By Alan Hudson — March 24, 2015.

“Global Integrity is known for its innovative, systematic and rigorous approach to generating high-quality data about governance. The proposed strategy builds on this approach, with a focus on using data to support and facilitate learning by country-level players about how they might drive progress towards more open governance.” (Global Integrity Strategy Refresh)

My first three months as Executive Director of Global Integrity have kept me busy on a number of fronts.  But top of my list of priorities has been to lead the process of revising Global Integrity’s strategy so that we’re clear about what we’re trying to achieve (and why) and how we plan to achieve it.  We are only half-way through the process, but we’re now at a point where we are happy to share our current thinking.

A short note is available here, but a summary version runs as follows:

• Goal: To support the emergence of open governance in countries and communities across the world (because open governance enables communities to try, learn, adapt and try again, finding their way to solutions to challenges such as persistent poverty, poor service delivery, corruption and environmental degradation).

• Approach: To promote learning, within and across countries, about how the principles of open governance play out in practice; to do this by working closely with country level partners in ways that promote their learning; and, to do this in ways that have the potential to shape the political dynamics.

• Methods: A three-pronged approach combining: cross-country multi-country comparative research (think a revamped and revived Global Integrity Report); in-depth country-level engagement in selected countries; and greater emphasis on communications and advocacy.

• Issues: A focus on issues that are central to open governance and where Global Integrity can add value.  These might include fiscal governance, (perhaps in relation to specific sectors such as health and education), money in politics and open contracting.

The process has involved in-depth consultations both internally, with the members of our Board, and with many of the leading practitioners and thinkers in the open governance and development space.  Sincere thanks to those of you who have generously provided feedback as we’ve been developing the strategy.  Open and collaborative learning for the (shared) win!

Over the coming months we will be:

• widening our consultation, in particular to get more feedback from partner organizations around the world about our proposed approach, about what issues we might work on, with whom and where;

• working out how we can get from where we are now (an organization with huge strengths in data collection, outstanding relationships in the open governance community, a well-developed global network of researchers and a number of projects underway on key aspects of the open governance agenda – e.g. on how the Open Government Partnership is playing out in different contexts) to where we want to be; and

• assessing the implications of our revised strategy for the organization’s structure, systems and resourcing.

We look forward to further discussions and collaboration to put learning at the center of the (open) governance agenda. Watch this space to see how our thinking evolves. And drop me a line to co-creatively nudge it.

Photo:  Strategists ahoy! The Global Integrity Team with expert lilac-scarfed facilitator Kathrin Frauscher from the Open Contracting Partnership.