The Open Government Partnership Summit
A case study on the Open Government Partnership Summit from the 2013 Human Rights and Democracy Report.
The Open Government Partnership (OGP) Summit that took place in London from 31 October – 1 November presented an important opportunity for the open government movement to consolidate and build momentum, to reflect on what is working and what is not, and to inspire all participants to return home equipped to pursue an even more ambitious reform agenda. The summit brought together over 1,000 delegates from over 60 countries under the lead chairmanship of the UK.
OGP was launched in 2011 to provide an international platform for domestic reformers committed to making their governments more open, accountable, and responsive to citizens.
The UK, as OGP lead co-chair this year, set five priorities for the summit:
- open data: opening up government data to boost entrepreneurship, economic growth and accountability;
- government integrity: fighting corruption and strengthening democracy through transparent government;
- fiscal transparency: making sure that taxpayers can follow the money;
- empowering citizens: transforming the relationship between citizens and governments; and
- natural resource transparency: making sure that natural resources are used for public benefit, not to line the pockets of corrupt elites.
At the G8 earlier in 2013, the Prime Minister pledged that the UK’s leadership of the OGP would “drive a transparency revolution in every corner of the world”. The UK used the summit to advance relevant elements of its G8 agenda, especially on extractives transparency and open data. At the summit, 37 governments made ambitious new commitments to open government, covering a wide range of priorities, including commitments to the summit priorities.