By Alan Hudson, Executive Director, Global Integrity, December 6, 2016

At the upcoming OGP Global Summit in Paris, on December 7-9, open government champions from across the world will come together to reflect on the progress OGP has made, to consider the challenges the open government movement faces, and to strategize about the evolution of OGP towards OGP 2.0. All this will be informed by a Mid-Term Review and a Strategic Refresh process that has been taking place over the last past six months (See here for the state of play with those reflections).

We’ve taken an active role during OGP’s recent reflections, building on the five country case studies of how OGP is playing out in practice we completed earlier this year. Specifically, we’ve been making the case that by baking into its processes a problem-focused, data-driven, politically-savvy, and structured approach to learning by doing, OGP can – by supporting open government champions as they navigate and shape the politics of governance reform – help close the gap between commitments and implementation. At the Summit, we’ll be taking forward these conversations in a number of ways.

On Tuesday, December 6, we’ll participate in Academic Days at the Sorbonne in two sessions

• “Open Access & Open Research“. In this morning session we will  join colleagues from the Global Partnership for Social Accountability, Chemonics, and the World Bank’s Open Government team, reflecting on the ways in which practitioners are already learning by doing in the field, and how linking politics, adaptive learning, and open governance can support open government reform.
• “Lessons and Reflections from the OGP Experience of Five Countries“. In this session  we’ll lead a conversation – with partners from  Public Service Accountability Monitor in South Africa and the Ateneo School of Government in the Philippines about how recent work on open government and social accountability might inform the evolution of open government initiatives, including OGP.

Then, on the morning of Thursday, December 8, we will participate in two sessions:

• “Learning to Open Government: Navigating the Politics of Ambitious Open Government Reforms“. In this participatory and interactive workshop, we’ll explore, along with partners from Making All Voices Count, whether and how adaptive learning and action research can sharpen the impact and effectiveness of organizations pushing for more open governance.
• “Open government in challenging contexts“. In this session participants will share challenges and opportunities for open government reforms in challenging contexts. Our contribution will focus on the links between peacebuilding and open governance efforts, exploring what the potential value of linking these agendas and approaches and how this can be done in practice.

Beyond these sessions, we’re excited to take part in lots of other Summit activities and to (re)connect with friends old and new. We’re looking forward to listening, to learning, and to being part of the conversations that will shape the evolution of OGP. Feel free to reach out to Alan, Michael and Nada if you want to chat. See you in Paris!