[open-government] Africanising the Open Government Partnership

Wed Jun 19 11:39:23 UTC 2013

>From the Open Knowledge Foundation
blog<http://blog.okfn.org/2013/06/17/africanising-the-open-government-partnership/>
(cross-posted
from Development Initiatives
blog<http://www.devinit.org/africanising-the-open-government-partnership>
):
 Africanising the Open Government Partnership
June 17, 2013 in Open Government
Data<http://blog.okfn.org/category/open-government-data/>

*This is cross-posted with permission from the Development Initiatives
blog<http://www.devinit.org/africanising-the-open-government-partnership>
*

*“OGP will be real, only when it starts to make sense to the citizens out
there”* (Robert Hunja – World Bank)

The government of Kenya recently hosted the first ever OGP regional forum
in Africa. The event aimed to establish guidelines for OGP activities for
African countries; track and take stock of progress on the agenda to date
and to think about how to Africanise the global OGP movement further. It
attracted a range of delegates from across the continent involved and
interested in the pursuit of open governance – government representatives,
civil society actors, academia, the media, private sector, and multilateral
institutions(see link for
details)<http://www.ogpafrica.org/conference/speakers/>
.

Open governance is built on the principle of the universal right to access
to information on the conduct of government and it places its value in
enhancing effective public oversight. It aims to open up government
affairs, (previously kept secret) to make it easier to scrutinise public
officers and hold them to account. The argument is that access to
government information enhances public participation and facilitates the
audit of government actions. The Open Government Partnership
(OGP)<http://www.opengovpartnership.org/> is
a new multilateral global governance and transparency initiative formed in
2011. It aims to secure commitments from governments to promote
transparency, empower citizens and harness new technologies to strengthen
governance. The OGP outlines a set of principles augmented by a
declaration<http://www.opengovpartnership.org/open-government-declaration>
that
form the basis of the open government. To date 45 countries (three African)
have endorsed the declaration, 11 others (two African) are currently
processing commitments and many more across the globe are working towards
attaining eligibility <http://www.opengovpartnership.org/eligibility>.

At the heart of the event was the question of how different partners could
together put in place a strategy to strengthen open governance in the
continent and bring forth an African perspective to the global OGP
movement. Participants shared their experiences on the push for open and
transparent institutions, accountable to the people, and brainstormed ideas
on how the global OGP could respond. Discussions focused on: the role of
big data, public statistics, analytics and technology’s role in improving
service delivery; managing extractive industries to ensure processes are
open, transparent, participatory and accountable; and how to leverage
technology and the media to bolster citizen engagement and enhance public
integrity.

Key issues emerging from the discussions included:

   - Inadequate understanding of the concept of open governance in Africa
   - The absence of strong champions for the agenda;
   - The impact of technocratic language used by OGP practitioners and how
   it fails to resonate with people at local level;
   - The lack of engagement among African leaders/governments and failure
   to share experiences;
   - The apparent overlap in governance monitoring mechanisms (OGP, African
   Union and United Nations, African Peer Review Mechanism etc ) and how this
   could be stifling progress
   - The need to explore both supply and demand side issues in scaling up
   OGP
   - The quality of information coming through existing open governance
   platforms
   - The inadequate engagement of African legislatures and private sector
   who have great influence, political muscle and interest in good governance
   in the continent.

The Civil Society/Government disconnect

Participants made the point that success of the OGP depends largely on
trust and cooperation between government and civil society. Nonetheless,
deliberations over the two day conference illustrated the clear tension
between government and CSOs that must be addressed if we are to achieve
meaningful progress.

There is currently a clear disconnect between the motivations, intentions
and expectations of civil society and that of government, despite both
working towards the common good of the citizen. Much work related to open
governance appears to be taking place in silos with little coordination,
mutual awareness and strategy. Though the need for effective partnerships
between government and CSOs was emphasised, participants cautioned against
very cosy relationships that create complacency and that could potentially
jeopardise the watchdog role played by civil society.

“The era of sloganeering, CSO obstruction, political activism is gone [...]
CSOs must reorient and repackage their engagement with government [...
they] must begin to perceive themselves as partners with government”

– (Fred Matiang’i, Cabinet Secretary for ICT – Kenya)

It is our view that the African OGP steering committee must support states
and civil society to collaborate with sufficient space for objective and
constructive CSO monitoring and feedback in the role of ‘critical friend’.
This will ensure better delivery and further progress in open governance.

Transforming commitments into action

It is encouraging that three African states are already members of the OGP,
two others are processing commitments and a couple of others are eligible
and looking to submit applications for membership. However, real success of
the OGP will depend on implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the
action plans developed by participating countries. Otherwise OGP membership
risks being viewed as an end (utilised to score political mileage in the
global political economy) rather than a means towards a greater goal of
realising good governance and transparent and accountable government
institutions.

We think that the OGP support unit must play an active role in monitoring
participants to ensure they invest sufficiently in open governance, set
realistic goals in their action plans, implement and accurately report on
progress. Further, it must safeguard against monopolisation of the process
by government (capable of overstating progress and being overambitious in
planning) and minimising dialogue between CSOs and government The African
experience must, in turn, inform the wider movement.

 7 17 0 24

Related posts:

   1. OKF at the Open Government Partnership
(14.9)<http://blog.okfn.org/2011/07/21/okf-at-the-open-government-partnership/>
    The following post is by Theodora Middleton, blog editor at the OKF.
   The new Open Government Partnership, a “multilateral initiative that aims
   to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency,
   empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to...
   2. Open knowledge at the Open Government Partnership conference in
   Mombasa, Africa
(13.5)<http://blog.okfn.org/2013/06/07/open-knowledge-at-the-open-government-partnership-conference-in-mombasa-africa/>
    Last week, the Open Knowledge Foundation had the pleasure of attending
   the Open Government Partnership conference in Mombasa, Kenya. Participants
   from all over Africa as well as the rest of the world convened to discuss
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   3. Making the Open Government Partnership Work
(11.2)<http://blog.okfn.org/2011/10/31/making-the-open-government-partnership-work/>
    The following guest post is by Matt Rosenberg, founder and editor of
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*Written by: **Kenneth Okwaroh* <http://okfn.org/members/kenneth-okwaroh/>

*Kenneth is a researcher and analyst with the Development
Initiatives<http://www.devinit.org/> Africa
Hub. He tweets @Okwaroh*

Go to blog post:
http://blog.okfn.org/2013/06/17/africanising-the-open-government-partnership/

-- 

Christian Villum

Community Manager, Open Government Data + Local Groups Network
skype: christianvillum  |  @villum <http://www.twitter.com/villum>
The Open Knowledge Foundation <http://okfn.org/>
*Empowering through Open Knowledge
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