OGN publishes Open Government Manifesto 2018
Today, the UK Open Government Civil Society Network (OGN) has published its Open Government Civil Society Manifesto 2018.
This Manifesto puts forward the UK OGN’s key thematic areas for consideration as part of the development of the UK’s fourth Open Government Action Plan.
The Manifesto has been developed following discussions by civil society; an online portal to suggest ideas, meetings and workshops in seven cities focusing on UK-wide commitments, as well as a conference in Northern Ireland.
These brought together over 40 ideas for open government reform which have been synthesised into four overarching thematic areas that civil society believes should form the focus of the 2018-2020 action plan:
– Follow the money in government: Transparency of government budgets, grants, contracts and spending are central to the delivery of public services and scrutiny of spending.
– Law, participation and policy: More open decision-making processes where citizens can participate effectively will help government and parliament make better decisions.
– Strengthening accountability and anti-corruption efforts: Accountability mechanisms at the national, local and global level need modernising. The UK must tackle illicit financial flows and build on its work to increase transparency of aid, the extractives industry, and beneficial ownership data.
– Building open data infrastructure for action: A public data infrastructure will support good governance and innovation, but it must also respect privacy and citizen rights.
You can read the full Manifesto, here: https://www.opengovernment.org.uk/resource/uk-ogn-manifesto-2018/