Rotation of civil society members of the OGP Steering Committee (2014)

The role of the OGP Steering CommitteeThe Steering Committee is OGP’s executive decision-making body. Its role is to develop, promote and safeguard OGP’s values, principles and interests; establish OGP’s core ideas, policies, and ru... – consisting of 9 representatives from government and 9 from civil society – is “to develop, promote and safeguard the values, principles and interests of the OGP. It also establishes the core ideas, policies, and rules of the partnership, and oversees the functioning of the partnership” (Articles of GovernanceThe OGP Articles of Governance establish the mandate and high-level policies of the Partnership, including the Steering Committee, the Support Unit, and the Independent Reporting Mechanism. They also ...). The normal terms of the Steering Committee members, whether civil society or government, is 3 years – with the possbility of a one term renewal. 

It has been agreed by the Steering Committee that 3 government and 3 civil society members will rotate annually. It also has been agreed that in 2014 the SC will grow to 10 government members and 10 civil society members. This means that for civil society at least 3 seats will need to be filled on the SC in 2014. 

The rotation provides an opportunity to ensure that civil society members have the right profile and skills in the Steering Committee to address the specific challenges and opportunities facing OGP in the coming period. The rotation process set out in the note below will be a fully transparent process that seeks to attract capable candidates from a diversity of regions and backgrounds, leading to a balanced team of civil society members on the Steering Committee who are well-positioned to provides strategic and effective leadership to the OGP.

Paul’s complete note on the rotation can be found here.

The overall information on the rotation process has already been made public by the OGP Support Unit here: http://www.opengovpartnership.org/node/3714