Global Partnerships &
Legislative Openness
Greg Brown // gbrown@ndi.org // @gregbrownm
National Democratic Institute
Co-Chair, Legislative Openness Working Group

1. PMOs & Parliament
2. Open Government Partnership &
Other Communities
3. Opportunities to Engage

PMOs & Parliament

“If the discourse of the PMO is similar to what the
feeling of the people is – and doesn’t question the
negative image that people have about the
Congress – then we are not doing much.
If citizens don’t realize that Congress is a very
important branch for a political system to work,
then we’re not going to be a democracy."
– Mónica Pachón, Congreso Visible

Civil society can support
legislative reform through:
Education | Advocacy | Collaboration

Around the world, over 200 civil society
organizations are monitoring national and
sub-national legislatures:
Parliamentary Monitoring Organizations
(PMOs)
OpeningParliament.org

Global Communities

What is the Open
Government
Partnership?

106action plans
69countries
2000+commitments

Role for Parliaments in OGP ?
Oversight and Review
Legislative Action
Institutional Commitments

6countries published parliamentary openness plans
...with more likely to come!

The LOWG was created to
encourage peer learning,
exchange, and collaboration
among parliaments.

3work streams for 2016
- Peer Exchange and Capacity Building
- Comparative Data on Legislative Openness
- Institutionalizing Parliamentary
Engagement

Peer
Exchange and
Capacity
Building
May 2015: International Open
Data Conference (Ottawa)
Sept. 2015: LOWG
Global Meeting (Tbilisi)
Oct. 2015: OGP
Summit (Mexico City)
Aug. 2015: Meeting of the Pan
African Parliament (Johannesburg)
May 2016: OGP
Regional Meeting
(Montevideo) May 2016: OGP
Regional Meeting
(Cape Town)

Peer
Exchange and
Capacity
Building
May 2015: International Open
Data Conference (Ottawa)
Sept. 2015: LOWG
Global Meeting (Tbilisi)
Oct. 2015: OGP
Summit (Mexico City)
Aug. 2015: Meeting of the Pan
African Parliament (Johannesburg)
May 2016: OGP
Regional Meeting
(Montevideo) May 2016: OGP
Regional Meeting
(Cape Town)
Dec. 2016: OGP
Summit (Paris)

A week of openness activities around the world,
with events hosted by the Legislative Openness Working Group and
members of the parliamentary openness community

Legislative Openness Working Group Global Meeting

Albania
Armenia
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia
Brazil
Chile
Croatia
Czech
Republic
Estonia
France
Germany
Hungary
Jordan
Latvia
Lithuania
Matla
Moldova
Montenegro
Poland
Serbia
Slovenia
South Africa
Sweden
Tunisia
Turkey
Ukraine
UK
USA

Dedicated legislative “track”
included:
● 8 Panel Discussions
● Half-Day Meeting for MPs

September 12-18
...more information soon!

Global
Data
Good
Practices
Various
Categories
Comparative
Data on
Legislative
Openness
Global
Data
Community
Contributions

Contribute data on your parliament:
bit.ly/294Ow87

Parliamentary Openness and the Open Government Partnership:
A Toolkit for Advancing Legislative Openness
bit.ly/29b1fud

&
1. Institutionalizing Parliamentary
Participation
2. Strengthening Action Plan
Development
3. Developing a Review
Mechanism

Opportunities to Engage
● Global Legislative Openness Week (Sept. 2016)
● OGP Global Summit Paris (Dec. 2016)
● Data Explorer (Ongoing)

Other Global Communities
poplus.org parlamericas.org

Thank you!
Greg Brown // gbrown@ndi.org // @gregbrownm
National Democratic Institute
Co-Chair, Legislative Openness Working Group