By Alan Hudson — July 7, 2015.

Global Integrity’s mission is to advance progress towards open and effective governance. Since I took the reins at the start of the year, we’ve been reviewing and revising our strategy to make sure that we’re doing what’s needed to deliver on our mission. At our most recent Board meeting, our revised strategy (full version here, executive summary here) was discussed and approved, an important milestone in our evolution. Many thanks to all of you who generously responded to requests for feedback along the way. Much of what is good about the strategy is down to you; I’ll take the hit for the bad bits!

Our strategy is based on four key ideas:

• first, that effective governance emerges – or doesn’t – as the result of ongoing processes of engagement between citizens and states;
• second, that processes of country-level learning and political analysis can – by empowering the champions of governance reform – increase the likelihood of that engagement leading to more effective governance;
• third, that when country-level learning is focused on opening governance, it can set in train a series of learning loops that lead to governance processes that are – because they are better adapted to context – more effective at meeting citizens’ needs; and
• fourth, that we can support processes of country-level learning through a combination of cross-country comparative research, in-country engagement and advocacy.

The strategy document outlines a number of projects and initiatives that we might develop as part of the revised strategy, with a particular focus on issues around fiscal governance and money in politics. These include:

• revising the Global Integrity Report so that it is focused on generating and collating data that can be used to support country-level learning, including about fiscal governance;
• adding a country engagement element to our work on money in politics;
• extending our work on mapping and strengthening the landscape of fiscal governance in Mexico;
• working to support the development and implementation of National Action Plans by members of the Open Government Partnership; and
• strengthening the adaptive learning element of multi-stakeholder governance initiatives, with more explicit focus on how principles play out in practice in particular contexts.

Our strategy builds on our core strengths in research and evidence, but points the organization in an exciting new direction. Now, we are known for our data. In five years’ time, we will be known for two things. First, for our ability to use data, evidence and stories to support processes of country-level learning that drive progress towards more open and effective governance. Second, for the value we add to the work of others, through our leadership on adaptive learning and open governance, and the connections we make amongst issues, organizations and initiatives.

This is the next step in an exciting journey for Global Integrity. We look forward to working with many of you to put learning at the center of the governance agenda and to drive progress towards open and effective governance.