as the backbone of the Guide.
• Educator’s Day at Open Gov Week. Academics from diverse backgrounds and geographies will discuss the latest trends in the pedagogy and methodology of open government educationAccountability within the public education system is key to improving outcomes and attainment, and accountability is nearly impossible without transparent policies and opportunities for participation ....
• Targeted discussions on recently published research. OGP will host discussions with partners on recently published reports that analyze the OGP model, such as Vital Signs, which analyzes data from over 200 OGP action plans, and the OGP at Ten report, which looks back on the first decade of the Partnership.
• Upcoming research on political integrity, debtOpenly disclosing information about government debt enables informed decision-making, mitigates the risk of financial instability, and allows citizens to hold their governments accountable for respons... More, taxation, and other burgeoning topics.

The 2021 OGP Academy set the stage for great partnerships with the open government research community and OGP looks forward to our continued collaboration.