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OGP AFRICA REGIONAL MEETING
May 19-21, 2015
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
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The Government of Tanzania will host the second-ever OGP Africa Regional Meeting on May 20-21, 2015 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. A civil society day will take place on May 19, 2015. The theme of the meeting is "Enhancing Accountability through Open Governance". You can pre-register to attend the event and submit a proposal for a session. The deadline for submitting proposals is April 15, 2015.
The 2015 OGP Africa Regional Meeting will bring together government and civil society leaders, decision-makers, thinkers and doers from the region. The meeting will highlight interesting open government initiatives from across the region including the presentation of new OGP national action plans by governments. The meeting also provides an exciting opportunity to exchange ideas, lessons, experiences, and expertise on open government reforms among government and civil society participants.
More information about hotels, media and the agenda will be posted here in due course.
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Using OGP to caucus for bigger and better results
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by Paul Maassen
The Open Government Partnership is a dynamic platform where issues, interests and actors come together on both the national and international level. . When it all comes together, this platform is a fertile base for partnership, achievement and, at times, even constructive conflict. It is a vibrant market place where deals are made and open government becomes reality.
Civil society has been a vocal participant on the platform from day one, when it was optimistic about the potential of the idea of OGP but critical of its design. As the platform became more familiar civil society understood better how to more effectively talk to, trust and work with government. Some transitioned into strategic advocates that were able to achieve realistic reforms while not giving up on its bigger goals. It’s no coincidence that some of the strongest OGP success stories are those where civil society is active and strategic.... continue reading here.
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In this column, OGP features interesting and ambitious commitments from participating countries. We encourage readers to dive deeper and follow their development and implementation.
Country: Ghana
Commitment: Fiscal Transparency
Action Plan: 2013 - 2014
The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP) proactively worked to improve fiscal transparency: it produced a simplified version of the budget, published expenditure reports and the 2014 Citizens’ Budget, and organised frequent consultative budget meetings. As MOFEP collaborates with stakeholders to work effectively on these items, fiscal transparency and accountability should improve drastically. As citizens gain tools used to track government expenditures (especially on government projects), project execution efficiency will likely be enhanced.
Read more in Ghana's IRM Progress Report. To find more interesting commitments being implemented this year, read What's in the New OGP National Action Plans?
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Seember Nyager
Chief Executive Officer
Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC)
Nigeria
(Nigeria is not an OGP participating country)
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How does open government make a difference in people's lives?
In the context of Nigeria, there is currently a lot of distrust between custodians of Government and the people. This creates tensions; so much so that when the Government launches a potentially great initiative, the lack of trust acts as saboteur. The distrust being felt in Nigeria is a natural consequence of State capture by a few people. The way to start rebuilding trust is to allow people the means to verify the performance of Government. This is only possible where adequate mechanisms are implemented to ensure that people can participate in Government.
Describe one important OGP commitment your country should consider championing in the future.
Nigeria needs to make a commitment towards open contracting. This is because the entire contracting cycle is critical to the quality of every public service delivery. We currently have contracts that are highly inflated to cover kickbacks that must be provided before jobs are obtained...continue reading here.
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