What are you hoping to learn from the greater OGP community? What are you hoping to bring to that community?

I expect to learn from the challenges and opportunities seen from the members who joined before us. As a well-researched organization, we have been interested in reviewing the challenges of other OGP countries. We are advising state officers to consider such issues right from the foundation. I think we can show leadership as a country that delivers results in the OGP. As a person that has facilitated OGP conversations in Sierra Leone, been on the OGP Awards Jury, and led an online project to track OGP commitments in Sierra Leone, I believe it is important we bring these skills to Nigeria. I am passionate about the OGP and the potential to accelerate the issues that deepen transparency and accountability in Nigeria.

Read the full interview here.

OGP has assessed almost 2,000 commitments from OGP countries around the globe. Though all of these commitments were designed with a simple goal - opening government to the people - the IRM has designated certain commitments as “star commitments” due to their potentially transformative impact. OGP has collected these “cream of the crop” commitments in a new booklet entitled Star Reforms in the Open Government Partnership. This blog post reviews the commitments included in the booklet, as well as some of the key takeaways. Read more about it here.

Country: Mongolia Commitment: Improving Environmental Information Access for Citizens National Action Plan: 2014-2016

While Mongolia is a compliant country in the Extractives Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI), many agreements and contracts related to natural resources extraction remain closed and inaccessible to citizens. Following the Minister of Environment’s declaration of 2014 as a “year for environmental transparency,” government and civil society sought to incorporate EITI recommendations that Mongolia improve access to information for local communities into the national action plan. This starred commitment has become a substantial program that has led to the publication of over 22 datasets online on a government website, including specific sets on pollution and other OGP commitments. In a country that is characterized by the activity of the extractives industry and concerns about the effects of that industry, the substantial progress made on this commitment has increased public awareness of pollution and its sources, and has the potential to make a transformative change in how the extractives industry operates in Mongolia. The other portion of this commitment - an agreement on maintaining a publicly accessible list of the companies involved in pollution - is yet to be fulfilled, and the Mongolian IRM researcher has indicated that the government should complete the creation of a publicly accessible database of polluters, with particular focus on ensuring there is access to that information in rural regions.

OGP in the News - June Edition

By Alex Vedovi, Communications Intern, Open Government Partnership 

Montevideo, Abuja, Madrid - those are just a few of the datelines that saw OGP news this month. Montevideo’s hosting of the OGP Regional Meeting for the Americas lit up smartphone screens across the continent; Nigeria’s official announcement of intent to join OGP excited the Twittersphere in Africa and beyond; and the IRM Jamboree in Madrid brought researchers from over thirty countries to an OGP peer learning event. Read more about OGP’s news coverage in June here.