Open Government Partnership

Recommitment to Making Agencies More Open. Will It Succeed?

Within the open government community, the acronym OGP generally refers to the Open Government Partnership: the international platform the US helped launch in 2011 that requires governments to work with civil society organizations to develop plans with concrete commitments to make the government more open and accountable. Before 2011 and the international initiative, the letters were sometimes used to refer to the Open Government Plans the Obama Administration required each federal agency to develop and to update every two years. One of the commitments included in the latest plan the US released as part of its participation in the international OGP could help refocus agency attention on these open government plans and make government information more easily available to the public.

12/17/2013

Foreign Assistance Transparency in the NAP : The Highlights and What’s Next

The following analysis is cross-posted with permission from Publish What You Fund.

Earlier this month, the U.S. released a new plan detailing the commitments and priorities for the next two years under the Open Government Partnership (OGP).

12/17/2013

Devil in the Details with New Commitments to Improve FOIA

On December 8, the Administration committed to taking a series of concrete steps in the next two years with the goal of improving implementation of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The steps include: creating a consolidated online FOIA service; developing common FOIA regulations; scaling up targeted efforts to make processing requests more efficient (sharing best practices); establishing a FOIA Modernization Advisory Committee; and improving FOIA training. If the government meets these commitments, will it actually be any easier for the public to ask for and receive government information?

12/12/2013

Why We are Thankful

Together we have made amazing progress in the fight for a more open and accountable government. Click "Read More" to see some thoughts from community members on what we have to be thankful for in the last year.

11/26/2013

Facing Surveillance and National Security as a Member of the OGP

As a co-founder of the Open Government Partnership, the United States is perfectly placed to model open government’s potential and to set a high bar of ambition for member countries’ action plans. The US’ plans, successes, failures, and neglects are placed in a glaring spotlight. A statement of concern addressed to the new OGP co-Chairs from more than 100 civil society organizations from across the globe called out a significant threat to open government found in many OGP member countries: the secret surveillance of the communications of millions.

11/22/2013

NAP Consultation: FOIA Commitments in the Preview Plan

OpenTheGovernment.org posts summaries of meetings on the Open Government Partnership National Action Plan between civil society members and the administration. Summaries from the first National Action Plan can be found at OpenGovPartners.org/US

Participants:

11/21/2013

NAP Consultation: Data Commitments in the Preview Plan

Participants:

11/20/2013

US to Outline New Commitments at the Open Government Partnership Summit

Later this week the Obama Administration is scheduled to announce the US' new round of commitments to make the government more open and accountable during the meeting of the Open Government Partnership in London.

10/29/2013

Partners Join International Right to Know Day Event Hosted by the Collaboration on Government Secrecy

Executive Director Patrice McDermott moderated a panel at the Collaboration on Government Secrecy’s annual Right to Know Day celebration on September 27th. The panel featured an overview of the Open Government Partnership’s (OGP) impact and the outlook for groups engaging with the US government for the second National Action Plan.

10/01/2013

Commitments in Civil Society National Action Plan Now Open for Endorsements

In our last newsletter we introduced you to our latest project designed to encourage the Administration to take bold steps to make the federal government more open and accountable: a Civil Society-drafted National Action Plan.

07/23/2013