Subject: Open Government Partnership
From: "Ken Wollack" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2017 16:42:45 -0500

Global Open Parliament Community Prepares for a Productive 2017
<https://www.demworks.org/global-open-parliament-community-prepares-productive-2017>
byGREG BROWN <https://www.demworks.org/blogs/greg-brown> in Washington, DC JAN
10, 2017

<https://www.demworks.org/global-open-parliament-community-prepares-productive-2017>

At the OGP Summit in Paris, NDI President Ken Wollack joins legislative and
civil society leaders from Chile, Colombia, Estonia, Serbia, and South
Africa to discuss the role of legislatures in OGP.

Since its launch in 2011, many have urged the Open Government Partnership
<http://www.opengovpartnership.org/> (OGP) to expand beyond narrow
definitions of the term "government." Legislators, mayors, and others
argued that OGP’s transformational potential was tied in part to its
ability to accommodate different branches and levels of government -- not
only the executive, as is the case in many member countries. A truly open
government includes an accountable executive branch, trusted legislatures,
and responsive governance at all levels. This was an ambitious vision, but
many argued that OGP’s ability to deliver better democracy and better
governance was tied to its continued growth and expansion.

The OGP Summit <https://en.ogpsummit.org/osem/conference/ogp-summit> in
Paris, which took place last month and convened hundreds of open government
champions and activists from around the world, clearly indicated that OGP
is beginning to deliver on this ambitious agenda. This is particularly true
with respect to parliaments, which are now an integral component of OGP in
many member countries and are helping deliver real reforms at the country
level. While the OGP Summit demonstrated that parliamentary openness is a
mainstream issue in the OGP community, 2017 provides an opportunity to
deliver even more meaningful legislative openness reforms.

During his remarks at the Paris Summit, NDI's President Ken Wollack said:
"Citizens are feeling a disconnect between themselves and their
government." The Open Government Partnership provides a unique platform for
governments -- and, increasingly, parliaments -- to work with citizens and
civic groups to address these concerns and explore innovative new methods
of citizen participation and transparency. Wollack noted that "there is
recognition that parliaments should be brought formally into the OGP
mechanism" and that representative institutions were a "missing part of
this important initiative."

Advancing the legislative openness agenda has been among OGP’s most important
achievements
<http://www.opengovpartnership.org/blog/ogp-webmaster/2016/04/19/legislative-openness-one-ogp%E2%80%99s-greatest-success-stories>,
despite not having been a part of its original design. Numerous parliaments
around the world have used the OGP platform to advance openness
commitments, while many others have developed parallel processes inspired
by OGP principles—such as co-creation with civil society—to develop their
own legislative openness action plans. These commitments have called on
parliaments to: publish more information about their work, create new
avenues for citizen participation in the legislative process, and develop
robust ethics systems to manage conflicts of interest and ensure public
trust in the legislature. Participation in the Legislative Openness Working
Group <http://www.opengovpartnership.org/groups/legislative>, which is
co-chaired by the Congress of Chile and the National Democratic Institute,
has also continued to grow, with parliamentary representatives or civil
society activists from nearly every OGP member country participating in
Working Group activities.

Of course, the participation of legislatures in the Summit is not an
accomplishment on its own. Broad legislative participation in the Summit
may reflect increased interest in this issue, but success should be defined
by the number and quality of legislative openness commitments developed and
implemented. With the recent passage of a legislative engagement policy
<http://www.opengovpartnership.org/blog/greg-brown/2016/10/05/ogp-steering-committee-approves-legislative-engagement-policy>,
the number of legislative openness commitments developed is likely to
increase. The new policy outlines more clear rules for legislatures that
are interested in developing and implementing commitments through OGP,
providing the space for increased parliamentary participation while
encouraging coordination between different branches. As the policy was
passed in September, “odd year” OGP member countries with National Action
Plans due in 2017 are positioned to take advantage of the new legislative
engagement policy in the coming months. The Working Group anticipates
focusing its efforts in the first half of 2017 on supporting OGP member
country governments and legislatures that are interested in including
legislative openness commitments in their National Action Plan.

Over the coming weeks, the Working Group’s co-chairs will be working
closely with all who are interested in shaping the Working Group’s workplan
for 2017. The co-chairs intend to heavily support “odd year” OGP countries
developing action plans, but will also provide support and opportunities to
those countries currently implementing legislative openness commitments.
There will also be additional work to provide technical resources in
support of legislative openness champions. For instance, new information
will continue to be added to the Legislative Openness Data Explorer
<https://beta.openparldata.org/>, a website that compiles crowdsourced,
comparative information on legislative openness around the world. The
Working Group also intends to organize a global meeting this spring, which
will provide another opportunity to convene leaders from around the world
to discuss the new legislative engagement policy. Throughout the planning
process, the co-chairs will solicit feedback from the Working Group and the
broader OGP community, particularly with regards to issues or countries
that should be a priority for the coming year. For more information on
previous workplans, please see this page
<http://www.opengovpartnership.org/2016-workplan>.

With the passage of the new legislative engagement policy, and building off
the momentum generated at the Paris Summit, 2017 promises to be a
productive year for OGP’s parliamentary community. By creating
opportunities for peer learning and providing technical assistance and
advice, the Working Group will support governments, parliaments, and civil
society groups as they develop and implement even more ambitious
legislative openness commitments. More information about Working Group
plans for the coming year will be circulated shortly for comment. As
always, please do not hesitate to reach out to the co-chairs
<[email-masked]>.

Ken Wollack

President
National Democratic Institute
455 Massachusetts Ave., NW, 8th Floor
Washington, DC 20001
202-728-5500 (Tel)
888-875-2887 (Fax)
email: [email-masked]
website: www.ndi.or