Brazil and the United States are co-chairing the initiative with six other governmentsand nine non-governmental organizations. Signatories hope the OGP will capitalize on the role of new technologies, especially open source solutions, to combat corruption, according to the website.
According to the “declaration of principles,” countries who sign the pledge to increase their commitments to transparency, civic participation, access to new technologies. Each submits a plan of action after broad consultations and agrees to concrete benchmarks of success. The participants will have access to peer consultations, networking information, assessment mechanisms. After twelve months, each will publish a self-assessment report.
US Department of State officials who briefed the press Monday stressed that in each country, the initiative is a collaboration between governments and civil society organizations, which is why these civic bodies are also part of the steering committee.
Who’s In?
All countries who signed on to participate do so voluntarily, State Department officials said at the press briefing yesterday. In order to qualify, countries must meet basic benchmarks including fiscal transparency, freedom of access to information, disclosures about politicians’ finances, and citizen engagement. More than half of the 79 countries which met the criteria signed on to participate according to the website’s official list of qualification scores.
In the Balkans, Albania, Croatia, Macedonia and Montenegro have pledged participation, but Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Kosovo and Serbia have not signed up. BiH is eligible to participate, but Serbia and Kosovo are not.
In Southeast Europe, Bulgaria and Romania, the European Union’s newest members committed; Italy and Hungary are also developing their commitments.
In the Caucasus, Azerbaijan and Georgia signed up. Armenia met the criteria but has yet to commit. All three Baltic countries have also pledged participation.
Out of the other countries comprising the former Soviet Union, Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Azerbaijan have pledged to develop an action plan. None of the Central Asian republics (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzebkistan) qualified. Russia qualified but has not signed on, and Belarus did not qualify.
Following the launch ceremony, the eight steering board countries shared their action plans at an event for heads of state, where they also signed a declaration of principles.
The UK, one of the steering board members, has said it may withhold aid funding from countries who do not comply with transparency pledges or make progress in ensuring data on how the money is spent is publicized.
The Open Government website is still inviting potential members to join the initiative. The next such summit for member countries will take place in March 2012 in Brazil. Website administrators say that in the meantime they are building a comprehensive database of networking tools and examples of best practices.
