The Heavy Lifting of OGP - No Pain, No Gain

How is joining OGP like joining the gym? The two have more in common than you’d think. Join Richard Moya as he talks about what governments want to get out of OGP - and how weights are not just for the heavy lifters. Read more here.

Tell us one commitment in Indonesia’s forthcoming NAP that you are really excited about and why?

I’m excited about almost all of it, honestly. But I think the one that excites me the most is the approach that we have in developing our NAP for this year, which is more inclusive and paves the way for a better collaboration between government and CSOs. This is major progress in our journey to embrace open government, and the result has been exciting. Especially as most of us know, collaboration between the two sectors is still something new for both Indonesian government and CSOs. So this kind of approach is something that is culturally changing the way the government and CSO work.

Read the full interview here.

On the road from direct to representative democracy, citizen participation was lost. Armenia has embraced the use of technology to engage citizens and stakeholders in the policy-making process, including online tools, television programs, and co-design workshops. Read more about their innovative methods here.

Country: The Philippines Commitment: Citizen Participatory Audits National Action Plan: 2013-2015

Following public outcry over the misuse of priority development assistance funds, and faced with the daunting task of monitoring the transactions of over 161,000 government units with fewer than 7,000 state auditors, the Philippines Commission on Audit (COA) pioneered the Citizen Participatory Audit (CPA) project. CPA brings together civil society organizations (CSOs), ordinary citizens, and COA auditors to monitor progress on government-funded development projects and participate in a joint audit process. The Philippines’ first OGP National Action Plan (NAP) included a commitment to develop four pilot CPA projects for flood control, health facilities, solid waste management and building schools. The country’s second NAP included activities to institutionalize the CPA process and release findings from the four pilot CPA projects.

At the time of publication of the last IRM progress report, findings of three of the four pilot projects had been published. Due to sensitive findings uncovered by the CPA project, the fourth audit report on the Department of Education’s School Building Program was upgraded to a fraud report. The CPA commitment is continued in the third OGP NAP, and CSOs report that two new audit reports have been published.

Filipino civil society stakeholders note that while the CPA process does not have the coercive power to hold government officials accountable, the projects have led to a more collaborative process between the COA, CSOs and citizens. The process has improved citizen understanding of the role of government audit and allowed citizens to see the value of citizen participation in the audit process.

OGP in the News - July Edition

By Alex Vedovi, Communications Intern, Open Government Partnership 

#OGPAsiaPac was not the only OGP news story this month! The White House Summit on Global Development made headlines around the world - and President Barack Obama gave OGP a boost in his keynote address. Alex Vedovi examines a round-up of the month’s top OGP stories, including stories from Abuja, Berlin, Washington, and beyond. Read more OGP news stories here.