Topic: Open Response + Recovery + Renewal

The spread of Covid-19 has closed much of the world, and the strain on healthcare and other essential workers is unprecedented. For the most vulnerable, lockdowns impose extreme hardships. It will take the collective action of citizens, civil society and governments to respond and recover from this pandemic. But in order to be fair and effective, that response and recovery must be open and inclusive.

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.

There’s a damaging rumor doing the rounds in Kibera, Nairobi’s massive informal settlement: that COVID-19 is a fabrication invented by the country’s elite to raise money from the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO) to pay off the elite’s debts.

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 usin..

Activists in developing countries are seeing civic space shrink as the pandemic takes hold This article was first published by Apolitical. Click here to read the original article. On 15 March, a gro..

The global emergency posed by Covid-19 marks a before and after in the way we live. It might also help us rethink how we govern...

Experts from the World Wide Web Foundation, the Governments of France and Taiwan, Luminate, and Article 19 led a cross-sector conversation to unpack the policy measures related to use of digital platforms in times of crisis response and policy considerations important for longer term reform.

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

OGP, the Open Data Charter, and Access Info address challenges that governments have faced when trying to promote transparency during crisis response and draw attention to the current data needs from citizens and civil society.

In times of crisis more than ever, ensuring wide, efficient and timely access to public services by those who need them most becomes a key priority. As the pandemic spreads over the globe and governments strive to ensure adequate healthcare to their citizens, developing collaborative, multi-stakeholder frameworks turns into a response to address urgent needs as well as an opportunity to build trust in public institutions.

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.