Posts Tagged ‘open government partnership’
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8 April 2014
OGP Grapples With Getting Members to Pay Dues
By Toby McIntosh The Open Government Partnership Steering Committee is poised to increase the pressure for financial contributions from its members, 86 percent of whom don’t contribute. With rising budget needs, the two-and-one-half-year-old organization also is broadening its search for financial backing, which so far has come mostly from major foundations and the large countries […]
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24 March 2014
Study Probes Commitments on FOI by OGP Members
About half of the countries in the Open Government Partnership made commitment to pass a freedom of information law or to improve an existing one, according to a new study authored by Mexico’s Federal Institute for Access to Information and Data Protection (IFAI). The researchers found that of the 55 countries studied, 27 made FOI-related […]
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21 March 2014
OGP Access Working Group Sets Work Plan for 2014
The Open Government Partnership Access to Information Working Group (ATI WG) has developed a work plan largely focused on providing help to participating governments. The work plan lists a variety of plans, including one that is apparently completed, an analysis on ATI-related commitments in OGP member’s first action plans. The study is to be placed on the group’s […]
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17 March 2014
OGP Redefining Standards for Suspending Members
The Open Government Partnership is developing revised criteria for disciplining member countries that don’t fulfill certain commitments. Lithuania, Malta and Turkey were the first of the 63 OGP member countries to receive warnings, but more countries could be cautioned if the OGP Steering Committee approves a new series of standards. Two warnings in a row would trigger a discussion […]
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21 February 2014
Ill wind in Canberra on the transparency front
By Peter Timmins This article appeared Feb. 20 in Timmins’ Open and Shut blog. It’s still summer, it is not completely dark and gloomy (this Freedom of Information disclosure by Defence to Sean Parnell of The Australian is one to keep hope alive) but these straws plucked from the mist are telling: Tone at the […]
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21 February 2014
FOI Notes: Research Papers, Open Data, OGP, Sunshine Week
Implementation Guidelines: The Centre for Law and Democracy and the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law have releasing two sets of guidelines “designed to assist Indonesian public bodies overcome the major challenges associated with implementing the right to information (RTI) legislation Indonesia adopted in 2008. One guideline provides an overall roadmap of what public bodies need […]
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17 February 2014
FOI Notes, Sierra Leone, US, India, EU, OGP
Sierra Leone: Sierra Leone’s new RTI law is tied as 5th strongest in the world, according to an analysis by the Centre for Law and Democracy. The law scored 124 out of a possible maximum of 150 points on the RTI Rating, an analytical tool developed by CLD and its partner organisation, Access Info India: […]
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17 February 2014
OGP Subcommittee Works on Organizational Issues, Funding
The Open Government Partnership is continuing to refine its structure and procedures, build its financial base and set long-term goals, according to minutes of a subcommittee meeting held Jan. 28-29 in Mexico City, Mexico. Among other decisions, the subcommittee recommended that for the first time, the OGP should impose a slight penalty for member countries […]
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14 February 2014
FOI Notes: Algorithms, Contracting, Open Data, Funder Transparency, OGP
Algorithmic Transparency: Nick Diakopoulos, of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University Journalism School, has written a report in which he says, “Algorithms, driven by vast troves of data, are the new power brokers in society.” In his conclusion, he advises: Next time you hear about software or an algorithm being used to […]
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12 February 2014
Lithuania, Malta, Turkey Fall Behind in OGP Process
Lithuania, Malta and Turkey have failed to meet their commitments as members of the Open Government Partnership, the OGP acknowledged in an unusual public statement issued Feb. 11. Three countries appear to be drop-outs from “Cohort 2” – a group of countries that joined the OGP at about the same time. They faced the same […]
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3 February 2014
OGP Reviewers Report; Several Countries Missing
The Open Government Partnership on Feb. 3 published on its website 19 reports by independent reviewers who evaluated countries’ progress toward fulfilling their national action plan objectives. Publication of the reports triggers a two-week public comment period, as described in a Jan. 28 blog post by OGP Deputy Director Joe Powell. A Feb. 3 blog […]
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17 January 2014
Australia, India, Open Government, Commentary
Australia: The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner has translated some OAIC resources into languages other than English: Arabic, Chinese, Greek, Italian, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Thai, Turkish and Vietnamese. India: A report in the Times of India says “government agencies have put vast amount of personal information online, often with little barrier to access and […]
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16 January 2014
Tunisia to Join OGP; Membership Now 63
Tunisia has joined the Open Government Partnership, the 63rd member. Tunisia in December published its executive budget proposal, an action that gave them two more points on OGP’s 16-point eligibility scale. Tunisia’s score of 13 is just above the necessary 12. Abderrahman Ladgham, Minister for Governance and Anti-Corruption, wrote: “Tunisia has achieved, since the revolution […]
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20 December 2013
FOI Notes: Development, Surveillance, EU, China, Awards
Development: The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), Development Initiatives, CIVICUS and Beyond Access, IFEX and Article 19 issue a statement on why access to information must be a central pillar in the future of development and outline possible metrics to measure progress (found here). Surveillance: Some 110 civil society organizations issue a […]
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6 December 2013
FOIA Reform Featured in New U.S. OGP Action Plan
By Toby McIntosh The Obama administration Dec. 6 proposed five steps to “modernize” the freedom of information act. The ideas appear in the second U.S. national action plan prepared as a member of the Open Government Partnership. In an unexpected development, the plan includes a series of commitments related to foreign surveillance efforts. Regarding freedom […]
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2 December 2013
OGP to Skip 2014 Summit, According to SC Minutes
The Open Government Partnership won’t hold its next summit until 2015, according to the recently published minutes of the Oct. 29 London meeting of the Steering Committee. The minutes summarize an inconclusive debate on a proposal to “set up a short-term, internal OGP task force on the issue of safeguarding civic space.” (See previous FreedomInfo.org […]
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29 November 2013
Irish FOI bill concerns must be tackled
By Maeve McDonagh McDonagh is Professor of Law at UCC. She is also the author of Freedom of Information Law 2nd ed This article was originally published Nov. 25 in the Irish Examiner. The Freedom of Information Bill 2013 currently at committee stage in the Oireachtas is to be welcomed in terms of its reversal […]
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26 November 2013
Groups Urge OGP Leaders to Address Secret Surveillance
More than 100 civil society organizations worldwide have expressed “grave concern” over secret government surveillance and urged national leaders to reform their national laws. The Nov. 25 letter was addressed to the new co-chairs of the Open Government Partnership. The effort was coordinated by the Worldwide Web Foundation The letter said: We join other civil […]
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11 November 2013
Sierra Leone: FOI is One Thing, Freedom of Press Another
By Amanda Vragovich Vragovich is the Assistant Program Officer for West Africa at the National Endowment for Democracy. This article appeared Nov. 7 in ThinkAfricaPress. On 31 October, after ten years of civil society activism, President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone signed into law the Right to Access Information Bill. The long-awaited freedom of […]
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11 November 2013
What the US National Action Plan is Missing
By Lauren Harper This article was published Nov. 8 in Unredacted, the blog of the National Security Archive The Open Government Partnership (OGP), an international coalition working to make governments more transparent and accountable, just wrapped up its latest summit in London. For the summit, each government was asked to “announce an ambitious new open […]