Open Government: a guide to good practice and success stories in French-speaking Africa

As part of the #PAGOF project, CFI and Expertise France are providing this guide as a tool for capitalising on the success stories in French-speaking Africa, based on the presentations, discussions and insights from the second regional seminar.

During the #PAGOF Regional Seminar in Abidjan, which was held on 5 and 6 November 2019, nearly 120 representatives of governments and civil society organisations from 16 different countries discussed the following five open government topics over a two-day period:

• Media organisations, parliament, private sector, universities and academia: key actors in open government;
• The right of access to information;
• Addressing the challenges of transparency and financial governance;
• From political leadership to citizen participation;
• Open government at the local level.

This seminar gave rise to a number of discussions and presentations of experiences and tools relating to open government that can be supplemented and replicated in French-speaking African countries. The guide has been drawn up on the basis of those discussions.

• It provides a concise explanation of each of the subjects broached, together with the eligibility criteria set by the Open Government Partnership (OGP). Factsheets provide a summary of the tools and experiences presented during the seminar. Links and thematic resources (documents, manuals, guides, websites) are also provided at the end of the document.
• In total, it has been possible to capitalise on 20 diverse and varied experiences, including: the Sunubudget in Senegal (a digital platform for budgetary monitoring, measurement and information), Noucharik.ma in Morocco (a platform dedicated to citizens for the preparation of legislative proposals), the methods for implementing the participatory budget in Ivorian municipalities, the experience of the Espaces de Dialogue et d'Interpellation Communautaire (forums for community dialogue and questions – EDIC) in Burkina Faso, the work carried out by AfricaCheck in Senegal on investigative journalism in an open government, and many other experiences.

Born of the need and desire to share French-language information concerning tools and success stories in Africa on the subject of open government and the process of joining the OGP, this guide meets several of the objectives of the #PAGOF project:

• To highlight and share, at regional level, good practices and success stories concerning open government in countries that are already members of the OGP and those wishing to join;

• To build momentum and create a ripple effect within French-speaking African countries with regard to the OGP and open government and in particular to help them to meet the criteria for membership of the OGP;

• To establish a network of open government practitioners from civil society and the governments of French-speaking African countries, united by their knowledge and a desire for reform.

And don't forget, you can find all the information about the PAGOF project, including the guide, on the website https://www.pagof.fr/