Transparency International BiH (TI BIH) and the Center for Representing Civic Interests (Fondacija CPI), in partnership with the project TACSO BiH, is organizing a conference that will have as its end goal an active initiation for the accession of BiH to the Open Government Partnership (OGP).
The GOP represents a global initiative dedicated to strengthening the wide availability of information held by the government, and at the same time promoting citizen participation and the highest standards of responsibility and integrity of the government.
The OGP initiative requires government institutions in participating countries to promote an open, efficient and accountable government.
BiH has still not joined the OGP initiative, and has not initiated any activities in this direction.
Bearing in mind that this initiative contributes in a comprehensive way to the concept of an open government through defining concrete obligations in the framework of preparations of an action plan to establish standards of open government and citizen participation in the process of decision making, TI BiH, CPI and a number of other civil society organizations think that BiH’s membership to the OGP initiative had multiple positive effects for the state and citizens.
In order to animate the general public, and particularly responsible institutions and representatives of civil society, TI BiH and CPI, in partnership with TACSO BIH, is organizing a one-day conference in which specifics of the partnership for open government, its advantages and conditions for membership will be presented.
Representatives of countries that have already joined the OGP initiative will share their experiences and good practices, as well as the importance and benefits of the initiatives at the global level.
In addition to BiH representatives of civil society and the Ombudsman Office for Human Rights of BiH, other panelists include: Katarina Ott from the Institute for Public Finance in Croatia, Helen Darbishire for Access Info Europe, and Paul Maassen from Global Open Government Partnership Initiative. Introductory remarks will be given by Renzo Daviddi, the Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to BiH, Jo Lomas, the Deputy Ambassador of the United Kingdom to BiH, Slavic Drašković of TACSO BIH, and representatives of TI BiH and Fondacija CPI.
The conference will be held on Friday, 17 may in Sarajevo, announced TI BiH.