Open Government Partnership: UK co-chair vision
UK priorities for the Open Government Partnership September 2012 to September 2013.
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UK priorities for the Open Government Partnership September 2012 to September 2013
It is an honour for the UK to become lead co-chair of the OGP. The original co-chairs, the US and Brazil, have steered us to become the vibrant partnership of 57 countries that exists today. We thank them wholeheartedly for providing the vision and energy to drive the OGP to achieve so much so fast - and for doing so much to build the commitment to the partnership and its ideals. We look forward to working with Indonesia and the International Budget Partnership as co-chairs as we move on from commitment to action.
We have set out below our aspirations and commitments for our tenure as lead co-chair - so we can be challenged on whether this is the best set of priorities, and supported to fulfil our aspirations for the OGP by the experience, vision and expertise of our partners.
Priorities
Our priorities are:
Priority 1
Show that transparency drives prosperity, by demonstrating the value of open governance, inclusive development and citizen empowerment.
We’d like to work with our partners in the OGP to do this by:
- Communicating the exciting examples of open government creating growth in participating countries - and enabling participants to replicate that activity at home;
- Driving the uptake of media and technological solutions for publishing and using open data; and,
- Identifying opportunities for commerce and civil society across participating countries to develop relationships with different OGP participants in the field of open government.
Priority 2
Secure the foundations of the OGP as a globally recognised and respected international initiative that non-participating countries will aspire to join, and with participating countries that seek to uphold the values OGP promotes. Working with our colleagues we’ll do this by:
- Putting an excellent Independent Reporting Mechanism in place;
- Appointing an International Expert Panel to oversee the IRM;
- Ensuring the right mechanisms are embedded to ensure full clarity and transparency around the objectives and workings of the OGP; and,
- Ensuring the Central Support Unit meets the needs of the OGP as it expands in size and scale.
Priority 3
Do more to communicate the opportunities that open government provides.
We’d like to work with our partners in OGP to do this by:
- Doing more to highlight the progress and achievements set out in country plans;
- Developing partnerships at national and regional level to expedite progress by learning from one another - including partnerships the UK is setting up on data standards, smart cities and data portals; and,
- Engaging with participants, observers and other multilateral fora to show how transparency can improve public services and governance, promote innovation, reduce corruption and drive sustainable economic growth - as well as provide valuable input to debates on future global development goals, post-2015.
Priority 4
Build on the unique working relationship between participating governments and CSOs that is a fundamental facet of the OGP - improving further on the ways that CSOs work with the OGP Steering Committee and participating governments as equal partners. We want to work with our partners to do this by:
- Drawing on the experience of participants at local, regional and global levels to generate even more effective working models and networks; and,
- Encouraging pilots for more innovative and open ways of working between government and CSOs.
We believe that, together with our co-chairs and the participants in the OGP, we can deliver this set of priorities, and move the OGP from commitment to action - and that in a year’s time the OGP will be globally renowned as an efficient, effective and visionary partnership, and one that is proven in transforming societies around the world.
We welcome your comments: @UKTransparency