Events held as part of Global Transparency Week ranged from presentations on donor rankings in aid transparency, to development data hackathons, to debates around the merits of open data.
Thursday 24 October
WASHINGTON D.C. – Publish What You Fund launch the Aid Transparency Index (ATI).
Co-hosted with The Brookings Institution and Oxfam America, the Publish What You Fund event will include the perspective of a leading Southern voice, a presentation of the Index and a high-level panel discussion with representatives from the U.S. government and the World Bank. The launch will focus not only on the progress of aid transparency, but also on the usability and accessibility of the data by all stakeholders. More info here.
PARIS – ’3rd Global Conference in Transparency Research’ at HEC Paris (24 – 26 October).
- Building on the success of its previous two editions held in 2011 in Newark and in 2012 in Utrecht, the Third Global Conference on Transparency Research addresses the interdisciplinary community of scholars working on transparency and open government studies.
Friday 25 October
GENEVA – ‘ AID TRANSPARENCY: Making a Visible Difference’ – a seminar and reception organised by the GAVI Alliance & the Graduate Institution of Geneva.
- This event will examine what needs to be done to ensure transparency of aid flows, and how critical transparency is to effective development, better accountability and good governance.
The panel will speak to the challenges of ensuring transparency of donor spending and will be asked to explore what more needs to be done to ensure a truly visible difference when it comes to development aid. You are required to register online your attendance, free of charge. For more information, please visit the seminar website or contact: globalhealth@graduateinstitute.ch
WORLDWIDE – ‘Toward a Global Open Aid Map’ – lightning talks organized by Open Aid Partnership and Publish What You Fund, 9-11 am EDT / 2-4 pm BST
- Speakers around the globe will give a series of short presentations demonstrating the power of using open development data to inform decisions and improve results. Successful examples of aid transparency will be showcased, with a focus on the geography of aid as well as country-owned data reported by partner governments. The session will be broadcasted online from Washington DC, Nairobi, Lilongwe, La Paz, Kathmandu and other locations. If you’re interested in attending the event in any of these places or want more information, please email pnasfors@worldbank.org.
Monday 28 October
LONDON – Thomas Reuters Foundation host ‘Zombie Data: has open data failed to live up to its hype?’ 17:00-18:30 at the Thomson Reuters office in Canary Wharf.
- Discussants will include Clare Short of EITI, Fredrik Galtung of Integrity Action and Christiaan Poortman of CoST. If you’re interested in attending this event or want more information, please email luke.balleny@thomsonreuters.com
OTTAWA – The North South Institute, Publish What You Fund and Engineers Without Borders (EWB) host ‘Open Data, Transparency and International Development’. Spaces are limited; if you wish to attend the event, please RSVP to Melanie Charron, Information and Events Officer, at mcharron@nsi-ins.ca.
- NSI’s event will feature a dynamic panel discussion on open data, transparency and its role in international development followed by an open discussion and debate. Panelists: Aniket Bhushan (The North-South Institute), Shreya Basu (Publish What You Fund),
Matthew Smith (International Development Research Centre), James Haga (Engineers Without Borders),Michael Roberts (Groupsia).
Tuesday 29 October
LONDON – Integrity Action, Integrity Watch Afghanistan, Partnership for Governance Reform Indonesia, UNDP co-host: ‘Closing the Loop: Through Transparency, Accountability and Integrity’.
- The transparency and accountability movement advocates for access to public information – both reactive and proactive – and for the importance of independent mechanisms of citizen scrutiny and oversight. A sub-set of organisations and public sector leaders in this field have focused their energies on developing methods for closing loop, creating “intelligent feedback mechanisms to redress specific problems”. These initiatives recognise that voice and participation are necessary but not necessarily sufficient conditions for closing the loop.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Aid Data launch AidData 3.0 portal at Brookings Institution. Opening by Homi Kharas.
- Attendees of the launch will be given the chance to explore some of the new data exposed by AidData 3.0, through Lightning Talks and Kiosks sessions lead by AidData Research Consortium team leaders. Register attendance here.
LONDON – Open Data Institute host Annual Summit and Gala Dinner at the Museum of London.
- The ODI Summit will bring together an international line-up of acclaimed experts including world wide web inventor and ODI founder Sir Tim Berners-Lee. The summit will be hosted by co-founder and chair Sir Nigel Shadbolt and CEO Gavin Starks.
LONDON – Open Knowledge Foundation hosts its next London Open Data Meetup.
- Doors open 7.00 pm – 9.30pm. Meet up with the local open data crowd in London and the global community, as many will be coming in for the Open Government Partnership Summit. Meet over drinks at the Centre for Creative Collaboration to hear updates and share initiatives. To register, book on our eventbrite page. Discussions, ideas, live comments and pictures about the event at #opendataLDN #opengov on Twitter.
Wednesday 30 October
LONDON – Open Government Partnership host Civil Society Day and discussion: ‘Role of Civil Society and Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives’
WASHINGTON D.C. – Sunlight Foundation host an ‘Open House’ event at their offices in Washington D.C.
LONDON – Publish What You Pay host ‘Making transparency visible: a journey from Niger to the Philippines’. 6.45pm at Roxy Bar and Screen, 128-132 Borough High Street (LondonTube: London Bridge or Southwark)
- Following an introduction from the Rt. Hon Clare Short, PWYP will screen three short films; in ‘The Woodcutters’ we meet Marou Amadou, Ali Idrissa and Mamane Wada, three men fighting for justice and transparency in Niger. ‘In The Prospect of a Better Future’, we follow Ali Idrissa in his quest for an open extractive sector, so that all Nigerien citizens can benefit from the country’s natural resources. Then on to the Philippines, where Bantay Kita campaign for transparency – to empower communities over how their resources are extracted. After this half an hour of films, Ali Idrissa and Cielo Magno, activists from Niger and the Philippines, will be there to share their experiences and answer your questions.
LONDON – mysociety host an informal evening with pizza and drinks at Mozilla to discuss OGP-related projects and hacking projects. Both tech-savvy and non-tech-savvy people are welcome.
Thursday 31 October
LONDON – Day 1 of Open Government Partnership Summit 2013 (some highlights below)
OPEN CONTRACTING
11.00am – 12.30pm on Thursday, October 31, 2013
Open Contracting is the collaborative effort to support and advance a global agenda for increased disclosure and participation at all stages of the contracting process. The Open Contracting Partnership works across sectors, regions and stakeholder groups.
Main point of contact: Susanne Kuehn (Transparency International Secretariat)
GOVERNMENT AND THE MEDIA – FRIENDS OR ADVERSARIES?
2.15pm – 3.30pm on Thursday, October 31, 2013
This panel debate will explore the roles and perspectives of different media towards Open Government. Can the media be partners in the aims of Open Government? Or are media and governments fixed in their roles as adversaries? Speakers: Richard Sambrook (Moderator), John Lloyd (Financial Times and Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism), Professor James T Hamilton (Stanford University), Justin Arenstein (African Media Initiative).
FOLLOW THE MONEY CAMPAIGNS: WHAT’S WORKING?
3.45pm – 4.45pm on Thursday, October 31
This session will give participants an opportunity to learn from each other’s experiences of trying to follow the money and help to shape an emerging Follow the Money network. Speakers: Jamie Drummond (ONE), Rufus Pollock (Open Knowledge Foundation), Robert Hunja (World Bank), Justin Arenstein (African Media Initiative), Rocio Moreno (Global Movement for Budget Transparency, Accountability and Participation), Seember Nyager (Public and Private Development Centre, Nigeria), Martin Tisne (Omidyar Network), Oluseun Onigbinde (BudgIT, Nigeria).
HOW CAN CIVIL SOCIETY CONTRIBUTE TO AN EFFECTIVE OGP CHAIRMANSHIP?
4.10pm – 5.10pm on Thursday, October 31
A talkshow and debate on a vision of meaningful partnership as well as introducing standards of engagement of government-civil society in chair countries to shape chairmanship agenda and enhance quality implementation.
Main point of contact: Ilham Saenong, Transparency International Indonesia
TRANSPARENCY OF POLITICAL FINANCE
5.15pm – 6.45pm on Thursday, 31st October
This session discusses the risks and consequences of the lack of transparency in the finance of political parties and how do this problems change or not and based on what factors (specially levels of institutionality and presence of organized crime). This session expects to agree on some basic guidelines on how to make this finance more transparent to be delivered to the governments part of the OGP community.
Main point of contact: Samuel Rotta Castilla, Proética (Transparency International Perú)
Friday 1 November
LONDON – Day 2 of Open Government Partnership Summit 2013 (some highlights below)
DEFINING THE CRITICAL ELEMENTS OF OPEN GOVERNMENT
9.30am – 10.30am on Friday 1st November
The session Defining the Critical Elements of Open Government will assess the degree to which OGP is moving substantially to include the core elements of open government: access to information, transparency and accountability policies, and open data tools. It will propose and elicit concrete suggestions for strengthening greater and more balanced results along all three dimensions of open government within the OGP framework and more broadly.
Main point of contact: José M. Marín (Transparency International Secretariat)
PRIVATE SECTOR ROLE IN OPEN DEVELOPMENT
2pm – 3.15pm on Friday, November 1, 2013
This session will introduce the “Open Private Sector Platform” sponsored by the World Bank. This aims to promote the role of the private sector in open development and accelerate the uptake of Shared Value practices at massive scale. Participants will hear from several companies in the developed and developing world who have increased their competitiveness while tackling social, governance or sustainability issues through open practices. Speakers: Benjamin Herzberg (World Bank Institute), Mr. In Channy, (President & CEO of ACLEDA Bank Plc, Cambodia), Chris Taggart (Opencorporates), Robert Clark (Ecodesk Founder), David Bonbright (CEO of Keystone Accountability and Partner of Feedback Labs), Matthew Wilson (GlaxoSmithKline Supply Chain Sustainability Leader), Justin J. Bakule (Executive Director – Shared Value Initiative and FSG).
MAKING AID FLOWS MORE TRANSPARENT
4.10pm – 5.10pm on Friday 1st November
This panel event will include a presentation of the newly-launched 2013 Aid Transparency Index. Panellists will also talk about the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), an internationally agreed standard for publishing aid information. This will include a discussion on progress with implementing IATI, plans and expectations for the future, and the challenges faced in developing information standards and opening up data. Speakers: David Hall-Matthews (Managing Director, Publish What You Fund), Jan Mattsson (Executive Director, UNOPS), Juanita Olarte Suescun (Advisor, Colombian Agency for International Cooperation), Neil Cole (Executive Secretary, Collaborative Africa Budget Reform Initiative).