Trust at Imagine Belfast - Open Government Network

Next up is a seminar with our colleagues at the Northern Ireland Open Government Network.

Are you frustrated at the way NI is governed? Would you like to see more transparency, accountability and citizen engagement?

If the answer is yes, then this is the event for you.

The NI Open Government Network was established in 2014 with support from the Building Change Trust and aims to engage citizens and civil society organisations in campaigning for more open government in NI, using the international Open Government Partnership as a vehicle.

The Open Government Partnership is a multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance. In the spirit of multi-stakeholder collaboration, OGP is overseen by a Steering Committee including representatives of governments and civil society organizations.

The Open Government Partnership formally launched on September 20, 2011, when the 8 founding governments (Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, the Philippines, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States) endorsed the Open Government Declaration, and announced their country action plans.

The Northern Ireland Open Government Network is an alliance of individual citizens and representatives of voluntary/community organisations with the vision:

“To contribute to delivering more open, transparent and accountable government that empowers citizens to shape decisions that impact on their lives”.

The purpose of the network is to actively engage a broad and diverse group of citizens and organisations in advocating for more open government in Northern Ireland.

In association with the global Open Government Partnership initiative, the Network aims to contribute to broadening participation in government; increasing transparency and the availability of, and access to, data; enhancing accountability; improving policy making; delivering better service provision and increasing confidence in government.

The Network aims to work in genuine collaboration with the Northern Ireland Executive and government Departments.

This event will be a whistle-stop tour of some of the key issues under the open government umbrella with a key note address from the highly esteemed Dr Michael Harris (founder of Guerrilla Policy and the Guerrilla Wire website), a panel discussion and lightning talks from experts in open data, access to information, anti-corruption, public accountability and civic participation.

Participants will have an opportunity to sign up to join the network at the end of the event.

To find out more about this event, or to register please click here.