17th May 2017
Written by David McBurney, NI Open Government Network Coordinator What is Open Policy-making? Open policy-making means enabling people to influence and enhance policy during its formulation. An open policy process must involve stakeholders from outside of the usual policy making bubble. It’s not just about canvassing opinions; it’s about opening up the whole policy making…
8th May 2017
Written by Peter Osborne The outcome of a consensual ballot on what form of democracy people wanted for Northern Ireland was a clear win for deliberative democracy – or an Assembly Plus. That was at Democracy Day in April as part of the Imagine Festival when the 100 or so participants were asked to cast…
28th February 2017
Written by Paul Bradley, SCVO. Last week, the Scottish Budget was passed by Parliament. Last-ditch deals were made to secure support for the bill and compromises prevented gridlock. Many conversations between political parties were taking place over how Scotland’s money should be spent, but the most important conversation was the one we were not having:…
6th February 2017
Last week, the Institute for Government published our Whitehall Monitor 2017 annual report, which uses open data to chart the size, shape and performance of government in the UK, including on transparency. In short, we couldn’t compile such a report without government openness, but there are some worrying signs for the future. Our report wouldn’t…
21st December 2016
More than 3,000 people gathered in Paris from 7-9th December for the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Global Summit 2016 hosted by the Government of France. Over the 3 days there were dozens of workshops, pitches and panel discussions on themes ranging from transparency, accountability and anti-corruption to climate and sustainable development, the digital commons and…
21st December 2016
It’s dry and sunny in Paris, but at the OGP Civil Society Morning there’s a somber mood. The Results of Early OGP Initiatives report launched at the Summit, captured OGP success stories and showed that the participation of civil society can have a significant impact. But the usual optimism of open government reformers has been…
16th December 2016
Open Government has its own buzzwords – open data, transparency, accountability, participation, scrutiny, anti-corruption, freedom of information, open contracting, digital commons etc. Just like any other policy community this shared language unites those involved, but from the outside it can appear to set a somewhat technocratic and procedural agenda. As someone relatively new to the…
20th September 2016
Written by Kyle Parks, Member of the NI Open Government Network Steering Committee One year on from the launch of the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and it feels like they’ve been brushed under the global carpet. At the Open University’s roundtable event in Belfast last week it was widely accepted that much still needs…
8th September 2016
Blog by Martha Caddell, Open University Just under a year ago, UN member states agreed a new global framework to replace the Millennium Development Goals. Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development sets out an ambitious plan of action for people, planet, and prosperity. It is underpinned by 17 global goals, the Sustainable…
7th September 2016
Written by David McBurney and Colm Burns On Thursday 23 June this year a referendum was held to decide whether the UK should leave or remain in the European Union. More than 30 million people voted. The Leave Campaign won by the relatively narrow margin of 52% to 48%. The term ‘Brexit’ – that merges the…