Germany and the Open Government Partnership

Governments around the world are changing the way they operate--working more openly and letting citizens participate. Germany may be following this trend, as it indicated that it will participate in the Open Government Partnership. Driven by the belief that people around the world are demanding more openness in government, this global alliance of 70 countries aims at making governments more transparent and responsive to citizens, and hence more effective in the process.

But what does “open government” mean exactly, and how does this translate into action? Open governments actively involve civil society and citizens in political decision-making, planning and implementation processes. Germany’s participation in the Open Government Partnership is a unique opportunity to make initiatives that already exist, like the citizen dialogue initiative “Gut leben in Deutschland” (“Living a good life in Germany”), even stronger and more visible. More importantly, the Open Government Partnership provides a framework to develop new initiatives, by learning from other governments’ experiences, and benefiting from the tools and approaches that further transparency and citizen participation.

During the event we would like to discuss key questions for German stakeholders to consider. Since other countries started open government initiatives earlier, what are the best practices out there? What are the pitfalls? And is there something Germany could uniquely contribute, as a German footprint of open government?
What do civil society and other stakeholders need to do to support but also monitor these processes? How can these activities be taken a step further and lead to a new mindset that involves citizens as experts?

Beate Lohmann, Director General in the Federal Ministry of the Interior and, inter alia, responsible for open government, will discuss open government with Martin Tisné, investment partner at the Omidyar Network and one of the most prominent experts in the international open government scene.