THE OPEN GOVERNMENT

PARTNERSHIP’S
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
2020-2022
MARCH 2020
TABLE OF CONTENTS
OGP’s three-year implementation plan 2
1.​ ​What OGP has learned, where OGP is headed 2
Our Vision 3
Our Mission 3
OGP Snapshot by Numbers 3
Political Context 4
Collective Results 4
OGP’s Theory of Change 8

2. Strategic Approaches 12
Universal Platform 12
Overview 12
Focus Areas 12
2020 Activities 13
Commitments 15
Overview 15
Additional considerations: 16
2020 Activities 17
Countries 19
Overview 19
2020 Activities 21
Themes 22
Overview 22
Focus themes 24
2020 Activities 24
Global Advocacy 28
Overview 28

Annex: OGP Services 31

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OGP’s three-year implementation plan
The Open Government Partnership’s founding mission and vision remain as powerful today as
they were in 2011, and yet the context for our work has changed profoundly. On the one hand
OGP has grown into a mature partnership, with 78 national members, a growing number of local
governments and thousands of civil society participants. Together they have co-created over
4000 open government reforms, of which a significant proportion have shown major impact. Yet
at the same time as OGP has been growing, the wider geopolitical context has been one of
democratic backsliding, closing civic space and the rise of authoritarian and populist politics,
including in OGP member countries.

These two competing trends lie at the heart of the rationale for a new OGP three-year
implementation plan - referred to as the “3YP.” Its objective is to provide a roadmap for better
implementation of OGP’s mission and vision, given both OGP’s growth and changed operating
environment. It will bring clarity and focus to how OGP delivers on its strategy, including the
universal services that all civil society and government participants in OGP will continue to
receive, and focus areas where additional time, energy and resources will be allocated. It
includes a 2020 annual implementation plan, nested within a three-year planning horizon. This
will enable near-term decisions that prepare for medium-term Collective Results, and will help the
partnership work together more effectively towards those results. These Collective Results can
only be achieved by the collaborative actions of reformers in government, civil society and
strategic partners, with the Support Unit (SU) and Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM)
playing a vital, complementary facilitating and supporting role, which the 3YP elaborates.

1. What OGP has learned, where OGP is

headed
OGP’s plan for the coming three years represent an evolution for the partnership: grounded in
the core vision and mission, but shaped by the ways the partnership has grown and the shifting
geopolitical context.

Our Vision
OGP’s vision is that more governments become sustainably more transparent, more accountable,
and more responsive to their own citizens, with the ultimate goal of improving the quality of

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public policies and services. This will require a shift in norms and culture to ensure open,
inclusive and honest dialogue between governments, civil society and citizens.

The vision for this 3YP is that in three years, OGP will have shown demonstrable results at the
level of individual reforms, countries, themes and global advocacy that add up to show the value
of open government, and provide a credible alternative to closed government.

Our Mission
OGP provides a domestic and international platform to empower reformers inside and outside of
government who are seeking to open up their governments. Domestically, OGP can support
reformers to collaboratively design, implement and monitor concrete actions to make
government more open, responsive and accountable to citizens. Internationally, OGP can support
reformers by encouraging incentives for political leadership on open government, mobilizing
networks for peer learning, building coalitions around different open government policy areas,
and creating space to share reforms that are working and not working.

OGP Snapshot by Numbers

To situate the 3YP, it’s important to understand where OGP is today. OGP’s headline growth
metrics from 2011 to 2019 are clear:
● Grown from 8 founding countries to 78.
● 20 local government members in their own right, and growing subnational engagement in
national OGP processes.
● Over 3000 civil society organizations have been involved in their countries;
● Over 4000 commitments have been made, of which 66% of those in action plans which
have ended have been implemented.
● The IRM has published over 350 reports to encourage accountability and learning.
● There have been six global summits with high level political engagement, including 78
Ministers and high level officials hosted by Prime Minister Trudeau in Ottawa in 2019.

Of course it is necessary to go beneath the headline numbers to understand the impact. At the
heart of the domestic OGP mechanism is the action planning process. Two-thirds of OGP
countries have an active forum to steer this. This is critical as OGP is one of the few places that
brings together government reformers and civil society in a constructive partnership, building
unusual coalitions and creating an action-orientated dialogue. According to a 2018 survey, 62%
of civil society respondents reported that the majority or all of their key priorities were reflected in
their country’s OGP plan.

These unique multi-stakeholder co-creation processes at the domestic level have yielded action
plan commitments on anti-corruption, citizen engagement in public services, justice, open data,
and civic space, among other policy areas. Since the IRM began assessing implementation and

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ambition of commitments in 2015, on average, one-in-five commitments in OGP action plans are
ambitious and credibly implemented and/or demonstrate a major change in practice. This means
hundreds of high impact reforms have been advanced using OGP and there is potential to raise
the ratio further in the next three years.

Political Context
OGP is seeking to expand and deepen its work at a crucial juncture in history. In recent years,
democracy has faced its most serious crisis in decades. According to independent watchdog
Freedom House, fundamental human rights, the rule of law and civil society are under attack
around the world. Civicus has reported serious violations of the freedoms of association,
expression and peaceful assembly in over 100 countries. Trust in government has continued to
fall, according to the Edelman Barometer.

It is precisely at this moment that OGP is well positioned to step up and serve as a positive global
force for deepening democracy and openness, and as a countervailing force against the rise of
closed government.

OGP has been far from immune to these challenges of governments closing democratic space.
Hungary and Tanzania both decided to quit the partnership. Azerbaijan has been suspended,
and several members are grappling with major corruption scandals and shrinking civic space.
Additionally, some traditional champions of democracy and global governance norms have
retreated from the global stage, spending their political capital elsewhere.

Yet, despite these challenging circumstances there are signs of resilience, commitment and
hope. Courageous reformers from government and civil society are joining forces to co-create
and co-implement concrete commitments – expanding civic space, empowering citizens to shape
and oversee policies and services, and undertaking transformational reforms to combat
corruption. Many governments have also stepped up into leadership roles in OGP, including the
co-chairs, other Steering Committee members, and a number of thematic champions on different
policy areas.

Collective Results
Living up to OGP’s vision requires achieving two impacts over the long term. First, the partnership
must lead to impacts at a level that citizens experience, whether through improved services,
reduced corruption or more efficient government; openness in the abstract means little if it fails to
improve people’s lives. And second, OGP must contribute to building a stronger global
movement for open government and democracy, that is able to stand up for open government
values and principles, whilst being a countervailing force against efforts to undermine them.
These two impacts are also interrelated: improvements in public policies and services that come

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about through increased transparency and civic participation make a stronger case for
democracy and civic participation in public life, creating a more vibrant global movement.

In order to achieve these impacts, there are four Collective Results where OGP should
demonstrate progress over the next three years. These are:

1. Commitments​: Ambitious open government reforms that empower citizens to shape and
oversee government are credibly implemented.
2. Countries​: OGP countries role model values such as government-civil society
cooperation, inclusion and civic space, and advance a holistic open government agenda.
3. Themes​: Policies that empower citizens through transparent, participatory and
accountable government are implemented by reformers in government and civil society
across multiple countries, raising the bar on cross-country open government standards
and principles.
4. Global​: Open government issues have a stronger presence on the global stage, including
in global governance fora and frameworks.

These Collective Results can be advanced in any OGP country and will only be delivered through
a true partnership-wide effort, including the government and civil society reformers using OGP at
the national/local level, OGP’s strategic partners, the Steering Committee, and the SU and IRM.
These Collective Results are also interrelated. For example, an ambitious open government
reform on a theme related to public participation could be implemented by a government and
civil society coalition in a bright light country that is then showcased on the global stage to inspire
others. Each Collective Result reinforces the others.

There are five complementary strategic approaches through which OGP participants can advance
the Collective Results.

Strategic Approach # 1: A stronger universal OGP platform supports reformers to

advance open government in local, national and regional contexts. ​Over the next three
years, the OGP SU and IRM will build a stronger platform for all 78 national members and
a growing number of locals to access resources, tools, guidance and peer inspiration and
support on open government. Civil society and government reformers in any OGP country
should be able to use their country's OGP membership to design and implement better
action plans that reflect citizen priorities. Major projects to strengthen the OGP platform in
the next three years include a refreshed IRM that is more user focused and in tune with
when inputs are needed into country OGP processes, an expanded and more ambitious
OGP Local strategy, and improving the resources available to all participants in the
knowledge and learning hub. OGP’s Rules of the Game will also be reviewed in the 10th
anniversary to ensure they are best incentivizing and supporting reformers in government
and civil society to make use of their country’s OGP membership.

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 Strategic Approach # 2: OGP commitments deliver results for citizens. ​Over the next
three years, the most transformative commitments that have the potential to have tangible
benefits for citizens should be credibly implemented. Better support needs to be provided
to reformers to form effective coalitions for change, armed with the necessary political
backing, inspiration from peer countries, technical knowledge and resources to
implement ambitious open government reforms using the OGP platform.

Strategic Approach # 3: OGP countries become “Bright Lights”. ​OGP countries should
role model open government and act as exemplars of the partnership, or “bright lights”.
Reformers in government and civil society should work together to maintain political
commitment to open government, demonstrate inclusive co-creation, produce ambitious
action plans, and credibly implement their most transformative commitments.

Strategic Approach # 4: Thematic policy areas see greater ambition and

implementation. ​OGP members and civil society should advance policies that promote
open, inclusive and responsive government, spreading innovation and encouraging
adaptation and adoption across OGP’s membership. OGP can catalyze collective action
through research and analysis on policy areas, strengthened partnerships and networks
of expertise, and cross-country coalitions.

Strategic Approach # 5: Global advocacy strategies spur country action. ​OGP reformers
should come together as part of global advocacy strategies to advance country-level
action that moves openness and democracy forward. Through global and regional events,
leveraging global platforms, stronger political leadership and smart use of campaigns,
OGP can showcase the work of reformers and champions on the global stage to inspire
more progress from other members.

While these strategic approaches can be advanced by all actors in OGP, the SU and IRM will seek
to balance its staff time, energy and resources between running the universal OGP platform
(strategic approach #1), and a short list of specific focus areas (strategic approaches # 2, 3, 4 and
5). The rationale for this approach is that while all OGP members should be supported to make
best use of the platform, there are some commitments, countries, themes and global strategies
where the conditions are in place to make significant progress and where OGP could add value
and complement the work of partners. In these areas, additional focus by the SU and IRM could
help deliver the Collective Results.

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OGP’s Theory of Change
OGP’s Theory of Change (ToC) outlines the role of the OGP platform, and the catalysts and
change agents whose actions affect the intermediate, long term and ultimate impact OGP wants
to make in the world. The evolution of OGP’s ToC incorporates learning on how the platform
contributes to change, and OGP’s role in a large ecosystem of other actors working on complex
governance challenges.

Pre-conditions

OGP currently has 78 national members and a growing number of local participants. Before
joining, each country must meet OGP’s Eligibility Criteria and pass the OGP Values Check, and
commit to upholding the principles of open and transparent government by endorsing the Open
Government Declaration. This helps to ascertain two critical things at the point of entry:

● That there is enough political and civic space for accountability actors such as citizens,
civil society organizations and media to operate freely
● That there is demonstrated commitment from the government to advance the open
government agenda

Of course there are countries that have joined OGP with high levels of political space and
commitment to open government, which have since experienced declines in civic space and
openness. In those contexts the OGP process may become inactive, or in the most extreme
cases result in countries exiting the partnership.

Many Catalysts and Change Agents, One OGP

“OGP” is made up of many different parts, including ​ reformers in government and civil society in
member countries, the OGP Steering Committee, strategic and thematic partners, and the staff at
the SU and IRM. These are the catalysts and change agents who have shaped the priorities and
evolution of the partnership to date, and each play a critical complementary role.

Country reformers​ - The government Point of Contact both at Ministerial and civil servant level,
and their teams; the lead civil society actors; and the Multi-Stakeholder Forum - are at the
forefront of change. Their energy, skill, political acumen, and commitment are critical in ensuring
the action planning process and global platform lead to ambitious, implemented reforms. ​These
reformers engage with the partnership because it gives them a platform to collaborate and
connect with others advancing open government. The platform brings them visibility and
recognition for innovative and successful reforms, as well as political cover for difficult reforms. It
gives them credibility, via the association with OGP and the rigorous standards of the IRM. It also
helps them build relationships with other reformers, both within their political context and across

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countries. And finally, OGP helps build their knowledge and skills in policy design and
implementation.

The Steering Committee​ provides political leadership, strategic guidance and accountability to
the partnership, and especially to the SU/IRM. The Steering Committee is also expected to lead
by example in how they engage with their own action planning process and thematic leadership.
Finally, the Steering Committee is responsible for ensuring the OGP model and Rules of the
Game are robust and incentivizing the change OGP is trying to support.

Strategic Partners​ bring technical expertise, strategic thinking, and financial support to all
members of the partnership—and most notably to country reformers in government and civil
society. OGP’s strategic partners range from civil society organizations working regionally and
globally, to multilateral partners like the OECD, UNDP, and World Bank that strengthen the
ecosystem around domestic open government ambitions.

The SU and IRM​ play a coordination role across the partnership, continually looking for ways to
better support other catalysts and change agents to make the best use of the partnership and
maintaining the credibility of the partnership through independent assessments of action plans.
This includes providing universal services to civil society and government in all OGP member
countries and locals. Universal services include access to guidance, tools, evidence and peer
inspiration on what it means to be an open government, protect civic space, and how citizens can
play an active role in shaping and overseeing government. These services are vital for
strengthening the foundations of the OGP process in each country, so that space for deeper,
more transformative change can be created. In a small number of focus areas, where there are
clear strategic and political opportunities for change, the SU/IRM will invest extra time, resources
and services.

The Contribution of the OGP platform

The OGP platform is designed with reformers in government and civil society at the national and
local level at its heart. Supportive elements such as strategic partners, Steering Committee and
SU-IRM can influence and shape political incentives, level the playing field between government
and civil society, help build thematic coalitions, and promote learning and skill sharing across
countries. Country reformers can use these incentives and support services to advance open
government reforms domestically and internationally, and in turn influence OGP’s model and
Rules of the Game:

❏ Incentives: ​Shape the political incentives, ideas and norms around open government by
raising the visibility of the open government agenda in global and regional fora, and
create the space for country reformers to take action and trigger a race to the top
between countries

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 ❏ Rules of the game: ​Create a level playing field for reformers inside and outside of
government to work together using the OGP model, and provide a concrete channel for
reforms through the action plan cycle
❏ Coalitions: ​Build trust, relationships and peer networks with reformers within and across
countries and thematic areas - so that they can learn from and inspire each other
❏ Learning and Accountability: ​Address information asymmetries by bringing evidence and
learning on open government to reformers, and creating domestic and international
accountability for progress
❏ Skills and capacity: ​Provide technical and financial resources to design and implement
open government reforms

Pathway towards impact

The quality of the OGP action plan cycle varies significantly between members. A strong cycle
needs political commitment, engaged civil society, technical and financial resources, and support
from domestic and international coalitions across different policy areas.

Where the OGP cycle is strong at the domestic level, a genuine level playing field, a deliberative
approach to solving public policy problems that takes into account diverse voices and opinions,
and regular opportunities for learning and adaptation can enable reformers to co-create action
plans that get more ambitious over time and tackle significant challenges facing the country. And
if reformers are able to build the necessary coalitions to tackle vested interests and access
technical and financial assistance, high impact reforms from those action plans can be credibly
implemented. This cycle is supported internationally with political incentives, peer to peer
inspiration and accountability for progress, to help create a race to the top on policy areas that
have the potential to change the status quo.

If open government reforms are implemented and start to deliver results for citizens, it can have a
demonstration effect domestically by encouraging the uptake of open government policies and
practices in new policy areas, thereby gradually changing the norms and culture of governance.
This change in the culture of government can motivate more active citizen participation, which in
turn helps to make governments more open and responsive.

Over time, this should contribute first to impacts at a level that citizens experience, whether
through improved services, reduced corruption or more efficient government. And second, it
should contribute to building a stronger global movement for open government and democracy,
that is able to stand up for open government values and principles, whilst being a countervailing
force against efforts to undermine them.

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OGP THEORY OF CHANGE PRE-CONDITIONS

Political & civic space for accountability

actors to operate freely

State capacity and incentives to respond

to demands of accountability actors
QGP Platform

PLATFORM INDIVIDUAL &

CATALYSTS INTERMEDIATE OUTCOMES LONG TERM OUTCOMES
CONTRIBUTIONS COLLECTIVE ACTION

International Level
• Political Incentives
Events. campaigns. advocacy + Global: Open gov has strong visibility
in global governance fora
SU/IRM Rules of the Game
• + Themes: High-impact policy areas are
Co-creation, inclusiveness Systems & Culture Change
advanced. raising the bar on open gov
Country + Open gov is institutionalized

• Trust-building & Relationships

Ref� across government
Coalitions. peer inspiration + Citizens see results. trust govt more
Domestic Level

•
Strategic and actively participate
Partners Learning and Accountability + Countries: Co-created. ambitious action
•
IRM, Global Report plans trigger institutional change

+ Commitments: Ambitious reforms are

Skills & Capacity credibly implemented
Technical. Financial Assistance

OGP Steering IMPACT-------------

Committee

Stronger global movement for Improved quality of public

open government and democracy policies and services for citizens

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2. Strategic Approaches
Universal Platform
Overview
OGP’s model and philosophy is rooted in country ownership, the idea that in any country the
people who are trying to open up their government should be able to use the spaces and
support OGP creates both domestically and internationally to advance their goals. The domestic
OGP process is designed to create space for reformers in government and civil society in any
OGP member country to come together and work to solve relevant governance challenges. The
international OGP platform provides a space to share lessons and innovations of how those
governance challenges were tackled with peers and to learn from others.

In its first eight years, OGP’s governance architecture has matured from a situation where many
countries joined the partnership with no clear understanding of what was required, and little
guidance, to a comprehensive set of rules of the game and support services. This support
offering has helped government and civil society use their country’s OGP membership more
effectively, for example through the use of codified innovations and best practices in OGP
handbooks on topics such as co-creation that are adaptable to different local contexts. The
accountability and learning in OGP has also evolved, with the IRM now producing two reports on
each OGP action plan, and a significant amount of peer learning and exchange taking place,
including through regional and global events. The OGP SU works with every OGP member to
guide them through the action planning process, and acts as a broker and connector to peers
and partners, providing political, strategic and technical support. In the next three years the SU
will further enhance these services to better support reformers to use OGP to design and
implement better action plans.

Focus Areas
There are many elements and resources that go into running the OGP platform. Over the next
three years the OGP SU and IRM will focus on somes areas which can improve the help available
to open government reformers around the world.

One of OGP’s unique features is the ​IRM. ​Currently the IRM produces two reports per action plan
cycle for every OGP member. These reports are intended to be used for learning purposes as
part of a constant iterative improvement within open government co-creation and implementation
processes, and for assessing whether commitments made through OGP plans were implemented
or not. The IRM has now produced over 350 of these reports. Over the next three years, the IRM
will make changes to its model so that the mechanism has more impact and is more user-friendly.
The ​IRM Refresh​ will focus on ensuring that IRM data, inputs and products are more timely, their

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findings are more widely used and disseminated, and the recommendations focus on the most
transformative parts of action plans and the most meaningful results.

The IRM reports are one of the key inputs into a concerted effort toward making OGP a much
stronger ​knowledge and learning hub​. Users have told us they need better data about progress
on different policy areas, need better guidance on how to co-create and implement action plans,
need more evidence for open government reforms, and need stories of inspiration and
innovation. The SU will bring together publications, webinars, the website and other tools to
make OGP a home of knowledge, innovation, case studies, stories, and evidence on open
government reforms. This will include integrating ongoing learning activities, such as the ongoing
multi-country independent review of how reformers in government and civil society are using
OGP in their contexts to sustain open government efforts. There will also be experiments with
online courses. Finally, the SU will continue to expand OGP’s story-telling ability, to try and
broaden the audience for inspirational reforms that are taking place.

A key aspect of strengthening the universal platform over the next three years will be the ​roll out
of an ambitious Local Strategy​ to support an increasing number of local members (governments
and civil society) affiliating directly with OGP, and national governments and civil society working
to promote national-local collaboration on open government.

As OGP approaches its 10th anniversary in 2021, and some members enter their fourth or fifth
OGP planning cycle, OGP will review whether the basic ​rules of the game​ are fit for purpose for
the future, incorporating what we have learned in the first 10 years and ensuring the right balance
between safeguarding our values and principles with flexibility, innovation and ambition.

2020 Activities
The 2020 implementation plan for strengthening OGP’s universal platform includes the following:

1. Producing timely and improved IRM products and data

● Produce IRM assessments for all countries, and provide country stakeholders an
opportunity to discuss findings with IRM researchers or staff during the
pre-publication review or public comment phase.
● Designate an IRM staff lead for each region and implement an open door policy
for country stakeholders to receive responses to specific questions, inquiries or
concerns related to the IRM through webinars, calls and sharing of guidance
materials.
● Finalize and implement the IRM Refresh changes. The roll-out plan includes blogs,
webinars, updates through the OGP website, newsletters and social media.
Develop and share guidance materials, templates and timelines for new products
with country stakeholders, in coordination with the SU.

2. Laying the foundations for making OGP a stronger knowledge and learning hub

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 ● Provide and improve core data services, including data entry and tagging, quality
control, and organization and visualisation of information included in OGP action
plans and IRM reports.
● Produce an OGP “Vital Signs” series to illuminate OGP’s strengths and
weaknesses, track progress on key results indicators and attempt to explain
drivers of success and failure. In particular the work will examine the evidence on
the strength of OGP co-creation processes, factors for success of OGP
commitments (including contributions from OGP) and the links between these
factors. This helps hold OGP accountable for results and helps guide
decision-making about future policies.
● Track, maintain, and disseminate a database of case studies on open government
reforms, and implement a system for tracking the contribution of the OGP
platform, the SU, and IRM in helping countries strengthen the adoption,
adaptation, and implementation of open government reforms.
● Continue curating, stimulating, and presenting new research on the effectiveness
of open government reforms for use by OGP stakeholders.
● Produce a set of do-it-yourself practitioner guides that help reformers design and
implement action plans. These would include diving deeper into the ‘how’ of
co-creation and implementation by promoting design thinking and problem
identification, stakeholder mapping, identifying capacity gaps, building delivery
teams and getting to quick wins.

3. Implementing the OGP Local strategy

● Produce a handbook with guidance, examples and different approaches to
promoting national-local collaboration on open government through OGP national
platforms, and provide virtual learning and peer exchange opportunities amongst
countries.
● Recruit and onboard up to 50 new entities in the OGP Local cohort, integrate
existing OGP Local members into the cohort, and implement the new ‘Rules of the
Game’ for the OGP Local.
● Redesign the OGP Local webpage to provide a one-stop access window to OGP
and relevant partner-developed content on open local government, contact
information for government, civil society and other partners working on local open
government (both within national OGP processes and the Local cohort), data and
evidence, relevant commitments from national and local action plans, and
guidance and learning materials.
● Roll out the first iteration of the group-based onboarding and ongoing learning
program for OGP Local; develop a mentorship program and recruit mentors (which
will be aligned with the Leaders’ Network, currently under discussion in the
Steering Committee) to provide advice and support to government and civil
society working on open local government; and assess and test applications and
platforms that can allow for reformers to connect directly with each other.

4. Updating the OGP Mechanism and Rules, and Improving Tools and Guidance

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 During 2020, the Criteria and Standards Subcommittee will lead a participative process to
explore possible changes in the Rules of the Game and Guidance, that should be
concluded and rolled out by early 2021. The process will be informed by previous
consultations and IRM data:

● Explore options for providing flexibility to the action plan model on length, delivery
windows and built-in time for learning between action plans.
● Streamline and simplify the OGP Co-creation and Participation Standards based
on experience to date of providing support to members on practical application of
the same and IRM assessments of co-creation during action plan development
and implementation.
● Start OGP 10th anniversary conversations with the community on improvements to
the OGP mechanism, rules and guidance with a focus on ensuring OGP is
fit-for-purpose for its next phase and for achieving the 3YP ambition.
● Update existing guidance materials and make them more user-friendly, once
changes to rules and processes are approved.

Commitments
Overview
Since OGP’s launch in 2011, participating countries and locals have produced over 4000
commitments. In a typical action plan, one-in-five commitments have been found to be ambitious
and credibly implemented and/or demonstrated a major change in practice by the IRM. These
commitments represent the potential of OGP and the tangible results that open government
reforms can deliver when multiple stakeholders come together to support credible
implementation of ambitious reforms

Over a three year period, the OGP SU and the IRM will continue to improve the services provided
to all members in designing and implementing stronger commitments. This includes:

● Providing better guidance on creating strong commitments, including improving

recommendations from the IRM in regards to how commitments can be designed and
implemented to advance specific policy priorities;
● Brokering technical assistance from thematic experts;
● Sharing sample ‘model’ commitments for a wide range of policy areas.

In addition to the universal support available to all members, the OGP SU, with inputs from the
IRM, country stakeholders and partners will focus on two to three reforms per region that have
the potential to become inspiring examples for others. Advanced support will be provided as
needed for the co-creation and implementation of these reforms, and lessons learned captured
for the wider membership, thereby also strengthening the universal offer for all members.
Advanced support includes helping reformers to build effective coalitions for change and

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equipping them with the necessary political backing, inspiration from peer countries, technical
knowledge and resources to implement ambitious open government reforms using the OGP
platform.

Given the longer-term time horizon of many of these reforms, OGP’s support will focus on specific
areas and/or moments where OGP—including the SU, Steering Committee and strategic
partners—can provide a clear added value and demonstrate the potential of the OGP platform at
the commitment level.

The OGP SU will shortlist focus commitments using IRM data, Global Report insights, and internal
and external intelligence. The following criteria will be considered in determining which
commitments should receive focus support:

● An ambitious commitment or a commitment with potential, or a set of related

commitments within a focus policy area.​ This includes commitments assessed as
ambitious by the IRM, those that have shown early results and performed well on IRM’s
Did It Open Government (DIOG) a ​ ssessment or commitment(s) where there is clearly
demonstrated willingness and potential ​for greater ambition in the future.
● Overlap with OGP’s focus countries and focus themes.​ In most cases, focus
commitments would either be in an OGP focus theme or focus country, or both.
Commitments that have the potential to advance good practice (‘global norm’) in a
thematic area will be given additional consideration.
● The existence of a strong ecosystem of partners​ to support the commitment (e.g.
funders, civil society, thematic partners).
● Favorable authorizing environment​: There should be sufficient political will and
commitment from implementing government agencies. There should be existing or
potential financial resources to tap into for the work, including government budget.
● A ​clear​ ​value add of partnership-wide support​ and the potential to demonstrate the
value of multistakeholder collaboration and using consecutive action plan cycles to
advance specific policy areas​.

Additional considerations:
● The commitment sits in a broader ecosystem of reforms and partners (e.g. a platform to
open up data links to ways to use that data or is a step in a longer set of reforms).
● The commitment has (the potential for) a specific civil society /citizen role in
implementation or monitoring.
● There is a regular and fully functioning OGP multi-stakeholder forum (MSF) or regular
spaces for dialogue between government and civil society on OGP.
● The selected commitment demonstrates how activities will promote gender equality,
inclusiveness and enhance participation by marginalized groups, women’s organizations
and organizations representing vulnerable communities local/grassroots actors.

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 ● A clear alignment of the open government reform with the country’s development
agenda.

Providing support to focus commitments will require resources beyond those of the OGP SU. The
OGP Multi Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) will be an important mechanism to provide financial and
technical support for the implementation of focus commitments. OGP will seek to identify
additional resources to support focus commitments not covered by the MDTF. For example, a
forthcoming three-year grant to OGP from the European Commission to support Eastern
Partnership countries will also be used to identify and support a few transformative commitments
from those countries. Similar opportunities for securing additional resources to support focus
commitments in other regions will be explored.

An annual assessment will be undertaken to see if the list of focus commitments needs to be
adjusted based on progress on the existing ones and changing contexts, and opportunities for
adding new promising ones.

2020 Activities
Universal Services:

● Develop better guidance on designing strong commitments, and improved

recommendations from the IRM on commitment design and implementation.
● Broker technical assistance from thematic partners and experts and develop sample
‘model’ commitments for emerging policy areas of common interest in OGP.
● Share commitments with transformative potential with funders and encourage them to
consider providing financial and technical assistance (where required).
● Develop a database of OGP reforms that will help track promising impact stories and
lessons learned for the wider partnership.

Selected Focus Commitments:

● In 2020 the SU will pilot all or a combination of the following advanced services for focus
commitments:
○ Mobilize resources​: Financial support for the implementation of the commitment
through the OGP Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF), or through organizing donor
roundtables to coordinate funding.
○ Technical support​: This support could include assistance on commitment design
provided by the IRM or leveraging expertise from multilateral organizations such
as the World Bank, and thematic partners such as Open Ownership
○ High-level political outreach and engagement:​ Organize cabinet meetings,
high-level convenings during Summits or regional events, or outreach through the
Steering Committee, Ambassadors and Envoys to ensure reformers have the
necessary political backing to implement the commitment

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 ○ Communications​: Develop communication strategies and media outreach to
provide visibility and accountability for the commitments progress
○ Learning and adaptation:​ Facilitate an adaptive learning approach in the
implementation of the commitment - to develop the capacity of government and
civil society reformers to undertake deep diagnostics of the political context,
identify allies, build coalitions and work as effective teams to get results.

● Focus commitments under consideration for 2020:

Country/ Thematic Commitment Description

Local Area

Armenia Beneficial Develop and implement a common mechanism for

Ownership identifying the real owners of companies operating in RA, by
creating and launching a comprehensive open and freely
accessible register of beneficial ownership.

Burkina Citizen Enhance the citizen feedback system with the goal of
Faso Engagement sharing more and better information by policy makers and
raising citizens' awareness on how government agencies
respond to concerns that have been submitted through the
national complaint tracking system.

Nigeria Beneficial Enhance transparency in Nigeria’s business environment by

Ownership creating a publicly accessible register of beneficial
ownership that will contain information on ownership
structures of companies in the country.

Sekondi Public Strengthen the model of collaboration between the

Takoradi, Service Metropolitan Assembly and landlords to address sanitation
Ghana Delivery challenges related to provision of household toilets in
(Water and underserved communities.
Sanitation)

Panama Open Create capacities in different sectors of society on the

Contracting regulation and use of www.panamaenobras.gob.pa, that
increases demand for and use of information disclosed in
the portal and leads to an overall increase in transparency
and accountability with contracting entities

● In addition, the OGP SU will explore the best ways to provide advanced support to
potentially inspiring commitments in high income countries, and will include at least one
for 2020 focused support.

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Countries
Overview
The core objective of OGP at the country (and local) level is to support reformers - primarily
domestic government and civil society - to co-create and implement ambitious open government
reforms. This support is a collective effort, involving thematic and multilateral partners, bilateral
and foundation funders, ambassadors and envoys, Steering Committee members, and the SU
and IRM.

At the heart of the domestic OGP mechanism is the action planning process. The 78 national
OGP processes, and a growing number of local and parliamentary processes, have produced
mixed results to date. Two-thirds of OGP countries have an active forum that brings together
governments and civil society in a concrete dialogue to agree on open government priorities to
pursue through action plans. According to our bi-annual survey 62% of civil society respondents
reported that the majority or all of their key priorities were reflected in their country’s OGP plan.
At the same time, there has been a breakdown in trust and partnership in some places, including
in the cases brought forward in OGP’s Response Policy and inactivity policy.

The key challenge for OGP is to ensure that the quality, depth and inclusion of the dialogue and
partnership in OGP countries and locals improves and leads to the delivery and credible
implementation of ambitious reforms. To get there, OGP members will require varying intensity of
support depending on the context, needs and opportunities for the advancement of open
government. The demand for support, but also the complexity, diversity and depth has grown
significantly. Over the years, the partnership has continued to innovate on how best to support
the domestic dynamic, for example by introducing a strong thematic program or through the
multi-donor trust fund. The services provided by the SU and IRM have evolved to be more
advanced, strategic and political over time, often complemented by or jointly delivered with
partners.

OGP’s large membership means that within the 78 countries there will inevitably be varying
degrees of opportunity to advance open government reforms at any one time, based on a wide
range of factors. This means that in addition to strengthening the support provided through the
universal platform, the SU will provide intensive, advanced support to a set of focus countries
where it can make a tangible difference in strengthening the OGP process and the delivery of
open government reforms.

The following criteria will be considered in determining which countries should receive focus
support:

● Level of political will/capital and level of civil society engagement

● Ability for SU to make a difference in the country by providing advanced services

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 ● Resources and ecosystem of partners available to support OGP efforts in the country
● Potential for the country to demonstrate thematic ambition and play a global leadership
role on a thematic area
● The ability of the country to inspire and/or influence other countries
● Stability and sustainability of the OGP process in the country
● Broader open government enabling environment, including passing the OGP’s Values
Check

Focus countries will not necessarily meet all these criteria. For example, there may be countries
who have recently joined OGP where intensive support for the first action plan process could
help lay the foundations for strong OGP processes and plans. There may also be countries where
political transitions have led to opportunities for rapid progress on open government reforms.
The number of focus countries will be based on what opportunities exist and the capacity of the
SU, Steering Committee and partners to provide or mobilize intensive, advanced support. Of
course country contexts can change, so focus countries may be adjusted and new countries
added based on changes in context that affect OGP’s ability to add value through advanced
support.

Armenia and Kenya are two illustrative examples of focus countries.

In Armenia, which has emerged as a potential bright light for democracy and civic space since
the Velvet Revolution in 2018, OGP is working with country stakeholders to position the OGP
platform as an implementation mechanism for delivering on the government’s commitment to
democratic transformation, anti-corruption, building independent institutions and delivering
responsive public services. The SU will continue to broker technical and financial support for
implementation of their commitments on beneficial ownership transparency and public services
through the OGP Trust Fund, thematic and development partners, and encourage Armenia to
take an active leadership role in OGP’s Beneficial Ownership Leadership Group; engage the
legislature, judiciary and local governments to participate in the national action plan process in an
effort to promote an open state approach; provide advanced co-creation and implementation
support to future action plan cycles with support from the European Commission; and continue to
engage at the highest levels of government - including at OGP events - to maintain political
support for open government reforms.

In Kenya, where the government has indicated a willingness and commitment to step up as a
regional leader in open government, the SU will work with stakeholders to further strengthen
their domestic leadership on thematic priorities including beneficial ownership, open contracting
and public services, providing advanced technical support through partners and engaging the
parliament for the required legislative action to advance implementation. The SU will continue to
work with partners such as Hivos, Article 19 and others in broadening the base of civil society
actors and public institutions engaged in the OGP process, and support deepening ongoing
efforts to promote national-local collaboration and open government. Finally, the SU will broker
and support engagement between Kenya and other African countries (including Ghana, Sierra

20
Leona, Seychelles amongst others) to build high level political support for open government and
OGP in the region, including support to non-member countries to join or become eligible to join
OGP, and collaborate with partner initiatives such as the African Peer Review Mechanism in doing
so.

2020 Activities
Universal Services:
● Provide basic OGP guidance and support to governments and civil society
organizations in the 78 participating countries​ in order to allow them to successfully
engage in OGP. This will include guidance on basic rules and helping countries meet
minimum requirements, and connecting them to thematic, regional and global
opportunities for peer exchange. Special emphasis will be on the 51 countries developing
new action plans in 2020.
● Produce timely IRM assessments for all countries and increase dissemination and
outreach efforts ​to enable accountability and learning at the country level and across
countries.
● Launch the 2020 OGP Civil Society Survey​ to solicit ideas for how OGP can continue to
deliver for civil society, improve, and keep civil society engaged as OGP approaches the
10-Year Anniversary.
● Launch a​ 2020 OGP Government Survey ​to solicit ideas for how OGP can continue to
deliver for governments and improve.
● Set up ​regional​ ​Steering Committee taskforces​ to guide and help implement OGP’s
support to countries and local participants.
● Work with country stakeholders, the OGP Steering Committee and partners to ​ensure
continuity of the OGP agenda in countries at risk or undergoing political transitions​.
● Better engage ​OGP’s Ambassadors and Envoys​ to support OGP members.
● Explore ways to ​increase the resources available to civil society​ working in OGPmember
countries and locals.

Selected focus countries

● For 2020, the focus countries identified are: ​Armenia, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Ecuador,
Germany, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Latvia, Mexico, North Macedonia, Senegal, and
South Korea​.
● Provide ​deeper strategic advice and support to government, civil society and other
actors in selected focus countries​. Work with country stakeholders, partners, Steering
Committee and donors to identify and deploy strategies for each country. Review the list
of focus countries every six months​.
● IRM to produce in-depth insights and analysis on trends, and early findings for these
countries. The IRM will also collaborate with​ the SU on helping countries strengthen
commitment design and implementation.

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 ● Broker or provide advanced co-creation and implementation services ​through the OGP
Multi-Donor Trust Fund, the EU4Integrity program (four-year package of support from the
European Commission to support countries in the Eastern Partnership), and PAGOF2 (to
be confirmed).
● Develop specific regional and country communications plans ​that can be activated
on-the-ground to support awareness raising on OGP and open government reforms.
● In countries where clear opportunities exist,​ work with partners to promote an open
state approach by deepening engagement with the legislature, judiciary and local
governments ​and encouraging participation of these institutions in national OGP
processes.

(Sub)Regional initiatives​:
● In ​Europe​, continue to build stronger collaboration with European Institutions, including
through the OpenGov Network for Europe and EU Presidencies (Croatia and Germany);
explore organizing a European OGP Leaders’ event to bring together political champions
and civil society leaders in the region; and collaborate with the ​Regional School of Public
Administration for the Western Balkans and the Nordic Council to support countries in the
respective sub-regions.
● In​ Africa, ​consider a regional publication with views and analysis from thoughts leaders
and experts on how open government can help deliver on Agenda 2063 and the 2030
Sustainable Development agenda; work with regional institutions such as the Africa Peer
Review Mechanism, UN Economic Commission for Africa, and the African Development
Bank to secure high-level political and technical support for open government in Africa;
explore organizing OGP side events during the International Open Data Conference
and/or the Mo Ibrahim Governance Weekend.
● In​ Asia Pacific, ​work with government and civil society from South Korea to prepare for
the 10th anniversary OGP Global Summit in 2021, specifically to identify how it can be
used for building political momentum for OGP in the region, and map a pipeline of
government and civil society thought leaders and innovators to engage in OGP efforts at
country, regional and global levels; work with partners to facilitate peer exchange on
emerging themes in the region (justice and open contracting); and pilot advanced
services for co-creation and implementation
● In the ​Americas, ​support government and civil society in Argentina to ensure a successful
Chairship, grounded in domestic ambition; work with civil society groups to reshape the
value proposition for civil society in a changing political context for OGP in the region, and
leverage early adopters of thematic ambition and innovation to inspire regional progress,
for example by convening a sub-regional workshop on beneficial ownership where
Mexico and Chile could play a role in encouraging others to adopt similar commitments.

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Themes
Overview
One of OGP’s strengths is that it provides a forum for exploring how open government
approaches can advance a broad range of thematic policy areas. The OGP platform has been
successfully used to generate commitments on over 50 policy areas, ranging from access to
information and open data, to gender and climate change.

Below are some trends from OGP action plan data that showcase the diversity of issues being
tackled by members through their OGP action plans.1

Fastest Growing (​APs under

implementation​s) % Ambitious (all-time) % Strong early results (all-time)

Gender Water & Sanitation Lobbying

Legislature Beneficial Ownership E-petitions

Marginalized Communities E-petitions Elections & Political Finance

Science & Technology Lobbying Extractive Industries

Beneficial Ownership Whistleblower Protections Water & Sanitation

Welfare & Social Security Land & Spatial Planning Human Rights

Law Enforcement & Justice Extractive Industries Open Contracting & Procurement
Elections & Political Finance Fiscal Openness Land & Spatial Planning

Media & Telecommunications Legislature Right To Information

Justice Asset Disclosure Whistleblower Protections

These commitments have been led by reformers in government and civil society at the country
level and supported by OGP’s strategic thematic partners. In many policy areas international
coalitions of governments and civil society have worked together to advance open government
policies using the OGP platform (e.g. on open contracting, fiscal openness and extractive

1
​These trends are based on analysis of all commitments assessed by the IRM as of Feb 5, 2020. According to criteria
used by the IRM, ambition is defined as those assessed as having moderate or transformative potential impact. Strong
early results are defined as commitments that led to major or outstanding improvements in open government. The
threshold for determining fast growing is >5 commitments within a given policy area in the most recent year. For full
definitions of each “policy area” visit ​https://www.opengovpartnership.org/open-data/​.

23
industries governance). OGP action plans have also proved to be a dynamic tool to translate
announcements made at global fora such as the Sustainable Development Goals or 2016 London
Anti-Corruption Summit, into concrete policy actions at the country level. Indeed, commitments
explicitly linked to SDGs implementation are rapidly increasing in number.

Support to advance all policy areas

In the spirit of OGP’s domestically-owned action planned processes, the OGP platform will always
be open for reformers in government and civil society to co-create policies that are most relevant
to the challenges they are facing in their context. The OGP Steering Committee and SU will
continue to support OGP members and partners to make progress across a wide range of policy
areas. For example, for policy areas which already have well established standards and norms,
active coalitions of government and civil society champions, and a large number of OGP
commitments, the SU may play a role of helping showcase progress in OGP events and global
fora.

The OGP Steering Committee and SU will also strive to ensure that the platform responds to the
geopolitical climate and is agile enough to help scale up innovations. For example, the SU will
build partnerships and curate expertise on deepening citizen engagement, such as the rapidly
growing field of deliberative democracy practices that aims to place citizens at the heart of
policymaking while delivering better policy outcomes. The citizens assembly on climate change
in the UK or the deliberation on an ethics framework for artificial intelligence in Australia are good
examples.

Finally, OGP will continue to mobilize resources for partners across different policy areas, subject
to availability and gaps. This includes the thematic window of the OGP MDTF, which currently
supports cross-country learning and peer exchange on issues related to anti-corruption (including
open data strategies, beneficial ownership and open contracting at the local level), climate
change, fiscal openness, gender and natural resource governance, parliamentary strengthening,
and water and sanitation.

Focus policy areas

In addition to providing support across all policy areas where there is demand and potential to
scale impact, the SU will proactively provide more intensive support to a small number of focus
policy areas. These will be determined by: data trends in current OGP action plans, requests from
OGP members and civil society partners for technical expertise and support on commitment
drafting and implementation, opportunities for collaboration with thematic partners, and key
trends as surfaced in global indices and fora related to governance.

The types of intensive support required will depend on the policy area. In some policy areas such
as gender and justice, a nascent set of partners and coalitions have raised attention to the issue

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at the global level, but will require support in engaging in national and local OGP processes and
ensuring implementation of commitments that have been made. In others, such as beneficial
ownership, a new global standard is emerging but further support is needed to link the topic to a
wider anti-corruption agenda and to understand the implementation challenges. Finally, there are
some policy areas like civic space which are critically important to defending OGP’s core values,
and require increased visibility and practical support at both the global and country level.

2020 Activities
Where partners and OGP members are leading initiatives and commitments to advancing reform
on any theme through open government approaches, the OGP SU will continue to offer targeted
support. Over the next three year, this will entail:
● Brokering technical and financial support for a broad array of policy areas, based on
needs identified by country actors.
● Ongoing support to members of the Steering Committee, in particular the Governance
and Leadership and Thematic Leadership subcommittees for their work on Co-Chair
priorities and thematic oversight, respectively.
● Strategic oversight of the thematic window of the OGP MDTF supporting learning on
anti-corruption, climate change, fiscal openness, gender and natural resources,
parliamentary strengthening, and water and sanitation.
● Sharpening narrative and messaging on how OGP members can advance themes through
updated website content, stories and events such as Open Gov Week.
● Ongoing data production and research to identify trends, examples and emerging
practices that can be adopted and adapted across contexts. Areas of specific focus for
2020 will include political integrity and anti-corruption, justice, and digital governance.
● Curation and creation of learning content, including webinars and case studies.
● Proactive facilitation of links to peer reformers working on similar issues, and
opportunities for bilateral and multilateral peer exchange, and advocacy support to civil
society.
● Engagement of newer actors in the OGP community, such as the private sector, in OGP
national processes and global forums.
● Maintain a watching brief on where open government can support climate change efforts,
including at the country level and working with global partners.
● Support to implement the pilot OGP Leaders’ Network, initiated under the Co-Chair
agenda.
● Strategic support in the set up of the OGP Local program and coordination of thematic
peer learning groups, including by identifying partners to guide this work.

On focus policy areas, the SU will complement the work of partners to provide advanced
support for cross-country coalition-building, brokering timely technical and financial
resources, creating research and learning tools, facilitating peer exchange opportunities, and
linking global pledges to country action.

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 ● On ​anti-corruption​, the focused support from the SU will be on beneficial ownership,
open contracting, political integrity (including lobbying reform and money in politics),
and extractives transparency. Specific activities will include:
○ Participation at key global events including the OECD Integrity Forum and
International Anti-Corruption Conference to strengthen OGP’s role in linking global
platforms to country action.
○ Coordination and deepening of cross-country peer exchange through the
Beneficial Ownership Leadership Group, in collaboration with the UK government
and civil society partners (OpenOwnership, Transparency International, The B
Team).
○ Support to targeted peer learning through regional or country workshops (eg,
Americas beneficial ownership workshop in Mexico).
○ Facilitation of strategic peer learning, partner, and advocacy support on all focus
commitments selected for support (eg, beneficial ownership by Armenia and
Nigeria), including through the OGP MDTF.
○ Production of a strategy paper on OGP and anti-corruption, including the value
proposition for different sectors and key trends.
○ Production of research on data availability, verification, and policy frameworks
related to political integrity and offer findings to partners engaged in OGP
co-creation processes. [This may form all or a part of a 2021 Global report.]

● To advance reforms on ​justice​, the OGP SU will:

○ Coordinate, alongside key supporters such as the government of Canada and
Pathfinders, the emerging OGP coalition on justice, including ongoing cross
country learning and at least one in-person meeting of the coalition.
○ Participate at key global events such as the HiiL Innovating Justice Forum and the
Justice for All Summit where OGP will be promoted as the mechanism for
translating global norms such as SDG16 into concrete domestic actions.
○ In at least 3-5 countries, provide support to OGP members in co-creation or
implementation of commitments through sharing of sample commitments and
linking to resources and relevant expertise.
○ Provide targeted peer learning through regional or country-based workshops (at
least one cross-country learning event in Africa).
○ Prepare additional policy papers on i) open justice and ii) justice for open
government that will serve as resources for OGP members interested in pursuing
and adapting reforms on these topics.

● To advance thematic traction on ​citizens shaping public services​, support will include:
○ Targeted co-creation and implementation support at the subnational level through
OGP’s new Local strategy aimed at design of more advanced public service
commitments.

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 ○ Strengthened and new partnerships on sectors including education, health, water,
among others.
○ Bilateral peer exchange between countries seeking to improve public services
through reforms in budgets, contracting, and citizen oversight.

● As countries use technology to advance their open government practices, they also must
protect people from misuse of digital technology. The SU will focus on supporting OGP
members to tackle issues related to ​digital governance​. More specifically, the SU will:
○ Undertake research on related topics, including accountability of automated
decision-making and intersections between technology and democracy (including
political communication, disinformation, and civic space online). [This may form
part of the 2020 Global Report.]
○ Provide dedicated support to the OGP Co-Chairs and Steering Committee to
convene a cross-country and cross-sector conversation among a coalition of
countries on global norms related to specific issues within digital governance.
○ Work with partners to identify sample commitments on different digital
governance topics that can be shared with OGP members.
○ Provide support to implement focus commitments (e.g. protection against illegal
surveillance by Mexico).

Two themes that will continue to remain cross-cutting priorities are civic space and gender. Even
beyond supporting uptake in action plans, the OGP Steering Committee and SU will work to
promote these through the OGP co-creation processes, the rules and policies governing OGP,
and global advocacy moments. The OGP Co-Chairs have designated both themes as key
priorities to continue across Co-Chair transitions, and the Government of South Korea has
specifically highlighted support for civic space during their Co-Chair year.

● To advance reforms on ​gender​ as a cross-cutting issue, the OGP SU will:

○ At the global level, position OGP as bridging global advocacy to country action, at
the Commission on the Status of Women and Generation Equality Fora and UN
Women’s Gender Equality initiative.
○ In targeted countries, provide enhanced support to OGP members and civil
society partners to leverage OGP action plans to strengthen their policy
framework on equality reforms or reflect gender-mainstreamed approaches,
including through sharing of model commitments and linking to resources,
research, and relevant expertise identified during the Break the Roles campaign.
○ Coordinate and deepen peer exchange and through the OGP Gender Coalition.
○ Facilitate regional feminist open goverment convenings in up to two regions,
bringing goverment, civil society partners, and women’s organization
representatives together to identify gender priorities for their region.

● To strengthen norms and practice for ​civic space​, as a cross-cutting issue, the OGP SU
will:
○ Protect and promote the space for civil society in the OGP co-creation dialogue,

27
 by offering support from the SU on advancing on the co-creation standards.
○ Identify reformers in government and civil society who promote civic space, and
feature their efforts in communications and storytelling, including at global events.
○ In 3-5 select countries where there is an opportunity, work with civic space
partners to provide support to OGP members and civil society partners to
leverage OGP action plans to strengthen their policy framework on civic space.
○ Explore creating an overall campaign on civic space following the model of ​Break
the Roles. ​The campaign would offer a positive narrative about the ways civic
space can be protected and provide examples that can be scaled across the
partnership.

Global Advocacy
Overview
OGP has a vital role to play on the global stage promoting the value of open government and
providing a bridge between international frameworks and national implementation. Given OGP’s
wide membership and networks, it is well placed to showcase innovations and stories that can
inspire others to act and influence global norms. This is particularly important given the current
geopolitical context, when democracies have been backsliding and citizens in many parts of the
world have been protesting against corruption and state capture. The OGP community of leaders
in civil society and government are uniquely placed to promote open government, while
defending democracy and core democractic values, including safeguarding civic space and
prioritizing gender and inclusion.

In this work, the Steering Committee has a vital role to play, including leading by example,
participating in global events, raising the bar in their domestic OGP processes, advancing
thematic priorities, and identifying promising stories of impact and innovation.

OGP’s advocacy has the following objectives over the next three years.
● Build and leverage a strong community of champions to advocate and build political
support for open government reforms.
● Position OGP as a platform to ensure that when global agreements are made related to
open government (e.g. within the SDGs, G20 or other thematically orientated spaces such
as the IACC and IODC) there is follow through and accountability for implementation via
the action plan process.
● Influence - by providing concrete examples through storytelling and at events - places,
platforms, and people responsible for policy decisions and implementation,
● Develop and implement advocacy and campaigns (big and small) to encourage the
adoption of reforms that are ambitious and showing on-the-ground progress and impact.

2020 Activities

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Global Leadership and Governance
● Strengthen OGP’s governance mechanisms by recruiting, supporting, and deploying OGP
Steering Committee Members and other OGP leaders to serve as inspiring amplifiers of
the global advocacy agenda.
● Work closely with the Steering Committee Co-Chairs on developing and implementing
ambitious co-chair visions that are aligned with the goals of the 3YP and help strengthen
OGP processes domestically and abroad.
● Launch a revamped Ambassadors and Envoys strategy to continue to open political doors
for OGP and play a leading role in OGP campaigns, country support and thematic
leadership.
● Unveil a new OGP Leaders network focused on teams within governments who are
working with civil society on reforms that are at the cutting edge of open government
innovation.
● Organize high-level visits by OGP and other leaders to create media moments and
advance country specific narratives through pro-actively planned events, media and
digital.

Advancing Thematic Priorities through Global Fora

● Leverage global platforms and frameworks such as Generation Equality, the SDGs, the
G20, and thematically orientated spaces such as the IACC and IODC, to further establish
OGP as a delivery mechanism for action on priority themes at the country level, and to
showcase country-level progress at the global level.
● Support thematic advocacy campaigns by creating new value-add narratives, supporting
coalitions, developing clear event goals and objectives, and aligning research, knowledge
case studies and stories.

Action-Forcing Events
● Hold and support smaller regional meetings and more targeted thematic events aimed at
building coalitions across government and civil society in different policy areas.
● Prepare for the 2021 10th Anniversary Global Summit, where we will highlight the
progress of OGP in its first decade, and set forth a vision for the future.
● Implement our third annual ​Open Gov Week on May 3 -10, 2020.​ ​In 2019, more than 50
countries held over 700 events, and nearly 100 percent of Steering Committee members
held activities.

Communications and Campaigns

● Evolve and protect OGP global brand, and ensure the continued relevance and the
resonance of ​Beyond the Ballot Box​ Narrative.
● Conduct a review of ​Break the Roles​ to better understand successes, challenges and
lessons learned for future campaigns.
● Develop a cross-cutting 10th Anniversary “campaign” to celebrate the past but, more
importantly, look forward to the next decade of OGP and evolve ​Break the Roles,​ which
reached its target of 30 percent of members taking action, and is showing promising

29
 results in initial evaluations of its impact on Action Plans. Ideas for the OGP 10th
anniversary campaign include:
○ Create ways for Heads of State and Government to recommit to OGP, and/or
make a new ambitious open government reform commitment.
○ Identify smaller, regional or thematic action-forcing moments in the run up to the
2021 Global Summit.
○ Create a 10x10 history looking back at major events in the first 10 years of OGP.
● Launch Comms Network to better streamline OGP’s communications outreach and work
more efficiently with partners and find opportunities for collaboration.
● Enhance and align CitizENGAGE, which hosts more than 40 stories showcasing the roles
of citizens in open government to 3YP focus areas and projects.
● Develop compelling case studies and/or “Lessons From Reformers” and stories that can
be levered to create political will for completion and replication of commitments.

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Annex: OGP Services
A core function of the OGP SU is to provide or mobilize support for members to help them use
the OGP platform domestically and internationally to advance their open government goals. Since
its launch, OGP has been gradually strengthening the universal service offering available to all
members to ensure that they have timely access to resources, tools, guidance, peer experiences
and partner networks on how to design and implement better action plans, and the necessary
information and support to leverage the global OGP platform. In addition to universal support,
OGP offers targeted, advanced support to reformers where there is a clear political, thematic or
strategic opportunity to advance the open government agenda or accelerate ambitious reforms
(including, but not limited to, reforms in OGP’s thematic priority areas).

Over the next three years, OGP will focus on further strengthening its universal service offering
and codifying, refining and developing new areas of intensive, advanced support. The table
below provides an overview of the objectives and modalities for universal and advanced support:

Universal services Intensive, advanced services

Objective Focused on ensuring all countries Focused on addressing on specific challenges faced by
(and partners) understand how to reformers in co-creation or delivery of reforms (usually in
use the OGP platform, have priority countries, themes and commitment areas)
support in meeting the rules of
the game, and navigating the
resources available to them
Who Available to all countries Available where there is a clear opportunity or need which
receives can be addressed through additional support, and where
there is readiness to receive such support
Who Primarily provided or brokered by Usually provided with the support of thematic partners,
provides the SU facilitators or technical/subject matter experts
What it Off-the-shelf guidance, tools, and Customized guidance, tools and learning opportunities to
involves learning opportunities to meet meet context specific needs (but codified for easy
needs common across countries adaptation in different contexts, and for turning into
off-the-shelf-guidance over time)

Modular set of services (i.e. priority countries, themes and

commitments will not receive ​all​ the advanced services but
ones that make sense in each specific context)

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Examples of Universal Services
Awareness raising and communications Guidance and knowledge High-level outreach and
support resources for action plan support engagement and support
during transitions
● POC and lead CSOs orientation and ● OGP handbooks, guides and
ongoing communications toolkits ● Political outreach and
● OGP + Co-creation 101 virtual and ● Practical guidance and engagement, including
in-person meetings examples for co-creation and during elections and
● New country/ authorities onboarding implementation transitions
● Webinars on OGP process and ● Knowledge products: Global ● SU/Steering
thematic policy areas report, thematic factsheets, Committee/partner
● Ongoing outreach to new actors by early results and impact stories outreach to high level
the SU ● Commitment examples and political leaders and
● Blogs, opinion-pieces and story partner resources reformers
development support ● Guidance on using OGP to ● Support to civil society
● Branding support advance other international strategies during
● Action plan launch support agendas (e.g. SDGs, EITI etc) elections or transitions
● OGP Awards ● Data Helpdesk ● (Re)engagement of civil
● Campaigns ● OGP and OpenGov online society leaders in OGP
learning programs (piloted with processes
local in 2020)
Brokering connections to thematic IRM and related support Mediation, RRM and
partners, funders and peers Response Policy and Acting
● IRM reports, comms Contrary to Process case
● Thematic matchmaking with partners ● Ensuring IRM methods are management
(brokering introductions & identifying understood by key actors
entry points for support) ● Encouraging uptake of IRM ● Mediating differences
● Introductions to development recommendations between government
partners and funders (where and civil society
applicable) ● Rapid Response
● Peer introductions and matchmaking Mechanism and
● Sharing ‘commitments to watch’ with Response Policy case
key funders and partners to mobilize management (when
support triggered)
● Feedback on commitments of draft ● Acting contrary to OGP
action plans process case
● Joining thematic leadership management (when
coalitions triggered)
Global Events/Platforms

● Participation in OGP summits and

regional events
● Thematic peer exchange meetings
● Integration into global frameworks
(e.g. SDGs)
● Global Open Government Week

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● Assistance with connecting global
conversations, pledges, and events
with country opportunities and APs
● Join OGP campaigns (e.g. Break the
Roles)
● Join OGP Steering Committee

Examples of Advanced Services

Note:​ Some of these have been piloted while others will be introduced over the next three years
Mobilizing resources In-country learning & workshops Technical support

● Mini grants to civil society ● Co-creation and implementation ● Bespoke 1-1 support on
for civil society planning design support and workshops co-creation + MSFs
engagement in ● MSF design and redesign workshops ● Technical assistance on
co-creation ● Commitment design workshops commitment design and
● Mobilizing targeted donor ● IRM launch events and trainings implementation support via
funding for specific reform ● Gender-training for co-creation and thematic partners
efforts in-country implementation ● Partner-led technical
● Coordinating funding ● Facilitation support support through programs
support with other like WaterCoP, OPeN, OCP
partners etc.
● Donor roundtables and ● Customised knowledge
coordination for aligning products/diagnostic
support to OGP processes assessments
and plans

Structured peer learning High-level political outreach and Bundled “packages” of

support engagement support (combination of
financial, technical assistance
● Peer learning on ● Cabinet meetings and peer learning)
co-creation ● Targeted identification and engagement
● Sub-regional thematically of champions in AP processes and ● Multi-donor Trust Fund
focused workshops and global fora support
follow up activities ● Support to building global thematic ● PAGOF-OGP support for
● Commitment coalitions (for e.g. beneficial ownership, Francophone Africa
implementation gender, justice etc) ● OAS-OGP support in the
workshops and follow up ● Outreach support via Ambassadors and Americas
activities Envoys ● OECD-OGP collaboration
● Coalition building ● High-level convenings during Summits, on EU4Integrity Program for
workshops and follow up Regional Meetings and partner events Eastern Partnership
activities countries
Communications

● Support on developing
communications
strategies
● Messaging development

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● Media engagement
● Video and content
creation on priority
commitments
● Support for Open Gov
Week activities

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