2013 No.

Civil Society Coordination Newsletter - supporting independent engagement with the OGP
March 2013 (#5)

Highlights CSC Editorial on Ghana and Liberia New countries to present action plans Caribbean Network on Freedom of Information Launched Founding Countries SelfAssessments

Dear Colleagues, Ghana and Liberia are two countries that are often discussed within OGP. Both eligible and early signatories to OGP, but also two of the three countries (with Mongolia) that have not submitted a final action plan yet. Last week I visited them for the first time and had a long range of meetings with civil society actors and government officials. The very good news: both countries have a draft action plan, and are planning to present these during the next Steering Committee meeting later this month in London! Liberia has a troubled past, but is on a steep upward curve, with for example, a leading global role in defining the new MDGs and a president with star-status among world leaders. I was impressed by the political will I saw to make OGP work, by a draft Action Plan that aims to focus on implementation of their FOI law, on further strengthening its fiscal transparency and on introducing an open data platform (of course) and a whistle-blower law. Their progress on open budgets is impressive: they scored 2 points on the Open Budget Index in 2008 and 43 in 2012. People like Del Francis Wreh from the Ministry of Finance are the young energetic reformers we need in OGP. He put his own cell phone number on the public budget brochures just in case people had budget questions. And many people had. Now he is working on creating more information and feedback options. He wants to team up with civil society to reach citizens. Their information commissioner Africas first might be able to do many good things as well, but so far he has no budget to run an office or respond to information requests and appeals. My main concern: so far broader civil society has not been involved in preparing or discussing the draft Action Plan. The national Steering Committee only has one CSO member, invited by the government and not self-selected. The positive thing here is that the government is willing and planning to address both. Ghana was preparing for a long Easter weekend when we arrived, which made Accra even more bustling then normal. Ghana has been silently preparing for a lead role on the OGP stage I think. With the support of the World Bank (Gabriel Dedu) they have had a pretty solid consultation process including regional outreach. It was not perfect of course perfection not being a label often used by civil society. For example the RTI coalition felt they had not had the opportunity to make concrete suggestions. Hopefully they will still have the coming weeks. The Ghanaian Action Plan for 2013 and 2014 is relatively bulky ( 30 pages, 13 main commitments and many subs). What I like is that it unravels commitments into smaller steps and spells out who will be involved from both government and civil society side. Two important positive things: they have a permanent secretariat to support OGP and they have a 20 person Steering Committee with equal CSO representation. I see it as a role for the people on the SC to set up good communication with the rest of civil society and make sure their suggestions are included as well. Finally passing the RTI law after more than 10 years campaigning is the commitment that would be great to see rather sooner than later. The government is in favour and has a majority in parliament, so politically it should be possible, no? Let me stop here for now. Next week we will get back to you with more detailed information about the agenda of the next Steering Committee meeting to which 11 countries are invited to present their draft Action Plans (including Costa Rica, Serbia and Russia). Also coming up are the updated eligibility scores, which probably will bring some additional eligible countries. And last but not least, early next week I will be able to finally inform you on who will be the three new civil society representatives on the Steering Committee! Have a great week, Paul

Inside this issue: Upcoming Events and Webinars 2

SEATTI Launched in 2 Southeast Asia Legal Setbacks for 2 NGOs in Russia and Azerbaijan Germany: Holding 2 Governments Accountable Self-Assessments 3 Due OKCon Dates Announced New Countries to Present Action Plans 3

Caribbean FOI 3 Network Launched Nominations for EITI Board 3

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Upcoming Events and Webinars

April 12 National Development Plan Consultation on Mexico and the OGP at the Federal Access to Information and This week, the Southeast Asia Technology and Transparency Initiative (SEATTI) was launched. The purpose of the initiative Data Protection (IFAI) Headquarters. April 18. 12:00 GMT Videoconference on Lessons and Experiences for African CSOs around OGP. Organized by the Africa Freedom of Information Centre (AFIC) in collaboration with the World Bank Institute For more information Mainly driven and managed by OGP founding states Indonesia and the Philippines, the initiative will also support countries in contact peter@africafoicentre.org. April 22-24 Steering Committee Meeting, London; Agenda will be posted shortly at the OGP website. April 25, 10-11 AM EST OGP Networking Mechanism Webinar on Citizen Engagement on Law Making. With Andrew G. Mandelbaum, Senior Program Officer, National Democratic Institute (NDI) and Cristiano FerriFaria, Manager, Legislative e-Democracy Program, Brazilian House of Representatives.

Technology and Transparency Initiative Launched in Southeast Asia

is to support civil society organizations that use or intend to use technology and media platforms to empower citizens in their respective countries to hold their public institutions transparent and accountable.

the region like Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Myanmar. SEATTI is a joint initiative between Omidyar Network and Hivos.

The OGP weblog on Scoop It! that was created by Twaweza is seeking a new enthusiastic editor to keep up it up to date. Contact maassenpaul@gmail.com if you are interested and many thanks to Tiffany Tong for initiating and maintaining it the last year.

Legal Setbacks for NGOs in Russia and Azerbaijan

In January, OGP member Russia passed a new restrictive law on NGOs, giving the Russian authorities a new set of tools for monitoring and controlling the NGO sector in Russia. After, Azerbaijan, whose parliament passed a series of amendments to legislation hindering the ability of independent NGOs to operate in the country; and Indonesia, where a new Bill on Societal Organisations will probably pass parliament later this year, Russia is the next OGP participating country to curtail its civil society organisations. Under the new law, NGOs and other private organizations will have to register with the government and detail their activities. These organizations will be screened by a new regulatory bureaucracy, which will decide whether NGO activities are permitted under Russian law. The new law also requires detailed reports about the sources of funding and how it will be spent. Read how the police brought a special surprise visit to the St. Petersburg office of the Foundation for Information Freedom. According to Christopher Walker from Freedom House, the new NGO law cannot be seen in a vacuum, and should rather be seen as part of an ongoing campaign that seeks to dismantle any meaningful institutional checks on the Kremlin.

German Citizen Initiative Discloses Links between Lobbyists and Lawmakers

Although Germany is not (yet?) a member of OGP, German citizens do understand the necessity and desirability of tools and mechanisms that can hold governments and lawmakers to account. Recently, the website Lobbyplag was launched, which aims to shed light on how laws are actually really made, and the way decision makers are being influenced. Their database shows examples of how members of the European Parliament sometimes literally copy/paste what has been passed on to them by lobbyists. German lawyer Max Schrem, who initiated the project, sought the help of the data journalists and developers of OpenDataCity, and they together crowdfunded a budget to develop a tool that interested citizens can utilize to compare a lobbyist text and law amendments. Lawmakers will create public distrust if they hide to whom they have been listening to. Making the process of lawmaking and influencing lawmakers more transparent will therefore result in better debate, better understanding and better laws, according to Martin Vittel from LobbyPlag.

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Self-Assessments Due for Founding Members

Ahead of the IRM review of the implementation of their first action plans that will be published before the annual OGP meeting in October this year, the OGP founding states are expected to publish a self assessment report, officially due by March 31st. As for now, the Mexico, Brazil, the USA and the UK published their self assessment reports, while South Africa has also shown some activity in developing their final report. The Brazilian government published their OGP assessment in October 2012. The balance is positive: 21 commitments were fulfilled entirely; 4 are ongoing and on schedule; 5 are delayed; and work on 2 commitments hasnt been started yet. Mexico published in December 2012 an assessment report that was elaborated by civil society and signed off by the government. The report is available here. Out of 36 commitments, 21 were fulfilled entirely; 15 partially and only 2 showed no progress at all. In the UK, as for the other countries, the report reviews and draws on the commitments that were made by the government at the start of OGP in September 2011. The report is open for comments till April 15th, after which a final report will be published on April 19th. The USA self assessment report was placed online by the White House last week. From the other seven founding states, a final self assessment report is expected on the short term. If you have any information on the progress of Norway, Indonesia, the Philippines and South Africa please let us know.

OKCon Dates Announced

The Open Knowledge Foundation announced that the Open Knowlegde Conference (OKCon) will take place Geneva, Switzerland on 17-18 September 2013. The theme of this years edition will be Open Data Broad, Deep, Connected. This years event will focus on coordinating and strengthening public policy around the world to support a truly global and interconnected ecosystem of open data.

Caribbean Network on FOI Launched

At the close of the Regional Conference on Freedom of Information in the Caribbean: Improving Management for the Environment., governments, civil society, and media announced the decision to launch a Caribbean network on freedom of information to support processes to improve standards for access to information in the region. More information available on WRIs site. Nominations Open for CS Representatives for EITI Board The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is looking for new Civil Society representatives for its Board. Civil society representatives on the EITI board ensure that the views and concerns of civil society globally regarding the initiative are well represented and defended. The deadline for applications is April 7th, and you can find more info on how to apply here. Selected candidates will be announced on 30th April, with the first EITI Board meeting taking place at the end of May in Sydney. Candidates will be selected by an independent nominations committee. If you have any information or materials that you would want for us to include in our next newsletter please send them to Nout van der Vaart (n.van.der.vaart@hivos.nl) or Emilene Martnez (emilene17@gmail.com).

New Countries to Present Action Plans

On April 23rd 11 countries will present their first national Action Plans at the Steering Committee meeting in London. Most countries have had some form of public consultation during the past couple of months and they will now unveal their plans. Finland already published its Action Plan on the OGP website, Ghana, Hungary, Liberia, Argentina, Mongolia, Costa Rica Panama, Russia, Serbia and Trinidad and Tobago are still developing their commitments. Representatives from both government and civil society have been invited to present and discuss their Action Plans with the Steering Com-