GOVPH

The Future of Open Government

Over the past decade, the Open Government Partnership (OGP) has been home to thousands of relentless, creative, and inspiring trailblazers, innovators, and deeply committed reformers taking action to make a difference. In its second decade, there is a need and opportunity for the Partnership to build on lessons learned to date to take open government from niche to mainstream, to tackle the biggest challenges of a world much more complex than when OGP was launched in 2011.

Join OGP reformers in government and civil society during Open Gov Week as they launch the Partnership’s strategy for the next five years (2023-2028) to better serve the community of reformers around the world and tackle the challenges of today.

Registration: bit.ly/future-of-opengov

Planning for the 6th PH-OGP National Action Plan Co-creation and Beyond

This session aims to discuss how to strategically approach the co-creation of our first medium-term action plan, design engagement strategies for new and relevant government and non-government stakeholders, and to discuss how we can move beyond the national action plan in pursuing open government reforms.

Co-create. Collaborate. Contribute: Open Gov Week 2023

Over the years, the Philippine Open Government Partnership (PH-OGP) has supported reforms in strengthening civic participation as enshrined in the commitments in its national action plans (NAPs). These NAPs are products of rigorous co-creation with various civil society groups who were involved in the process by making sure that government projects and programs are strategically planned to respond to the clamor of the people. PH-OGP is characterized by its intensive collaboration through highly-consultative mechanisms making reforms and developments more sustainable and irreversible. Through its vast network of champions and reformers, it continues to contribute in making the government more open to its citizens which is why it was recognized as a key driver in deepening participatory governance and one of the inter-agency bodies to steer implementation of strategies under Chapter 14 of the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028.

This session aims (i) to celebrate PH-OGP’s contributions and accomplishments in bolstering spaces for public participation in governance processes, (ii) share how strong co-creation mechanisms have raised the ambition of PH-OGP making it a renowned leader in sustainable open government reforms, and (iii) learn more about how PH-OGP intends to leverage on digital technology to innovate solutions in driving deeper citizen engagement and more meaningful civil society-government collaboration.  

ATTY. GISELLE LANDICHO
Session Host

POGCHAMPS: Philippine Open Government Youth Champions

The La Salle Institute of Governance (LSIG) is a private research and training institution that promotes integrity, innovation, and inclusivity in governance and public policy. In support of youth political participation in local governance, the Institute developed a capacity-development training program, POGCHAMPS: Project Open Government Youth Champions, in partnership with the National Democratic Institute, Galing Pook Foundation, and the National Youth Commission. The training program aims to capacitate the youth in practicing principles of open government and participatory budgeting (i.e., transparency, accountability, and participation) to enhance local youth development planning, improve service delivery, and, ultimately, help address corruption at the local governance level.

The 3-month training program was formally launched in February 2023 with twelve (12) local government units (LGUs), represented by Sangguniang Kabataan Chairpersons, Local Youth Development Officers, and Local Youth Development Councils members, as participants. They completed three (3) training modules, each with a distinct topic and learning modality.

Module 1 tackled Youth Local Governance which involved sessions on the state of local youth politics and governance, and principles and practices of open government and good governance. Module 2 focused on the co-creation of citizen participation in action planning. Module 3 inculcated awareness and practical knowledge of financial management and budget preparation for local governance.

A culminating activity will be held to close the training program formally. It will feature the participants’ action plans in promoting transparency, accountability, and participation in local youth governance systems.

The objectives of the culminating activity are (i) to present the LGU’s Open Government Youth Action Plan that promotes transparency, accountability, and participation toward improved service delivery; (ii) to enable a co-learning environment through the sharing of the participant’s local action plans; (iii) to generate lessons and reflections on the learning journey of the participants; and (iv) to explore post-training activities and interventions to sustain the gains of the training program.

Citizen Participation towards Stronger Local Governments

Citizen participation is an integral component of local autonomy as provided in the Local Government Code.  The PH-OGP has made available the avenues for consultations and citizen engagement at the local level in the past.  The efforts to engage with local government units continue as we anticipate the institutionalization of PH-OGP and further build on the gains of citizen engagement in local governance. 

The session will bring together local government units (LGUs) including cities who are working with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Cities for Enhanced Engagement and Governance (CHANGE) Project, CSO members of local special bodies (LSBs), and government and non-government reform advocates to share their experiences and the impact of government-civil society collaboration in strengthening local governance.

This session aims to (i) showcase how citizen participation at the local level can influence good governance; (ii) share success stories and challenges of engaging citizens in local government processes; (iii) share experiences on effective partnership with local government units to push governance reforms; and (iv) identify opportunities at the local level for engaging citizens.

 ATTY. GISELLE LANDICHO
Session Host and Moderator

Forum on the Philippines’ IRM Results Report: Learnings from the 5th PH-OGP National Action Plan

The IRM Results Report supports accountability and learning. It assesses the level of completion of action plan commitments and checks compliance with OGP standards and criteria and includes insights and lessons on how change happens and the enablers or constraints in implementing promising open government reforms.

For the 5th PH-OGP National Action Plan, the IRM Results Report provided an overall implementation assessment that focuses on policy-level results and with particular attention to commitments that have achieved early results in opening governments.

This shall provide a presentation on the Philippines’ IRM Results Report and particularly aims to (i) share how the Philippines fared in terms of the implementation of the 5^th PH-OGP National Action Plan (NAP) commitments; (ii) identify effective practices and constraints in implementing open government reforms; and (iii) facilitate conversation on how to make use of the learnings and recommendations highlighted by the IRM to inform the co-creation of the 6^th National Action Plan (NAP).

MS. ALEXIS E. FRANCISCO
Session Host and Moderator