The Internet, social media, smartphones, and access to real-time information have not only made people’s daily lives easier, but have changed citizens’ expectations of how products and services are delivered. This shift affects not only the way citizens view and interact with businesses; it has also raised expectations in their interactions with government.

People are demanding transparency, accountability, access to information and competent service delivery from their governments. They also expect policies and services to be tailored to their needs and address their concerns.

Open government - the opening up of government processes, proceedings, documents and data for public scrutiny and involvement - is now considered as a fundamental element of a democratic society. Both greater transparency and public participation can not only lead to better policies and services, they can also promote public sector integrity, which is essential to regaining the trust of citizens in the neutrality and reliability of public administrations.

The OECD Networks on Open and Innovative Government are active in the MENA region, Latin America and the Caribbean and Southeast Asia.

They serve as platforms to provide countries from the respective regions with the opportunity to exchange ideas, experiences, and knowledge on how to build better and stronger public institutions in the areas of:

• open government and citizen participation
• public sector innovation
• digital governance and open data

The Networks seek to:

• Connect reformers from government, civil society, business associations, and other relevant multilateral institutions
• Identify good practices of open and innovative governments
• Provide examples and recommendations to network members on how to sequence open government reforms and support their implementation.

Partnering with citizens

The OECD is a partner of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), which supports the design and implementation of open government strategies. We also work with public officials and civil society to identify innovative policy approaches to open government.  Through our workshops on capacity building, we provide policy makers and representatives from civil society with advice on how to make open government a reality. 

Our comprehensive approach to open government examines the following areas:

• whole of government coordination
• civic engagement and access to information
• budget transparency
• integrity and the fight against corruption
• use of ICT, social media and open data
• local development