The Open Government Partnership Steering Committee has written to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urging that the creation of open and accountable public institutions be made part of the next round of international development goals, according to a blog post by Joe Powell, OGP Support Unit Deputy Director.
A similar emphasis is contained in a July 9 letter to Ki-moon from the heads of all the international financial institutions. They state:
We appreciate the strong emphasis the report puts on governance and institution building. We see transparent and accountable government, domestic resource mobilization, effective institutions (including the legal and regulatory framework for efficient markets), and constructive engagement of the private sector as the essential foundations for sustainable development. They are also critical for the ability of countries to attract investment over time.
The letters underscore a similar emphasis included in a recent UN High Level Panel report. The panel examined the Millennium Development Goals in 2015 and considered future goals. (See previous FreedomInfo.org report.)
The OGP Steering Committee letter says:
Since the Millennium Development Goals were crafted, the world has changed dramatically. So, too, has our understanding of what drives global development. To achieve sustainable growth, development and prosperity for all, we need to do more than allocate additional resources or adopt specific policies. We need strong institutions and governments that are more open and accountable to citizens.
More specifically, the letter says:
The post-2015 development framework should include a carefully selected set of indicators and a robust monitoring framework that builds on the ‘data revolution’ called for by the High Level Panel report. This will require that all governments publish timely and comprehensive information on the public resources they invest in pursuing each of the goals, as well as the results they achieve. This information needs to be publicly available in its most disaggregated form, so that, for example, parents can see if funds reach schools and children are learning; patients can check if medicines are available at clinics and health outcomes improving; and people can know whether fair taxes are paid by and collected from extractive industries.
The next step in the process, Powell notes, “is for the Secretary-General to issue the annual MDG progress report, which is expected to include recommendations on the principles of the new development framework for discussion at September’s UN General Assembly.”
Download the full letter here.
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