OGP Steering Committee Call to Action: Collective Leadership to Protect Participation, Advance Inclusion, and Create Impact for Digital Democracy

For Approval of the OGP Steering Committee
29 May 2019

In the current global environment where democracy is being undermined by restricted space for civil society, erosion of citizens’ trust, rising populism and polarization of communities, collective action is key to counter these threats. OGP needs to be at the cutting edge of policy solutions to deliver on its vision to promote open, inclusive, and responsive governments that deliver for all citizens.

In this era of closing civic space, we call on all OGP members to take the following actions:

• Strengthen the structure and deliberations of multi-stakeholder forums in line with the OGP Participation and Co-creation Standards;
• Consider commitments in OGP action plans that focus on defending democratic institutions and rights, especially the fundamental freedoms of association, assembly and expression; and

• Test out new co-creation models and enhance public involvement in the implementation phase of open government reforms.

In this era of continued exclusion and gender disparity, we call on all OGP members to take the following actions:

• Actively engage participants such as diverse women and non-binary groups and networks in multi-stakeholder forums and in co-creation processes;
• Consider commitments in OGP action plans that use open government to address a specific gap in women’s, girl’s and gender non-binary individual’s services or policy needs; and,
• Work with experts to conduct gender-based analysis to assess how potential commitments will affect groups differently, and adopt changes as necessary to improve inclusivity

In this era of digital opportunities for deepening democratic engagement, we call on all OGP members to:

• Work with fellow OGP members to tackle transnational online harms;
• Consider new commitments in OGP action plans that promote democratic rights and protect dialogue in the digital realm, including data rights and privacy, internet access and control, and
• Develop and promote open, ethical algorithms and artificial intelligence.

We call on the OGP Support Unit to review all Partnership-wide recommendations and policy documents to ensure that they create an enabling framework to promote collective leadership on these issues.