Strengthening Open Government at National Level

Around the world, governments are faced with growing challenges and increased complexity – locally, nationally and globally. These include low levels of public trust, rising economic and financial instability and social fragmentation into increasingly polarised groups. Meanwhile, citizens are becoming more vocal, particularly given the amplifying effect of digital technologies, and their expectations for a more transparent and accountable public sector and better public services are growing.

This challenge is particularly pertinent in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, where trust in government institutions has remained low since the Arab Spring. At the same time, regional instability and political turmoil, have underlined key governance challenges, which are necessary to address in rebuilding trust between the citizens and the state. In this context, OECD’s open government project represents a changed understanding of the role of the state in a modern society that aligns with an underlying shift in the policy-making context that promotes the principles of transparency, integrity, accountability and stakeholder participation in support of democracy and inclusive growth.

Open Government in Jordan:

• As a founding member of the MENA-OECD Governance Programme, Jordan has been working closely with the OECD on the elaboration and implementation of the 3rd and 4th OGP National Actions Plans, the latter of which was the most inclusive and participatory in Jordan’s history.
• The OECD facilitated the creation of the Open Government Unit (OGU) within the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation (MoPIC) in early 2018 and the development of an online platform that contributed to the monitoring the completion of Jordan’s OGP commitments in October 2021.
• The OECD is supporting the consultation process of Jordan’s 5^th OGP NAP led by the OGU within MOPIC with capacity building activities and a series of national dialogues. Once launched, the OECD will also provide assistance for the implementation of the OGP commitments. 

Open Government in Lebanon:

• While the operating context has been challenging—including a severe financial crisis, the coronavirus pandemic, and the catastrophic explosion in the port of Beirut— successive Lebanese governments have taken steps to establish a national open government agenda.
• In this context, the OECD was able to work with international partners and the government to develop a National Action Plan for the implementation of the Right to Access to Information law and tools to support its uptake and dissemination. 

Open Government in Morocco:

• Morocco has undertaken important steps to pursue its open government agenda and has implemented its 1st Open Government Action Plan (2018-2020).
• Morocco has worked to design its 2nd Open Government Partnership National Action Plan with the support of the OECD, through 10 co-creation workshops led by Civil Society Organisations, a public consultation and a communication campaign geared towards citizens, civil society and administrators.
• To support these efforts, the OECD launched in January 2021 the Open Government Scan process of Morocco as a first step towards the development of an Open Government Strategy.

Open Government in Tunisia:

• Following the implementation of OECD recommendations, Tunisia became eligible and joined the Open Government Partnership (OGP) on 14 January 2014 as the second country in the MENA region.
• Since then, the OECD has accompanied Tunisia in engaging citizens in public consultation processes and drafting and implementing its OGP Action Plans, supporting the launch of the consultation phase for the 4th OGP National Action Plan in October 2020.
• The OECD supported Tunisia to launch the process of developing the first-ever national strategy for open government and a civic space scan.

Learn more about our work on: Open Government

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