Effective government requires transparency and integrity, says UNDP

July 18, 2018

Anna Begunts is a high school teacher, a deputy principal, and a local councilor in her village of Sis, in Armenia. One organic way of getting women into politics is by starting at the local level. Photo: UNDP Armenia.

Open Government Partnership summit kicks off with renewed calls for collaboration between States and civil society

Tbilisi, Georgia, 18 July 2018 – Governments should double efforts to be open, accountable, and responsive to their citizens, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said, as more than 76 nations convened here to discuss putting people first.

“Just when we need it most, trust in globalization, in government, and in elected officials is at an all-time low in many parts of the world,” said Achim Steiner, the Administrator of UNDP.

Accomplishing the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals requires unprecedented international cooperation and leadership at a time of intense political polarization over complex issues such as migration, climate change, violent extremism, gender equality, Steiner said.

“The purpose of this summit - to actively explore new ways of opening governments to the citizens and delivering quality public services that restore trust between state and society - is more important than ever before in tackling today’s complex challenges,” he added.

The Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.

“Within OGP, we have courageous reformers working each and every day to ensure government listens to its citizens and delivers on their behalf.  By joining forces with organizations, such as UNDP, we can step up and scale up innovative reforms across the partnership and forge new global norms that show an alternative – and more hopeful - path for the world,” said Sanjay Pradhan, CEO of the Open Government Partnership.

The OGP will review more than 3,000 governance-related commitments made by 76 participating countries and 20 subnational governments. It will also examine issues such as promoting women leaders, boosting open data, opening civic space and scaling up the fight to eliminate corruption.

This year, the OGP summit is hosted and chaired by Georgia, a middle-income country that has made leaps and bounds on transparency and anti-corruption. Georgia will be handing the chairmanship of OGP to Canada later this year.

The second most transparent aid organization in the world, UNDP’s governance work – spanning 700 projects around the world - involves supporting countries to bring about constitutional reforms, organizing credible elections and strengthening parliaments, while ensuring constructive engagement of civil society.

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For media queries, please contact nicolas.douillet@undp.org (Istanbul) and sophie.tchitchinadze@undp.org (Tbilisi). For more information and the summit agenda, please visit https://ogpsummit.org/