Open Government Partnership Global Summit

Panelists will share their perspectives on participating in, conducting, and supporting integrated research for open government programs. They will share honest lessons from the challenges of implementing new, ambitious open government programming and what partnerships for in-process learning and evaluation can (and can’t) contribute. Reboot will introduce the open government community to developmental evaluation, a potentially useful tool to help shape programs through in-process learning.

This session will provide a platform for participants to highlight the priorities of public policy in their countries in the areas of public sector reforms inspired by the principles of openness, transparency, accountability and citizen participation. The roundtables will also give the opportunity to the government leaders of Open Government of LAC and OECD to identify work areas in which the network will focus its activities in 2016, with special attention to the relationship between open government , inclusive growth and sustainable development. More Ministers of the region will actively engage in the conversation.

This moderator-led panel discussion will introduce the concept of and implementation efforts around South Korea's "Gov 3.0," with public officials from Paraguay and Panama sharing their countries' experiences.

Even though public sector innovation has become an international trend, in the stricter sense we know that there is still much to learn on the subject. This session will address the contributing factors in promoting innovation as well as the necessary conditions that are key to ensure that good ideas are put into practice and can endure. This will be done by discussing the characteristics, achievements and limitations of three different initiatives that have been developed to promote public sector innovation in the Latinamerican region. By zooming in on problem definition, innovation development and adoption in these three initiatives, the session will attempt to delve into what ingredients can yield effective and durable innovation in the public sector.

How do you connect with open data innovators to collaborate and learn? What’s the best way to share your own knowledge to help solve problems? Join the Network of Innovators and learn how to build alliances with your innovation soulmates.

The Mexican Atlas of Economic Complexity provides important inputs for formulation of policies that promote productivity and a balanced regional development. Its building is based on an intensive open data methodology.

Publicly accessible information on beneficial ownership is one of the most important developments in the open government agenda to date. Understanding who controls or benefits from companies is a step change in corporate transparency and fundamental to the fight against corruption. Hundreds of billions of dollars are lost to corruption in public procurement every year. This can lead to lower quality infrastructure and services, wasted tax money and decreased trust in government. Corporate vehicles, such as companies, trusts, foundations and partnerships
play a legitimate and important role in our global economy. But they can also be used to disguise the real owners of companies, making it hard for citizens and governments to “follow the money.” Transparency, open data and access to information - key tenets of open government - are essential to tackling this issue, and beneficial ownership registries can help drive a transparency revolution.

Open Governance is premised on citizens, civil society and governments working together in a constructive manner which is mutually beneficial, with shared interests and goals. This is aligned with Social Accountability initiatives, and specifically the ‘constructive engagement’ approach of the GPSA. The Panel will discuss and rshare the learning and challenges from Social Accountability practices in this area, drawing on the experiences of GPSA Partners and Grantees.

Open data alone cannot eliminate social privileges or guarantee that marginalized groups get an opportunity to participate in Governance processes. Building on our experience at the national and sub-national level, the conversation aims at supporting thinking around the roles that infomediaries can take to maximize pluralism.

The session will be organized as hybrid between a panel discussion and town hall meeting. The first part will be a panel featuring a structured discussion (with specific moderator questions) among the key discussants (NDI, Google, South Africa's election commission (IEC), Mexico's National Electoral Institute (INE) and a citizen election observation leader), with NDI’s representative moderating. The last portion would open up into a town hall discussion, in which the participants would pose questions, share relevant experience, and provide recommendations on ways to advance open election data principles.

The discussion will address the process of “unlocking data” for the benefit of both government and citizens, how resource strapped governments can reach out to citizens, with examples from Sri Lanka's post-conflict case and the challenge of managing supply-side engagement, including the need for a politically-informed approach, with an example from Ulaanbaatar.

This session is meant to discuss the OAS Fellowship on Open Government in the Americas