The Open Government Partnership has released the draft agenda for its April meeting in Brazil and there are indications that other countries are interested in joining.
The OGP also posted a searchable list of about 60 “suppliers” – organizations available to work with governments on developing and implementing their OGP commitments, and invited participation in an “Innovation Village.”
There have been hints of membership expansion before, and since the September launch Panama and Costa Rica have joined.
Caroline Mauldin, a State Department official working on the OGP effort for the United States, said Feb. 28 at a World Bank forum that enquiries about joining have been received from several African nations. OGP membership, now 52, is limited to the 79 countries who met specific quantified criteria, but others who become eligible could be invited to join.
The Unites States is assisting several countries who do not yet meet the criteria, Mauldin said, mentioning Botswana and Mauritius. She also indicated that efforts are under way to help Tunisia and Libya establish transparency governments.
A World Bank official at the forum said that plans are being laid to hold a conference of OGP countries in Africa, now only five, in late March. An announcement soon is expected.
The OGP Steering Committee intends to add a new member to the committee from Africa. (See previous FreedomInfo.org report.)
Read all FreedomInfo.org articles about the OGP at http://www.freedominfo.org/regions/global/ogp/
Other Meetings Planned
A conference of Latin American civil society organizations on the OGP process is planned. Over 30 open government experts representing seven Latin American networks that work on transparency and accountability issues have confirmed attendance to an OGP workshop organized by Mexican groups Fundar, Citivox and IMCO. This invitation-only event will be held in Mexico City on March 20.
For more Latin American OGP news see (in Spanish) Gobierno Abierto América Latina (Open Government Latin America) – gobabierto.tumblr.com).
One the website this week is a feature article — “The Open Government Parthership and the Need to Improve Public Consultation Processes.” The article focuses on the need to improve OGP public consultation processes in Latin America. Silvana Fumega (@Silvanavf) and Fabrizio Scrollini (@FScrollini) discuss the Brazilian and Chilean cases; the informal channels that are often used to consult civil society in the region; and propose online consultation processes so that OGP commitments can reach a wider audience. Full text in Spanish is available here.
At the upcoming South by Southwest Conference in the United States, one panel will be Crowdsourcing Government: Why Access Matters. It will take place in Austin, Texas, on March 11 at 12.30 CT. For more details please go to the SXSW Website.
“Citizen’s Budget as a Dialogue with Citizens” is the topic for a March 7 webinar (0830 – 0930 CST / 0930 EST/ 1430 GMT) to be presented by the International Budget Partnership and hosted by the World Bank Institute. Register here: http://bit.ly/xkSoNZ
April Meeting Agenda Set
The OGP has issued a draft agenda for the April 17-18 meeting in Brazil.
The Steering Committee holds a closed six-hour business meeting on April 16.
In addition, the OGP is planning an “Innovation Village” at the conference. A recent OGP announcement (also in Spanish) says it will feature more than 30 different innovative tools and projects from the Latin America and the Caribbean region that relate to OGP’s five grand challenge areas. The OGP is seeking more private sector companies, social entrepreneurs, and government innovators from Latin American and the Caribbean to be featured at the Innovation Village. Those interested should contact Ari.Greenberg@opengovernmentpartnership.org.
The agenda :
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
| 8:30am-9:30am | Coffee and Registration |
| 9:30am-10:45am | Welcome Remarks from OGP Leadership |
*Independent Side Events will be taking place simultaneously throughout the day in breakout rooms on the site. A full schedule of side events will follow shortly.
**A Transparency Hacker, or THACKER, day will commence, co-organized by the Brazilian Government and the local transparency hacker community–this event, which will take place over the two days of the conference, will focus on using the information in OGP country action plans and related government and civil society data sets to produce creative analyses and visualizations during the event.
| 10:45am-10:55am | Coffee Break |
| 10:55am-11:15am | Welcome Remarks from OGP Leadership Continued |
| 11:15am-12:30pm | Plenary: Using Transparency to Transform Lives Online and OfflineFocus on inspirational stories from government, civil society and private sector leaders on how transparency and open government are being used to improve the well being of average citizens around the world. |
| 12:30pm-1:30pm | Innovation Village of Regional Government, Private Sector and Civil Society Organizations working in Open Government fieldAfter a formal introduction, participants will walk through an exhibition space and learn about innovative open government work in the five grand challenge areas taking place through Latin America. The Innovation village will stay open throughout the afternoon. |
| 1:30pm-2:45pm | Lunch |
| 2:45pm-5:30pm | Open Government on the Move: Regional Prospectives on Country Action PlansBreakout panels where government representatives and leading civil society activists from each region will discuss national action plans–including progress to date and challenges going forward. |
| 2:45pm-4:00pm | Regional Sessions Part I
|
| 4:00pm-4:30pm | Coffee Break |
| 4:30pm-5:45pm | Regional Sessions Part II
|
| 5:45pm-6:30pm | Closing RemarksSession chaired by representatives from co-chair governments. |
| 7:15pm-9:30pm | Reception |
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
| 9:00am-10:00am | Plenary Talks: The Responsibility and Challenges that Come with Openness |
Focus on how to manage the challenges/risks that come with openness and increased participation from a variety of stakeholder prospectives.
*Independent Side Events will be taking place simultaneously throughout the day in other breakout rooms.
**THACKER day continues.
| 10:00am-10:30am | Coffee Break |
| 10:30am-12:30pm | Thematic Breakout Sessions:
These “vertical” discussions will take specific sectors — Access to Information and Service Delivery — and consider them from a variety of stakeholder lenses (e.g., government, civil society and industry). The goal is to better understand the dynamics of reform and innovation from multiple perspectives and interest groups. All stakeholder groups participate in each part of the discussion. |
| 12:30 – 2:00pm 2:00pm-4:00pm | Lunch Strategic Breakout Sessions:
|
| 4:00pm-4:30pm | Coffee Break |
| 4:30pm-6:00pm | Closing Panel with OGP Leadership and Incoming OGP Chair (UK) |
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