Between 27th and 29th October, around 2000 representatives of governments, civil society, business and academia gathered in Mexico City to mark 4 years since the launch of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) initiative and reflected on the successes and remaining challenges in pushing forward open governments for citizens.
Discussions focused on exchanging best practices on using open data and IT technology for improved life of citizens, while some also offered critical reflections on the release and use of open data, esp. concerning advancement of democratic governance practices and rule of law. One of the key challenges identified was the gap between commitments made towards advancing government openness, accountability and transparency, and the fact that in OGP countries as well as globally basic space for citizens and civil society is shrinking.
On this occasion, Tanja Hafner Ademi, Executive Director of BCSDN spoke on the panel devoted to the new CIVICUS Civic Space Monitor to share experience from the monitoring and advancing enabling environment for civil society in the EU Accession Countries, all of them also members of the OGP initiative, with the exception of Kosovo. Read more on the proceedings at the OGP Summit here.
