2013 se ha posicionado como el año del gobierno abierto. El progresivo avance de la Alianza para el Gobierno Abierto (Open Government Partnership) supone la consolidación de un proceso que, en menos de dos años, ha logrado contagiar la promesa de promover e implementar políticas públicas fundadas en los principios de la transparencia y del acceso a la información pública, la participación ciudadana, la integridad y un mayor uso de las tecnologías para la apertura y rendición de cuentas en 63 países de todo el mundo. En particular, la región de América Latina y el Caribe se destaca por ser la que tiene la más amplia participación, con 15 países miembros, 14 de los cuales cuentan con planes de acción en proceso de implementación y/o evaluación que recogen sus compromisos de gobierno abierto (Trinidad y Tobago es el próximo país que presentará un plan). A la fecha, algunos países están desarrollando procesos de consulta pública y espacios de participación para formular nuevos compromisos de gobierno abierto para un nuevo período. Por ello, conviene detenerse en analizar la experiencia comparada en la región a partir de la revisión de los compromisos impulsados en los planes de acción y la visión que los propios actores involucrados tienen sobre el proceso. Todo ello como parte de la necesaria reflexión que permita seguir abonando en este territorio emergente que se va configurando como un nuevo paradigma de reforma de la política y de la gestión pública en el siglo XXI.

This paper is based on the conclusions of a workshop entitled ‘Perspectives on Open Government in Latin America’, organised by the Latin America International Affairs Program (LAIAP) of LSE IDEAS on 30 October 2013. Sponsored by the World Bank Group, the OGP’s Civil Society Coordination, the Organisation of American States (OAS), the Government of Peru, the Federal Institute of Access to Public Information of Mexico (Instituto Federal de Acceso a la Información Pública—IFAI) and the Alianza Regional por la Libertad de Expresion e Informacion, the event brought together more than 40 representatives from Latin American national governments, civil society and multilateral organisations with the objective of deepening the understanding of the OGP, its main challenges and opportunities within the regional context. The event was convened by Fabrizio Scrollini, a PhD candidate at the LSE Government Department. This report was co-written by Dr Ursula Durand Ochoa and Fabrizio Scrollini. The analysis is also based on the discussions and debates that took place during the 2013 OGP London Summit.

The World Justice Project (WJP) joins previous efforts to produce reliable data on open government through the WJP Open Government Index™ 2015, a report that measures government openness in practice based on the experiences and perceptions of the general public and in-country experts worldwide. We hope this biennial publication, anchored in actual experiences, will enhance efforts to evaluate the extent to which countries provide official information to their citizens, encourage community involvement, and improve government responsiveness. The WJP Open Government Index 2015 provides scores and rankings on four dimensions of government openness: (1) publicized laws and government data, (2) right to information, (3) civic participation, and (4) complaint mechanisms. These dimensions are intended to reflect how people experience varying degrees of openness in their daily interaction with government officials.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development demands bold action. It will require coordinating policy on multiple fronts, forming new partnerships, and committing significant resources across the globe. It also requires an open and accountable approach to implementation. With government and civil society working together in 66 countries to make governments more open and effective, the Open Government Partnership (OGP) presents a unique opportunity to advance the 2030 Agenda. This special edition of the Open Government Guide focuses on how an open government approach can spur progress across the 17 Goals, including in improving public services and ultimately, in reducing poverty. Many OGP countries are already tackling these challenges by promoting transparency and accountability, empowering citizens and civil society, fighting corruption, and harnessing new technologies in their national action plans, examples of which are showcased here. Also highlighted are illustrative commitments drawn from the Open Government Guide for inclusion in future action plans. We invite government and civil society open government champions around the world to build on these ideas in the coming months with their own suggestions of open government policies that advance the SDGs.

Open government data (OGD) as a concept is gaining currency globally due to the strong advocacy of global organisations as Open Government Partnership. In recent years, there has been increased commitment on the part of national governments to proactively disclose information. However, much of the discussion on OGD is at the national level, especially in developing countries where commitments of proactive disclosure is conditioned by the commitments of national governments as expressed through the OGP national action plans. However, the local is important in the context of open data. In decentralized contexts, the local is where data is collected and stored, where there is strong feasibility that data will be published, and where data can generate the most impact when used. This synthesis paper wants to refocus the discussion of open government data in sub-national contexts by analysing nine country papers produced through the Open Data in Developing Countries research project. Using a common research framework that focuses on context, governance setting, and open data initiatives, the study found out that there is substantial effort on the part of sub-national governments to proactively disclose data, however, the design delimits citizen participation, and eventually, use. Second, context demands diff erent roles for intermediaries and diff erent types of initiatives to create an enabling environment for open data. Finally, data quality will remain a critical challenge for sub-national governments in developing countries and it will temper potential impact that open data will be able to generate.

This paper sets out a number of practical mechanisms for setting and institutionalising high standards of ethical conduct integrity and good Governance for elected officials and civil servants, based on the experience of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the UK, Korea, Morocco and Ethiopia. In summary, the introduction of relevant Codes of Ethics and Conduct, to be effective, needs to be supported by a range of other mechanisms, training, and leadership by managers and political leaders alike. Examples of such mechanisms are given.