Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government Aichida Ul-Aflaha Mary McNeil Saki Kumagai Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government Aichida Ul-Aflaha Mary McNeil Saki Kumagai Design: Claudio Mendonca (ccmdesign.ca) AUTHORS Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government Aichida Ul-Aflaha is Public Sector Specialist at the World Bank. She focuses on the World Bank’s work on open, participatory and accountable governance with governments and civil society. She also co-manages the Open Government Partnership Multi Donor Trust Fund. Prior to the World Bank, she worked for the Government of Indonesia on improving government performance related to reduction of emission from deforestation. She is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies and Colgate University. Mary McNeil is Senior-level development professional with more than 20 years experience creating and managing development programs and professional teams at the World Bank Group. Her areas of expertise include developing and managing innovative programs in civil society capacity building, participatory and accountable governance, and social accountability. She has worked in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Latin America and Middle East North Africa. Saki Kumagai is Governance Specialist at the World Bank. She specializes in supporting governments create and strengthen more transparent, accountable, and participatory government systems. Saki currently leads knowledge and analytical work on citizen engagement at the World Bank’s Governance Global Practice and supports multiple World Bank-financed service delivery operations in countries such as Egypt, Jordan, and Sierra Leone. This paper was prepared by staff from the Governance Global Practice (GGP) — Aichida Ul-Aflaha (Public Sector Specialist), Mary McNeil (Consultant), and Saki Kumagai (Governance Specialist) —as part of the GGP’s programmatic analytics and advisory service (ASA) entitled, “Citizen Engagement: Re-building the State and Citizen Social Contract.” The ASA aims to help provide analytical insights, knowledge, and learning to support and implement the next phase of the World Bank Group’s Strategic Framework for Mainstreaming Citizen Engagement in World Bank Group Operations. The authors are grateful to peer reviewers Fabian Seiderer and Marco Larizza as well as Helena Bjuremalm for their very helpful comments; Asmeen Khan and Helene Grandvoinnet for their guidance, comments, and reviews on various drafts; Steve Davenport for his inputs; Edward Nyarko for his administrative support; and Barbara Rice for editorial support. Table of Contents Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Rethinking Open Government: Rationale. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Rethinking Open Government: Conceptual Understanding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Common Entry Points for World Bank Interventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 A New Term and Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Areas Where Significant Work Is Underway but More Action Is Needed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Advancing the Open Contracting Agenda. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Enhancing Support to Subnational Reform. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Institutionalizing Forms of Feedback Mechanisms into National and Country Systems. . . . . . . . . 16 Improving Access to Justice and the Rule of Law. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Frontier Areas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Beneficial Ownership: Advance Anti-corruption Interventions in the Private Sector . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Transparency and Consultation to Support Trade and Private Sector Investment . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Innovation and Trust in Tax Compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Openness in Public Policy Formulation and Analysis — Deliberative Transparency. . . . . . . . . . . 20 Support Policies that Protect Shrinking Civic Space. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 The Role of the Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Support Collective Action and Social Mobilization Efforts as Avenues of Change. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Considerations for Further Action. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Designing and Implementing Supply-Side Targeted Information Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Research and Partnerships. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Appendix A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Member Countries of the Open Government Partnership. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Appendix B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 List of Persons Interviewed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Appendix C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Selected Typology for Open, Participatory, and Responsive Government. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Appendix D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Examples of Commitments under the Open Government Partnership. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Introduction Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government The twin goals of the World Bank Group — ending extreme poverty and boosting shared pros- perity — makes a strong case for the World Bank’s support for creating an inclusive society, with strong government accountability. “A sustainable path toward ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity would also involve creating an inclusive society, not only in terms of economic welfare but also in terms of the voice and empowerment of all groups. An inclusive society must have the institutions, structures, and processes that empower local communities, so they can hold their governments accountable” (World Bank 2013a, 33). Aligned with these goals, the World Bank Group’s Strategic Framework for Mainstreaming Cit- izen Engagement in World Bank Group Operations defines citizen engagement as the “two-way interaction between citizens and governments or the private sector within the scope of the Bank Group’s interventions in decision making with the objectives of improving the inter- mediate and final development outcomes of the interventions” (World Bank Group 2014, 8). These interactions give citizens a stake in decision making with the objective of improving an intervention’s intermediate and final development outcomes. Transparency and openness of government, including access to information, are fundamental enabling conditions for ef- fective citizen engagement — and for achieving an inclusive society where citizens can par- ticipate meaningfully in policy making and service delivery to hold governments to account. Open government has many different definitions that essentially encompass increased transparency, citizen participation, and accountability. The collaboration between govern- ment and citizens in the public policy cycle is central to open government. As such, openness is at the core of citizen-centric governance, recognized as key for effective use of public re- sources, inclusive decision making, and improved trust between governments and citizens. The global momentum for open government has increased significantly in recent years fol- lowing changes in the governance landscape with some authoritarian regimes moving to- ward democracy and political participation. Events such as the Arab Spring has reawakened the demand for openness in all aspects of governance. The rapid membership growth and recognition of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), which was launched in 2011, is one example of global momentum. With the ultimate goal of improving the quality of governance and public services, OGP brings together both govern- ment and civil society reformers to help government become sustainably more transparent, more accountable, and more responsive to citizens’ needs.1 To date, 79 countries along with 1 1  From the OGP website “Mission and Strategy” https://www.opengovpartnership.org/mission-and-strategy/. a growing number of local governments and thousands of civil society organizations (CSOs) are members of the OGP (see appendix A).2 Countries participating in OGP have made more than 3,000 commitments to become sustainably more transparent, more accountable, and Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government more responsive to their own citizens, with the ultimate goal of improving the quality of governance as well as the quality of services citizens receive. The Governance Global Practice (GGP) of the World Bank, in response to external trends and in close collaboration with the OGP, has adopted a collaborative and integrated approach to supporting open government. The final report of the 18th Replenishment of the International Development Association (IDA18) acknowledged “the focus on reforms promoting transpar- ency has the potential to be transformative. Open government reforms such as deliberative transparency, citizen engagement, and freedom of information laws facilitate inclusive de- cision-making processes, strengthen accountability, and build citizen stakeholders’ capaci- ty to engage in development dialogue” (World Bank 2017a, 27). The IDA18 Final Report outlined a Governance and Institutions Special Theme with signifi- cant policy commitments in support of the open government and citizen engagement agen- da, in particular to:  Support projects in at least 10 IDA countries in the development and implementation of user feedback and/or enhanced GRMs [grievance redress mechanisms] for service deliv- ery that ensure participation by women in these processes; [and]  Support at least one-third of IDA countries to operationalize reform commitments to- ward the OGP agenda to strengthen transparent, accountable, participatory, and inclu- sive governments” (World Bank 2017a, 48–49). The World Bank is supporting 38 projects in 27 IDA countries with various open govern- ment approaches embedded in lending operations and technical assistance. For example, the World Bank incorporates openness and transparency as a tool for broader citizen engage- ment in the health and education sectors. They are embedded in sector or social projects to enhance citizen’s awareness, engagement, and access to information in order to increase accountability at the point of public service delivery. This is a shift from a more centralized approach to more polycentric hubs of interaction between citizens or civil society and the government that are centered around delivery of public services rather than merely policy making. In these IDA countries, there is also an increase in how disclosure of data and tech- nology is leveraged to inform participatory planning and policy actions and improve inter- agency coordination and accountability to beneficiaries. 2 2  From the OGP website “About Open Government Partnership” https://www.opengovpartnership.org/about/. The modernization of government goes beyond strengthening financial management sys- tems or improving the government’s administrative or oversight functions. It includes im- proving efficiency, accountability, and responsiveness in governance of extractives and nat- Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government ural resources and in the delivery of services. Experience in IDA countries reflects global trends to date and indicate there are essential building blocks of open government for governments and citizens to collectively achieve open, participatory, accountable, and responsive governance. The path and sequencing of open government initiatives and activities in a country could differ by country depending on regional and country contexts. In general, they begin with information disclosure, engage- ment of citizens in developing policy and monitoring delivery of services, and the establish- ment of mechanisms and dialogue to enhance accountability. Improving the quality of gov- ernance requires a shift in norms and culture to ensure genuine dialogue and collaboration between governments and civil society. Hence, government responsiveness to citizens has, over time, become recognized as a core function of open government. In view of this, the paper aims to document the essential building blocks of open govern- ment based on experience in the area and growing trends. It also tries to identify the new frontiers in open government. Content is based on interviews with open government experts and thought leaders3 in the field as well as a literature review to document experience to date and capture the emerging frontier areas. The findings are geared toward World Bank practi- tioners, although they may be relevant to a broader range of open government actors. The paper captures the basics of open government and what has been learned to date. It begins by stating the rationale for this work and the widely accepted components of open government before briefly presenting a new term and definition for it. This work is not intended to opera- tionalize the framework of World Development Report 2017: Governance and the Law (WDR 2017) but does use part of its definition of citizens as change agents. Approaches in the open gov- ernment space are identified where the World Bank has the most comparative advantage and made some advances. This is followed by highlighting areas that need more World Bank trac- tion as well as cutting-edge, or frontier, approaches that could be considered for uptake. The paper does not go into detail on how to operationalize open government or identify specific entry points, which will be part of later work. Finally, it presents a summary of action steps for advancing the open, participatory, and responsive governance agenda within the World Bank. 3  Interviewees, including external experts and World Bank practitioners, are listed in appendix B. Additional feed- 3 back and inputs on the paper’s initial findings were collected through a learning event at the World Bank in May 2018. Rethinking Open Government: Rationale Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government The world is changing rapidly. There is a firm and growing recognition for open, partic- ipatory, accountable, and responsive governance. This recognition is critical for govern- ments to provide more inclusive, effective, and equitable public policies and service de- livery. A growing awareness of the economic benefit of open government has led various organizations, including the World Bank, to place this agenda at the forefront (box 21). The demands for openness have changed and evolved over time, necessitating a renewed understanding of what “open government” is and what tools are more effective. In the early 1990s and early 2000s, the open government agenda was an offshoot of the process toward democratization. The demand in recent years is mostly driven by factors such as anti-cor- ruption, illicit financial flows, and the need to facilitate investment for the private sector particularly in the Latin America and the Caribbean and Europe and Central Asia Regions. The underlying drivers of demand for openness in the Middle East and North Africa Region are also different. Still, transparency, participation, accountability, and responsiveness — which taken together frames openness in contemporary times — have a critical role to play in the fight against corruption, which is a big challenge confronting both private and public governance across the globe. Citizens’ demand for open, participatory, accountable, and responsive governance remains strong. The 2013 Global Opening Government Survey indicates 61 percent of respondents ex- pressed desire for openness from their governments. A striking finding from the survey is the burning hunger among younger generations in countries such as Mexico, Indonesia, and Mongolia. In Mexico, about 83 percent of the respondents aged 18–25 strongly prefer more open government.4 Significant challenges remain in ensuring that open, participatory, accountable, and respon- sive governance leads to development outcomes on the ground. The rise of global populism in many countries and shrinking civic space are slowing the progress of the open government agenda and limiting the scope and quality of engagement to achieve an inclusive society. Yet, new opportunities continue to emerge to counter these setbacks. World Development Report 2017: Governance and the Law redefines governance as “the process through which state and nonstate actors interact to design and implement policies within a given set of formal and informal rules that shape and are shaped by power” (World Bank 2017b, 3). It shifts away from the more traditional definition as seen in Governance and De- 4 4  For more information, see OGP’s website at http://www.openinggovernment.com/ (accessed July 9, 2019). BOX 1 Initiatives to Support Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government Open, Participatory, and Responsive Governance The World Bank and other multilateral also acknowledges the transformative institutions, such as the International nature of open government reforms toward Monetary Fund (IMF), have been at meeting Sustainable Development Goal 16 the forefront of openness in economic (SDG16) to promote peaceful and inclusive governance as a means to combat corruption societies for sustainable development, and to reduce uncertainty for global provide access to justice for all, and build investors. The IMF’s Code of Good Practices effective, accountable, and inclusive on Fiscal Transparency was introduced institutions at all levels.1 in 1998 in the aftermath of the Mexican These reforms contribute to the World and Asian crises (Petrie 2003). The code Bank’s twin goals and SDG16 “by identifies a set of principles and practices to promoting the efficient use of public help governments provide a clear picture of resources, facilitating inclusive decision- the structure and finances of government. making processes, strengthening More recently, the WDR2017: Governance accountability, improving trust and and the Law highlighted the centrality of building citizen stakeholders’ capacity the interplay between citizens and the state to engage in the development dialogue, in the creation of effective governance. The and allowing for better service delivery” final report of the 18th Replenishment of (World Bank 2017a, 47). the International Development Association 5 1 For more information, see Sustainable Development Goals, https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300. velopment: “the manner in which power or authority is exercised in the management of a country’s economic and social resources for development” (World Bank 1992, 1). Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government Nonstate actors and citizens are formally recognized as part of the policy arena where the de- sign and implementation of policies take place. This evolution in thinking acknowledges the multiplicity of stakeholders in the governance sphere, the interactions between them, and the importance of underlying enablers of governance. The reframing of governance from one of looking specifically at institutions and their exercise of authority to that of “public policy formulation,” which is open, transparent, and inclusive, provides an opportunity to further integrate the notion of citizen participation and engagement conceptually and in practice. Literature indicates another trend moving away from one-off, linear interventions to a mul- tipronged, or adaptive approach, to policy making that can be facilitated by the dynamic in- terchange between citizens, government, and other stakeholders. Such an approach is built around multiple entry points, as opposed to a linear progression beginning with transpar- ency and moving on to participation and then to accountability and enhanced development outcomes (Hudson 2016). A more flexible and locally driven approach implies a multitude of entry points and experimentation based on what might work, and it should be included in discussions of how to achieve better development outcomes. Some evidence shows that, in the long run, transparency and openness can help drive growth and development. More transparent countries have higher foreign direct investment inflows and lower borrowing costs. A more transparent business environment makes it easier for responsible businesses to operate and manage risk, and public sector transparency promotes competition for government contracts, reduces corruption, and increases government effec- tiveness (DFID 2018). Literature in the area of fragility indicates that inclusive institutions which adopt principles of openness and citizen engagement in decision making represent the best method of prevention against societies descending into crisis and thus are particu- larly crucial in fragility contexts (United Nations and World Bank 2018). But more research is needed in this area and on specific linkages between open government approaches and economic growth, improved service delivery, and resilience toward crisis and fragility. 6 Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government Photo by Grant Ellis / World Bank Rethinking Open Government: Conceptual Understanding Evidence suggests that open government over the years has been defined to include three main concepts: (i) transparency, (ii) citizen engagement and participation, and (iii) account- ability. The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) defines open government as “a culture of governance based on innovative and sustainable public policies and practices inspired by the principles of transparency, accountability, and participation that fosters democracy and inclusive growth” (OECD 2016, 1). The WDR 2017 reviews the components of open government and recommends a new definition based on increasing the importance of accountability as an essential mechanism to rebalance power asymmetries in governance. It is argued that transparency, or information disclosure, to facilitate the in- formed participation of citizens is not adequate in generating government responsiveness or, moreover, to achieve open governance unless the underlying power asymmetry between 7 the two stakeholders are rebalanced through accountability (World Bank 2017b). Based on these findings, the term “open government” can be redefined and unpacked into four essential components: transparency, participation, accountability, and responsiveness. Each component is defined in figure 1. Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government Figure 1. Unpacking Open Government high maturity low maturity Transparency Participation Accountability Responsiveness That the public That the public That the public can That the government has access to participates in hold the government responds to and and understands the workings of accountable for its reflects citizens’ information about government. policy and service demands the workings of the delivery performance. Example: Participatory Example: Grievance government. Budgeting Example: Ombudsmen Redress Mechanism Example: Access to information Open government is not only about the disclosure and availability of data to the public (in- formation transparency), but also the active use of such data by citizens or citizen groups (participation) to hold government responsible for effective service delivery and perfor- mance (accountability) and to generate an appropriate response from government (respon- siveness). None of these components alone constitutes “open government.” These com- ponents and actions taken together generate the greatest potential for open government to reshape the policy arena and rebalance the asymmetries of power. But there is still a lack of understanding of this definition within the development community, with many believing that open government only consists of the first component — information transparency. Perhaps as a result, most advances in implementing the open government agenda both with- in the World Bank and externally have been in the more mature area of transparency. Fewer advances have been made in participation and responsiveness, which are the less developed components of open government interventions. The OGP reports that roughly two-thirds of government commitments have an access-to-information component, one-third have a public engagement or participation component, and one-quarter have a public accountability component (OGP 2016a, 23). This depiction is also illustrated by the 2017 Open Budget Survey, prepared by the International Budget Partnership (IBP 2017, 3). Not a single country out of the 115 surveyed offered participation opportunities in the budget that are considered adequate. 8 Only four countries were found to have limited opportunities for public participation. The World Bank’s operations portal also reports that fewer efforts (125) have been made in the category of “participation and civic engagement” than in “transparency and governance.”5 Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government It is no accident that more advances have been made on transparency. The WDR 2017 pres- ents the three key conditions for effective information initiatives: transparency, publicity, and accountability. Making information available and accessible reduces information asym- metries. However, a growing body of empirical evidence and analysis demonstrates that affecting actionable change in accountability and responsiveness involves challenging dy- namics, such as realigning institutional incentives to increase the cost of inaction and mul- tiple engagement strategies to address collective action problems (see figure 2). The path toward greater accountability and responsiveness requires a reshaping of the policy arena and creating the enabling environment in ways that transparency alone cannot achieve. Figure 2. From Transparency to Accountability Through Citizen Engagement: The WDR 2017 Perspective CONDITION 1 CONDITION 2 CONDITION 3 TRANSPARENCY PUBLICITY ACCOUNTABILITY Makes information Makes information Makes information AVAILABLE ACCESSIBLE ACTIONABLE Source: World Bank 2017b, 247–251. 9 5 Open Budget Survey 2017, Open Budget Partnership, PPT Presentation, May 2, 2018, Slide 25. Common Entry Points for World Bank Interventions Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government Coincidentally, common entry points for the World Bank interventions are areas that coun- tries generally take on as they begin their reforms — and are considered the building blocks of open government (see box 2). In pursuing these actions, countries indicate their early commitment to openness, transparency, and citizen engagement. They reflect mature areas of the transparency component of open government, which the WDR 2017 also presents as the initial conditions for addressing information asymmetry. The World Bank, through its Strategic Framework for Mainstreaming Citizen Engagement in World Bank Group Operations, advances the public participation agenda (World Bank Group 2014). The framework enhances citizen6 engagement in lending operations and mandates that 100 percent of investment projects include some form of beneficiary7 feedback. As a re- sult, by fiscal year 2016, 95 percent of investment projects include at least one beneficiary feedback indicator in their results frameworks (IEG 2018, xii). In particular, the emphasis on beneficiary feedback led to development of approaches that ensure two-way interactions between public sector providers and receivers of services in investment projects. Nonetheless, reviews of citizen engagement activities show insufficient advances in in- stitutionalizing the concept of citizen engagement and in bringing about policy changes that ensure government is responsive to and inclusive of the needs of all its citizens (the enabling environment).8 6  Citizens in this context are not defined in a legal sense. The Strategic Framework defines citizen as “the ultimate client of government, development institutions’, and private sector interventions in a country. Citizens can act as individuals or organize themselves in associations and groups such as community-based groups, women’s groups, or indigenous peoples’ groups. Civil society organizations (CSOs) can represent citizens and can include organizations outside of the public or for-profit sector, such as nongovernmental or- ganizations (NGOs), charitable organizations, faith-based organizations, foundations, academia, associations, policy development and research institutions, trade unions, and social movements” (World Bank Group 2014, 7-8). 7  Beneficiaries are defined as “a subset of citizens directly targeted by and expected to benefit from a devel- opment project” (World Bank Group 2014, 8). 8  A report from the Independent Evaluation Group acknowledges that institutional change is important to sustain citizen engagement. When engagement mechanisms were sustained over multiple project cycles, they were more likely to become institutionalized and bring about durable change (IEG 2018, 46). This includes enhanced institutional capacity, improved oversight mechanisms, and protection of essential freedoms of asso- 10 ciation, expression, and media. BOX 2 Building Blocks and Prevalent Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government Entry Points for Open Government Within the World Bank Although no systematic data are available public investments. There are numerous on implementing open, participatory, entry points for fiscal transparency in and responsive governance initiatives World Bank lending, and disclosure of across the World Bank, common entry budgets is mandated in legal agreements points most prevalent in its lending for Development Policy Financing (DPF) activities can be identified. These areas operations. Building blocks for open fiscal are (i) fiscal transparency or open transparency throughout the budgeting public financial management (PFM); (ii) cycle include open budgets, citizen’s procurement, including e-procurement budgets, participatory budgeting, and and open contracting; and (iii) access participatory public expenditure tracking. to information. All are core government More recently the concept of openness functions that the Governance Global and transparency in the tracking of Practice supports. administrative expenses, such as staff salary levels, is seen as an important Fiscal transparency and open PFM area of work. Fiscal transparency helps consists of not only making budget and combat corruption by creating the legal expenditure data available, but also framework and oversight institutions, ensuring public scrutiny on budget markets, and the information required performance and the government’s for accountable government (Petrie 2003, responsiveness to citizens’ feedback on 11 Gelos and Wei 2005). Procurement is a pillar of all the of interest safeguards, service delivery World Bank’s lending operations. feedback loops, and e-government. See E-procurement is the electronic purchase appendix C for a typology of common Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government and sale of goods and services, usually approaches. through an internet-based platform. The Access to information, as defined by tool, now commonly used across the World the World Bank, is the freedom or ability Bank’s financed operations, is designed to to identify and make use of data or improve transparency and efficiency in the information effectively. It forms the policy purchasing process and help government umbrella under which fiscal transparency and companies capture savings. and openness in procurement can take Open contracting refers to norms and place. The World Bank is involved in practices for increased disclosure and numerous efforts to make data available participation in public contracting. It to citizens, including support for complements e-procurement systems implementing freedom of information with an emphasis on publishing data in laws. Its operations portal indicates that open formats and promoting data use 149 projects are focused at least in part and engagement for better procurement on “transparency and governance.” outcomes. It usually builds on data and Examples include, the First Transparency information generated or collected by and Accountability Development Policy e-procurement and other information Loan (Hakama I) in Morocco, which systems, and covers the entire contracting helped lead to the passage of a national process, including formation, award, access to information law (World Bank execution, performance, and completion 2013b, 2018a). In Tunisia, the Governance, of public contracts. Opportunities, and Jobs Development Other approaches or building blocks Policy Loan helped establish the legal that appear throughout the portfolio framework to allow public access to include anti-corruption measures such as information held by public bodies (World participatory audits and the strengthening Bank 2012). of supreme audit institutions, conflict 12 A New Term and Definition There are limitations to using the term “open government” as it lends itself for a bias toward Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government information disclosure. The research outlined in WDR 2017, combined with the findings and trends presented in this paper, leads to proposing an updated definition and title for open government, which emphasizes its participatory and responsive nature, i.e., “open, partic- ipatory, and responsive governance.” This term can be defined as government that is open, participatory, and responsive to the needs of nonstate actors.9 It results from the interaction between nonstate actors and the state in an effort to strengthen the performance of public institutions and public service delivery and policy processes. The dimensions of the new term entails addressing the power asymmetries, enabling environment, and improving incentives through the maturity of collaborative and participatory engagement, accountability, and re- sponsiveness components in open government interventions. This new definition and title do not address the collective action challenges that arise from standalone transparency initiatives. Rather, it provides practitioners with a more compre- hensive tool to broaden the agenda and achieve more meaningful development outcomes. The “open, participatory, and responsive governance” term draws on and complements oth- er budding definitions in the governance field. The concept of “collaborative governance,” for example, has been promoted strongly by the GovLab10 at New York University. Collabo- rative governance is a process and form of governance in which participants (e.g., parties, agencies, and stakeholders) representing different interests are collectively empowered to make policy decisions. The Global Partnership for Social Accountability11 also defines its mis- sion as one of open, participatory, and responsive governance. Its efforts are “based on con- structive engagement between governments and civil society to create an enabling environ- ment in which citizen feedback is used to solve fundamental problems in service delivery and to strengthen the performance of public institutions” (World Bank 2018, 18). This term will evolve as capabilities, expectation, and aspirations for participation, collabo- ration, and interaction in the policy arena increase. The next two sections highlight the areas within open, participatory, and responsive gov- ernance where innovation and a growing demand are seen from the World Bank’s clients and partners. 9  In this definition, the term “government” encompasses the actors in the public sector, including local govern- ment, state-owned enterprises, and line ministries that carry out the bulk of public investments and services in many countries. “Nonstate actors” are civil society organizations, academia, the private sector, as well as citizens. 10  GovLab website: https://www.thegovlab.org/. 13 11  Global Partnership for Social Accountability (GPSA) website: https://www.thegpsa.org/. Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government Photo by Nugroho Nurdikiawan Sunjoyo / World Bank Areas Where Significant Work Is Underway but More Action Is Needed Through external and internal interviews and research, the authors identified approaches that are not necessarily new, but require further traction or support moving ahead. These ar- eas are relatively mature in their aim to expand the building blocks beyond addressing open- ness and transparency. However, additional traction is needed to strengthen participation, responsiveness, and accountability components within these areas. A number of these areas are already growing business areas for the World Bank, and, even now, there is a noticeable shift in incorporating interventions that address the enabling en- vironment and collective action problems to generate more change within these areas. Advancing the Open Contracting Agenda Through open contracting, information on government contracts is published in an open and timely manner, enabling citizens to become more engaged in identifying and fixing issues they care about. While some advances have been made, more work is needed to bring about openness and transparency throughout the contracting cycle as well as to encourage active 14 oversight of such information. An example of ongoing work is the Open Contracting Partnership12, launched in 2012, which collaborates with a network of partners — including the World Bank — to support the im- plementation of open contracting projects at the country level. In 2014, it led to the estab- Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government lishment of the Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)13, which is a global nonproprietary standard structured to reflect the complete contracting cycle. Several countries have adopt- ed it. Others, such as Romania, are in the process of implementing the OCDS through mak- ing contract data throughout the procurement cycle accessible on a user-friendly platform, eLicitatie.14 Other examples include work in Costa Rica where the government committed to increasing transparency of government contracts throughout their lifecycle by provid- ing to the public detailed information on each step, thus enabling citizen oversight of public institutions’ performance. And with the support of the World Bank, the State Procurement Agency in Georgia structured their data following the OCDS and launched a beta version of an OCDS portal that generates tender information for all public procurement contracts. The World Bank also supports the implementation of open contracting approaches at the country level as part of broader public procurement, public financial management, or governance reform projects. But while the World Bank’s recently updated procurement guidelines mandate some aspects of open contracting and include a complaints resolution mechanism, they still fall short of the norms and principles advocated through a more comprehensive open contracting policy. Enhancing Support to Subnational Reform Most of the world’s population lives in cities. In addition, many crucial services, such as health care and education, are administered locally, increasing the need for effective and robust institutions at all levels of government. Numerous innovative programs in open government are being developed at local and mu- nicipal levels. Many of these focus on using technology to make data available to citizens in a wide range of areas and formats as well as facilitating citizen and government interaction. According to the Omidyar Network, for example, $493 million was spent on “civic technolo- gy” in the United States in 2015 alone (Omidyar Network 2016, 13). One example is the Palestinian Authority where the World Bank is supporting the financ- ing and capacity building of municipalities through its Municipal Development Project. The program has launched an online portal where municipalities can publish their budgets and strategic development and action plans. In addition to the portal, the program is conducting 12  Open Contracting Partnership website: https://www.open-contracting.org/. 13  For more information, see https://standard.open-contracting.org/latest/en/. 15 14  For more information, see https://www.e-licitatie.ro/Public/Common/Content.aspx?f=PublicHomePage. e-governance pilots in four municipalities, which go beyond publishing information online and include portals that enable a two-way interaction between citizens and multiple depart- ments. One-stop shops or citizen service centers are another model through which citizens Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government can access information and services provided by different departments in one central loca- tion. More than 20 Palestinian municipalities have a citizen service center, and the Municipal Development Project aims to extend the model to all municipalities (Schott 2017). Another interesting example is CONSUL, Open Participation — an open source software platform that has become a comprehensive digital tool for citizen participation in more than 50 municipalities across Latin America and Europe. The platform, which can be accessed by any one person or entity, enables online public debates; the creation and submission of pro- posals by citizens for improving their city; online participatory budgeting processes; and the sharing of legislative texts for review and feedback by the public.15 Institutionalizing Forms of Feedback Mechanisms into National and Country Systems A GRM is a system by which queries, suggestions, positive feedback, concerns, and com- plaints about the project are responded to, problems with implementation are resolved, and complaints are addressed efficiently and effectively (Post and Agarwal 2011). Effective GRMs are widely accessible with multiple uptake channels and provide beneficiaries with a fair and predictable process and timeline for receiving a response and a remedy to their complaints, suggestions, and other types of feedback, including compliments. They provide implementing agencies with valuable information about what is working and not working in service delivery, and, when implemented well, over the long-term can lead to increased trust from citizens toward public bodies. It also functions as a performance management tool for the decision makers of implementing agencies. Other forms of more proactive beneficiary feedback mechanisms include community scorecards, social audits, and other consultative mechanisms for obtaining feedback from citizens. GRMs have become the prevalent means of incorporating beneficiary feedback into invest- ment operations in the World Bank, and lessons as to good practice are beginning to emerge. These include use of a country system where applicable, access points located as close to the end-user as possible, cultural sensitivity in the design of uptake channels, and the use of stra- tegic communications to inform beneficiaries of opportunities for feedback and resolution. The challenge moving ahead is how to build and strengthen country systems for feedback mechanisms to move beyond project implementation of GRMs. This will require cultural 16 15  For more information, see www.consultproject.org/. and behavioral change that is client centric, clear articulation of the system’s benefits and cost-effectiveness, adoption of policies that mandate systems with two-way forms of citizen feedback, and sufficient use of these systems by citizens. Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government Improving Access to Justice and the Rule of Law When people think of open government, they frequently think of open data, transparen- cy, and anti-corruption, not necessarily a fair and responsible justice system. But to achieve open, participatory, and responsive government, people must be empowered with the ability to respond to injustices that affect their daily lives. This means they must be guaranteed access to information about laws and regulations. But it also means they must be able to ob- tain effective assistance whenever discrimination, corruption, violence, or lack of resourc- es prevents them from addressing grievances or obtaining remedies. People must have the chance to take part in processes for setting institutional agendas and for holding institutions accountable for systemic failures. Frontier work in this area is supported by SDG 16, which commits countries “to promote peaceful, inclusive societies for sustainable development, to provide access to justice for all, and to build effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels.” As a result, efforts to ensure that legal frameworks and systems work for all are becoming a key area of focus. The World Bank has been involved in access to justice and rule of law issues related to open, inclusive, and accountable governance for more than 20 years. According to interviews with World Bank staff, demand by clients for assistance in this area outpaces the World Bank’s ca- pacity to respond. Areas for further support include ensuring that justice systems themselves are open and transparent. This means information on the functioning of courts is available to the public, and data on complaints and their resolutions are recorded and published. An emerging area deals with enforcement of laws related to open, participatory, and responsive governance, much falling under the category of administrative law, which ensures the right of citizens to operate freely within a regulatory system. The World Bank should consider this as an important area for further support moving ahead. 17 Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government Photo by Simone D. McCourtie / World Bank Frontier Areas New or frontier areas are those in which relatively little experience exists but are worth mentioning as potential areas for World Bank uptake moving ahead. These areas, while still nascent, provide a look into what clients and partners observe as entry points for new ap- proaches or innovation. The areas are listed in order of their focus on two dimensions: (i) growing business area where open, participatory, and responsive governance can make a substantive contribution to our clients; and (ii) the comparative advantage of the Governance Global Practice in assembling together innovative products in these areas, in collaboration with other Global Practices. Note that most of these frontier areas emphasize participation and responsiveness, reflecting the trajectory toward open, participatory, and responsive governance (Fung, Graham, and Weil 2007, 16). Beneficial Ownership: Advance Anti-corruption Interventions in the Private Sector The ONE Campaign has estimated that $1 trillion is siphoned out of developing countries each year through corrupt or illegal activities involving clandestine companies (Hunter 2014). Many countries are taking steps to make beneficial ownership information more transparent, thus 18 making it more difficult for individuals to benefit from crime and corruption (OGP 2016b). Beneficial owners are the individuals who ultimately possess, control, or benefit from a company and its income. Beneficial ownership is when the actual owners and beneficiaries behind companies are disclosed. Complex corporate structures often make beneficial own- Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government ership unclear, giving way to the formation of anonymous shell companies. Beneficial own- ership transparency has emerged in countries as an important policy tool for combating cor- ruption, stemming illicit financial flows, and fighting tax evasion. Several examples of actions in this area exist, although they are still at the design stage. In Kenya, suspects of illicit gains, money laundering, and manipulation of public contracts have circum- vented the country’s checks and balances systems. An estimated $13.5 billion flowed illegally into or out of Kenya from 2002 to 2010 through improper invoicing of trade transactions. To address this challenge, Kenya is committed to preparing and submitting legislation to the National As- sembly for the creation of an open, usable, and publicly assessable beneficial ownership register (Kenya OGP Steering Committee 2016). South Africa is also committed to implementing a pub- licly available register of legal persons and arrangements in an open data format as follow-up to its commitment to adopt the G20 High-Level Principles on Beneficial Ownership Transparency. And in Norway, the government is committed to investigating, sending for consultation, and promoting proposals for a publicly accessible ultimate beneficial ownership registry. The government appointed a commission to consider the legislative changes necessary to adhere to the Financial Action Task Force’s 2012 recommendations and the European Union’s fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive regarding beneficial ownership. An assessment of how to make beneficial ownership information public will be presented and subject to general con- sultation and input from civil society. Transparency and Consultation to Support Trade and Private Sector Investment The All Enterprise16 and Doing Business17 surveys show the importance of transparency and regulatory consultation on competition, trade, and investment. The consultation on draft laws and regulations impacting trade and investment is at the core of the World Trade Or- ganization agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, trade agreements, and related trade facilitation efforts. Likewise the work on regulatory governance or on environmental gover- nance or environmental and social safeguards places an emphasis on access to information and public consultations. 16  For more information, see Enterprise Surveys, https://www.enterprisesurveys.org/. 19 17  For more information, see Doing Business, https://www.doingbusiness.org/en/doingbusiness. Demonstrating how open, participatory, and responsive governance can foster access to crit- ical data for businesses and the private sector, support for startups and innovation, and trade openness reforms are ways in which the World Bank has comparative advantage. Developing Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government this area also supports efforts to move away from a normative approach to open government and create a results-based narrative that can build the case for open, participatory, and re- sponsive governance as a contribution to growth and private sector development. Innovation and Trust in Tax Compliance Traditional approaches to tax reform focus primarily on strengthening enforcement and facilitat- ing tax payments but give significantly less attention to building trust among taxpayers (World Bank 2017c, 3). This is due, in part, to the fact that the link from expanded taxation to public benefits has simply been assumed. Little attention has been paid to increasing the likelihood that taxation will contribute to strengthening the fiscal contract; that is, to enhanced service delivery, expanded accountability, and improvements in state capacity more broadly (World Bank 2017c, 2). More research in this area is needed, but initial findings support the role of open government in leading to enhanced tax compliance. For example, in South Kivu Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo, citizens were asked to vote on budget allocations proposed by the district council using mobile phones. When citizens saw that roads and schools were being repaired in response to their votes, tax collection jumped sixteenfold (DFID 2018). Openness in Public Policy Formulation and Analysis — Deliberative Transparency This approach refers to the participation of actors other than government policy makers in the various stages of developing policies, regulations, and laws. Such actors may be those di- rectly targeted by an intervention (such as business firms) and those who have a role to play with respect to implementing overall policies (for example, citizens). Some countries have longstanding traditions of multistakeholder consultation and deliber- ation in the policy cycle; in others, such practices are much less developed. Benefits of this approach may include a correction in information asymmetries (e.g., as a means of collecting information that may not be readily available); better understanding of stakeholder goals and the effects of proposed policies; and the building of trust with stakeholders. The objec- tive is to open up the processes of decision making and to bring in the participation of stake- holders to ensure equity and effectiveness. With the low costs now involved in streaming in- formation, there is no technical reason why more deliberative processes could not be opened 20 and streamed live to ensure such participation. An example is the opening up of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board meetings, which allows stakeholders to have an idea of what is likely to happen to monetary policy in general and to interest rates specifically. Other examples include opening up the process of developing Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government discriminatory tax incentives or creating negative investment lists, which occurs when for- eign interests are kept out of certain industries, chosen by government, to protect domestic interests but rarely consumers (Brumby 2016). Support Policies that Protect Shrinking Civic Space A resilient and unrestricted civil society is necessary to foster more responsive and account- able government. WDR 2017 highlights the role civil society can play in “influencing the pol- icy arena by changing incentives, preferences, and contestability to generate more equitable development” (World Bank 2017b, 225). Yet across many countries, trends of shrinking space and more limited ability of CSOs to operate freely are growing. WDR 2017 acknowledges this shrinking of civic space. Many governments are changing the institutional environment in which citizens engage, establishing legal barriers to restrict the functioning of media and CSOs, and reducing their autonomy from the state (World Bank 2017b, 24). While OGP re- ports more than 600 country commitments focused on improving and creating spaces for participation, fewer have focused on improving the enabling environment for CSOs. Since 2012, 70 governments have enacted more than 120 legal initiatives restricting civil society and targeting the freedoms of association and assembly. Forty-two countries are consider- ing new laws to restrict civil society (Gutbrod 2017). This area includes a wide range of possible interventions as well as those that are among the most challenging. It includes looking at regulations that control the nonprofit sector, includ- ing registration and tax laws; national frameworks ensuring freedom of assembly and asso- ciation; and information laws governing the media. Another suggestion is the development of a global norm for lobbying reform. Beyond regulation, other actions include conducting outside audits of organizations’ vulnerabilities, encouraging CSOs to reach beyond political divides, introducing flexible funding mechanisms, and doing research to better understand how CSOs can mobilize public support for their causes. The Role of the Media Another area which needs more traction in yielding greater transparency and accountabil- ity is the role of media. Media, supported by civil society, can act as the bridge between the governing and the governed, holding public services to account (to improve standards) and engaging citizens (to strengthen democracy). Currently, however, the gap between govern- 21 ments, media, and citizens is often wide, there is an absence of trust, and much of the media is ill-equipped to bridge it. Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government The electronic media can be leveraged effectively to promote transparency and accountabili- ty, notwithstanding impediments posed by governments and attempts to restrict access and flow of information particularly in Asia (Akhtar, Malla, and Gregson 2016). The traditional media, newspapers, radio, and television, despite the growing popularity of online media, can make significant contributions as watchdogs between citizens and government to ensure accountability. As the individual citizens or groups of citizens have neither time, capacity, and opportunity to access, digest, analyze, and use public information, nor interaction di- rectly with government representatives, media has a critical role to play in bridging the gaps under these circumstances. The challenges for governments are to support free media and freedom of expression as a core principle of openness, to ensure freedom of information and other access so that legis- lation and policies are fully understood by their implementing agencies, and to include me- dia in the public policy process as a means of releasing information relevant to citizens’ lives in a timely and usable fashion. On the other hand, media organizations face their own chal- lenges in developing the skills and resources to explore open, participatory, and responsive governance on behalf of the public and adopt more open methods of reporting and greater accountability on their own. 22 Photo by Photo: Jonathan Ernst / World Bank Support Collective Action and Social Mobilization Efforts as Avenues of Change Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government WDR 2017 makes an explicit plea for citizen engagement efforts to focus more on collective action in addition to individual citizen efforts to engage with government. “Individual citi- zens may not have the power to influence the policy arena to generate more equitable devel- opment on their own. However, all citizens have access to multiple mechanisms of engage- ment that can help them overcome collective action problems — to coordinate and cooperate — by changing contestability, incentives, and preferences and beliefs” (World Bank 2017b, 23). The report goes on to identify elections, political organizations, and social organizations as mechanisms for articulating the collective interests of citizens and for channeling their demands into the policy-making process. National frameworks in support of political organization, such as laws of assembly and reg- ulations governing the nonprofit sector, were discussed earlier. The paper now focuses on how to use collective action principles to mobilize multistakeholder interaction in support of policy change. Such action goes beyond relying on beneficiary feedback as an approach for mobilization toward one that is a true and collaborative constructive engagement that can feed into more effective policy formulation. What forums, resources, and common frame- works exist for bringing stakeholders together around solving development problems? How can such efforts be further supported and multiplied? The World Bank could benefit from recognizing that a purely technocratic approach may not work. A deeper, more holistic, and long-term approach may be needed. Finally, the World Bank needs to acknowledge that collective action has taken on a whole new dimension today as it draws on the connective power of social media and online platforms to initiate and facilitate the people’s need to highlight and find solutions to shared problems. 23 Photo by Sarah Farhat / World Bank Considerations for Further Action Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government It is beyond the mandate of this paper to propose action on the open, participatory, and re- sponsive governance agenda for the World Bank. Nonetheless, based on the research under- taken to date for this paper, measures for further action can be summarized in a few areas. Designing and Implementing Supply-Side Targeted Information Systems An ongoing area of study is the use of “targeted information” or “proactive transparency” as a means of achieving open, participatory, and responsive government policy objectives. Target- ed information is designed and delivered with the end users’ needs in mind. It has the power to create a chain reaction of new incentives prompting citizens to act or respond — often based on research in the behavioral or social sciences. The literature suggests that providing such information can have powerful policy effects and lead to better provision of basic services. An example given in the literature is in the U.S. automobile industry, where the implemen- tation of a simple five-star rating on the likelihood of cars rolling over gave consumers the ability to compare risks and make decisions on which car to buy. The information was needed by buyers and fit their ability to understand it. As Fung, Graham, and Weil described it, targeted information efforts “focus on the needs, interests, and capacities of disclosing organizations. They seek to embed new facts in the decision-making routines of infor- mation users and to embed user response into the decision making of disclosers” (Fung, Graham, and Weil 2007, 2). The role of targeted information is particularly important in the context of eliciting user feedback. By getting the supply side of the equation right, or the targeted provision of in- formation, response from users is better assured. Insufficient attention, it is suggested, has been given to this side of the equation. In the Philippines, for example, reviews conducted on five digital accountability platforms found that while transparency should reduce corruption by realigning incentives away from patronage and toward performance, it was of limited use without specifics that enable the public to systematically track resource flows and monitor programs “in their own backyards” (Custer et al. 2016, xii). The report went on to find that the true value of digital platforms was their ability to “inform and provoke critical conversations about how the government trans- lates limited resources into public goods” (Custer et al. 2016, xiii). The process of disclosing large information was a critical first step, but not sufficient. Since information disclosers and 24 users have limited time and energy, they are likely to act on new information only if it has value to them and is compatible with the way they make their choices. Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government Research and Partnerships Many respondents, both within and outside the World Bank, point to the need for research on the links between open, participatory, and responsive governance and explicit development out- comes. Such evidence of impact can be used as tools for task team leaders (TTLs) to “sell” such approaches to clients, or even, in limited borrowing capacity to “sprinkle” them into lending. Evidence is needed both on the fiscal side and on the service delivery side of operations. A second step would be to work more closely with external partners, such as the Global Ini- tiative for Fiscal Transparency, International Budget Partnership, and OGP, to form hubs of expertise around specific issues. These hubs can work to identify frontier areas for research and to fill gaps in expertise within institutions. They can also work to develop a more holistic approach to open government — or “intervention bundles” to go beyond the implementa- tion of one particular instrument — and provide the continuum needed to sustain efforts. Finally, a portfolio review of open government related efforts in World Bank operations would help articulate knowledge, research, and implementation gaps. The open government team in the GGP is undertaking this activity with an aim of setting a baseline and targets for further mainstreaming of the open, participatory, and responsive governance approaches into World Bank lending operations. Such a review should include efforts to identify activi- ties that are classified as “citizen engagement” to advance social accountability. Operations The World Bank could support efforts to further integrate open, participatory, and responsive governance into core lending (i.e., public financial management and procurement). TTLs need to see such approaches as core components of their work. Or as one client remarked, they should “add a second paragraph into their project documentation that emphasizes that openness and participation is an integral part of everything they do.” This step will require awareness raising throughout the World Bank, development of how-to materials, and identification of specif- ic entry points within the range of World Bank instruments, especially Program-for-Results (PforR) financing and Development Policy Financing (DPF). The Open Government Partner- ship Multi-Donor Trust Fund also provides a mechanism for linking OGP efforts with World Bank operations. Since citizen engagement activities are being implemented in all sectors and Regions, there is strong ongoing demand from World Bank staff for systemic guidance and 25 technical support for further mainstreaming across the Global Practices. Similarly, the World Bank could support efforts to expand interventions to include frontier mechanisms. Particularly relevant are efforts to push the envelope in open contracting; to de- sign more targeted supply-side data portals that facilitate participation; to support laws and Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government regulations that protect the right to assembly and freedom of information; and to learn from and implement innovative approaches being undertaken within municipalities to advance collaborative governance as well as innovative efforts involving the private sector, such as beneficiary ownership. Positive benefits of such interventions also need to be demonstrated. The World Bank could also better leverage OGP commitments (see appendix D), external mea- surements, and global standards as entry points for World Bank lending. The OGP, launched in 2011, now has 79 participating countries and boasts more than 2,500 commitments to making government more transparent, inclusive, and accountable. A recent analysis by the authors found that 162 OGP commitments are linked to priority areas in the Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) and in the strategic objectives of Country Partnership Frameworks (CPFs) in 26 countries. To date, 161 active and pipeline World Bank projects have potential linkages to OGP commitments, with a further 265 OGP commitments tackling issues in sec- tors where the World Bank is actively engaged through non-GGP practices. The World Bank needs to further explore these linkages to leverage openings for lending. Similarly, the OCDS, Open Budget Index, and other globally recognized standards and rankings can be leveraged to encourage clients to adapt open governance approaches into policy and project lending. One practical follow-up to support the operational entry points and instruments for more effective World Bank engagement in open, participatory, and responsive governance is to prepare a Policy Note to highlight the core messages and expand on them across the different levels of engagement with clients (i.e., through SCD, CPF, or DPF; a multistakeholder plat- form; or Investment Project Financing and PforRs). Sharing clear examples of how innova- tive operations are adopting open, participatory, and responsive governance approaches will help organize the entry points for clients and build the narrative on the instrumental value of these interventions. Finally, the World Bank could strengthen links with sectoral projects in which advances have been made in incorporating citizen engagement. While the World Bank has committed to build- ing country systems for citizen engagement, this work has primarily been done through indirect, bottom up approaches through investment projects. The literature is clear on the importance of institutional change to sustain citizen engagement, which includes creating the appropriate pol- icy environment for transparency, participation, responsiveness, inclusion, and accountability to take place. There is an acknowledgment that the supply-side performance (enabling envi- ronment) has been weak and greater emphasis should be placed on moving ahead as well as to 26 linking advances in sectoral investment projects to broader policy reforms (World Bank 2018). Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government Photo by Dominic Chavez/World Bank Conclusion In this paper, the authors have attempted to present a new definition of open government, which draws on the analytical work of WDR 2017 and reflects preliminary findings that the areas of participation and responsiveness — as crucial components of open, participatory, and responsive governance — need to be strengthened moving ahead. Through interviews with experts and thought leaders, the authors have attempted to identify, define, and give selective examples of the essential building blocks of open, participatory, and responsive governance; ongoing mechanisms or approaches that could benefit from further support; and new frontier areas for consideration for future uptake by the World Bank. Finally, the paper offers general action steps for advancing the open, participatory, and responsive gov- ernance agenda within the World Bank. Based on interviews and the literature review, this paper suggests the development of how- to knowledge and supporting tools to further operationalize this agenda. In particular, the World Bank could identify entry points for integrating the essential building blocks of open, participatory, and responsive governance into its lending instruments, such as DPFs and PforRs, which seek to affect policy making and country systems. The environment in support of this agenda is rich and varied. 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Strategic Framework for Mainstreaming Citizen Engagement in World Bank Group Operations: Engaging Citizens for Improved Results. Washington, DC: World Bank. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/266371468124780089/ pdf/929570WP0Box380ategicFrameworkforCE.pdf 34 Appendix A Member Countries of the Open Government Partnership Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government Seventy-nine countries are members of OGP as national members,1 and they partner with the World Bank in different ways. OGP also welcomes 20 municipalities as local members. Fifty-three OGP countries are borrowing members of the World Bank: 1. Afghanistan* 18. El Salvador 36. Nigeria 2. Albania 19. Georgia 37. Pakistan 3. Argentina 20. Ghana 38. Panama 4. Armenia 21. Guatemala 39. Papua New Guinea** 5. Azerbaijan 22. Honduras 40. Paraguay 6. Bosnia and Herzegovina 23. Indonesia 41. Peru 7. Brazil 24. Jamaica 42. Philippines 8. Bulgaria 25. Jordan 43. Romania 9. Burkina Faso 26. Kenya 44. Senegal 10. Cabo Verde 27. Kyrgyz Republic 45. Serbia 11. Chile 28. Liberia 46. Seychelles 12. Colombia 29. Macedonia, FYR 47. Sierra Leone 13. Costa Rica 30. Malawi 48. South Africa 14. Côte d’Ivoire* 31. Mexico 49. Sri Lanka 15. Croatia 32. Moldova 50. Trinidad and Tobago 16. Dominican Republic 33. Mongolia 51. Tunisia 17. Ecuador 34. Montenegro (inactive) 52. Ukraine 35. Morocco 53. Uruguay * FY19 fragile states. ** FY19 blend states. Twenty-six OGP countries are nonborrowers: 1. Australia 10. Ireland 19. New Zealand 2. Canada 11. Israel 20. Norway 3. Czech Republic 12. Italy 21. Portugal 4. Denmark 13. Korea, Republic of 22. Slovak Republic 5. Estonia 14. Latvia 23. Spain 6. Finland 15. Lithuania 24. Sweden 7. France 16. Luxembourg 25. United Kingdom 8. Germany 17. Malta 26. United States 9. Greece 18. Netherlands 35 1  For more information, see www.consultproject.org/. Seventeen IDA countries are OGP members: 1. Afghanistan 7. Kenya 13. Nigeria Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government 2. Burkina Faso 8. Kyrgyz Republic 14. Pakistan 3. Cabo Verde 9. Liberia 15. Papua New Guinea 4. Côte d’Ivoire 10. Malawi 16. Senegal 5. Ghana 11. Moldova 17. Sierra Leone 6. Honduras 12. Mongolia Twenty local members of the OGP are: 1. Austin, United States 8. Kaduna State, Nigeria 15. São Paulo, Brazil 2. Basque Country, Spain 9. Kigoma-Ujiji, Tanzania 16. Scotland, United Kingdom 3. Bojonegoro, Indonesia 10. La Libertad, Peru 17. Sekondi-Takiradi, Ghana 4. Buenos Aires, Argentina 11. Madrid, Spain 18. Seoul, Republic of Korea 5. Elgeyo Marakwet, Kenya 12. Nariño, Colombia 19. South Cotabato, Philippines 6. Iaşi, Romania 13. Ontario, Canada 20. Tbilisi, Georgia 7. Jalisco, Mexico 14. Paris, France 36 Appendix B List of Persons Interviewed Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government Interviewees external to the World Bank: Alan Hudson, Executive Director, Global Integrity Blair Glencourse, Director, Accountability Lab Courtney Tolmie, Senior Program Director, Results for Development Dave Algoso, Consultant Dennis Whittle, Director, Feedback Labs Dinorah Canu-Pedraza, GovLab Academy Coordinator, NYU GovLab Joe Foti, Director, Independent Reporting Mechanism, Open Government Partnership Jonathan Fox, Professor, School of International Service, American University Kathrin Frauscher, Deputy Executive Director, Open Contracting Partnership Michael Jarvis, Executive Director, Accountability and Transparency Initiative Michael Moses, Director of Learning and Programs, Global Integrity Mohammed Sani Abdullahi, Commissioner, Budget and Planning, Ministry of Budget and Planning, Kaduna State, Nigeria Munyema Hasan, Manager, Knowledge, Learning, Innovation, and Capacity Building, Open Government Partnership (OGP) Nathaniel Heller, Executive Vice President, Integrated Strategies, Results for Development Nilda Bullain, Vice President for Operations, International Center for Non-Profit Law Norm Eisen, Senior Fellow in Governance Studies, Brookings Institution Rakesh Rajani, Visiting Fellow, Center for Global Development Sanjay Pradhan, Chief Executive Officer, OGP Victoria Alsina, Senior Fellow, GovLab, New York University 37 People within the World Bank who brainstormed or were interviewed: Asmeen Kahn, Practice Manager, EPSPA Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government Carolina Vaira, Senior Governance Specialist, EEAG1 Craig Hammer, Program Manager, DECDG Fabian Seiderer, Lead Public Sector Specialist, ESAG2 Jeff Thindwa, Program Manager, Global Partnership for Social Accountability, EPSPA Kai Kaiser, Senior Economist, EEAG1 Kimberly Johns, Senior Public Sector Specialist, EMNGU Kristina Aquino, Research Analyst, EPRPS Marcela Rozo, Senior Public Sector Specialist, ELCG2 Nicola Smithers, Practice Manager, EA1G1 Nicholas Menzies, Senior Governance Specialist, ELCG2 Stephen Davenport, Senior Public Sector Specialist, EPSPA 38 Appendix C Selected Typology for Open, Participatory, Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government and Responsive Government Mechanism Definition Access to information The creation and implementation of access-to-information laws. Asset disclosure The public release of information about the financial stakes of government officials is often accompanied by conflict of interest rules to ensure public officials’ decisions are not improperly affected by self-interest. Other related mechanisms include revolving door regulations and gift and hospitality rules. Beneficiary feedback A tool designed to solicit and respond to the views of recipients of public services with the aim of improving or evaluating the delivery of such services. Beneficial ownership The disclosure of individuals who ultimately possess, control, or benefit from a company and its income. Big data An evolving term that describes any voluminous amount of structured, semi-structured, or unstructured data having the potential to be mined for information. Civic technology Technologies and platforms meant to facilitate citizen feedback, foster government accountability, and create an iterative relationship between the two. Consultations A process by which the public’s input on matters affecting them is sought. Deliberative transparency The participation of actors other than government policy makers in various stages of developing policies, regulations, and laws. E-government services The use of electronic communication devices, computers, or the internet to and information and provide public services to citizens and other persons in a country or region. communications technology platforms Fiscal transparency Makes available to the public high-quality information on how governments raise, spend, and manage public resources. Grievance redress A locally based system established by service delivery ministries, mechanism departments, and agencies to receive, assess, and address feedback and complaints submitted by citizens on programs or services. Open and participatory Makes data on all stages of the budget cycle (formation and expenditures) public financial available to the public; citizens participate in stages of the budget cycle management (participatory budgeting and public expenditures). 39 Mechanism Definition Open contracting Publishing and using open, accessible, and timely information on government Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government contracting to engage citizens and businesses in identifying and fixing problems. Open Contracting Data A global nonproprietary standard structured to reflect the complete Standard contracting cycle. The standard enables users and partners around the world to publish shareable, reusable, and machine-readable data, to join that data with their own information, and to build tools to analyze them. Open data The concept that some data should be freely available to everyone to use and republish as they wish, without restrictions from copyright, patents, or other mechanisms of control. Open procurement The transparent and competitive process of obtaining or buying goods and services. Participatory audits When citizens (civil society, academic groups, community members, the private sector, or others) and the formal audit institutions of a country work together to audit the process of delivering public services and government programs. Targeted information Information designed and delivered with the end users’ needs in mind; aimed (proactive transparency) at soliciting responses from information receivers. 40 Appendix D Examples of Commitments under the Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government Open Government Partnership To participate in the Open Government Partnership (OGP), eligible countries must endorse a high-level open government declaration, deliver a national action plan developed with pub- lic consultation, and commit to independent reporting on their progress going forward. In national action plans, countries include their commitments determined jointly, or co-cre- ated, by government and civil society around transparency, accountability, and citizen en- gagement. They co-create plans in a way that amplifies the voice of ordinary citizens and the poor. The OGP Explorer database suggests 3,855 commitments are being assessed by the Independent Reporting Mechanism. Example summaries of successful OGP commitments from 2018 include: PARAGUAY: HAVING A SAY IN THEIR FUTURE Government creates 232 local councils — four times more than originally planned. In Paraguay, a country still grappling with its authoritarian past, citizens are having a say in how projects designed to improve their local communities are being run. Representa- tives from government, business, and civil society work together in Municipal Development Councils to find solutions to the most important issues that impact their quality of life, from supporting traditional artisans to improving access to clean water. At least 232 councils have become active across the country’s 254 municipalities since 2015. MONGOLIA: BETTER HEALTH AND EDUCATION SERVICES FOR HERDERS Satisfaction in healthcare increases by 28 percent. Mongolia is the least densely populated country on Earth, presenting unique challenges for the delivery of public services. Many citizens are unaware of how to access services, let alone influence how they work. Despite the fast pace of economic growth, poverty reduction has been slow, a result of poor health and education services. Recent efforts to open government, however, are beginning to bear fruit. Newly-trained social accountability activists are help- ing improve services in their communities and to push the government to be more respon- sive to their unique needs. 41 KENYA: ENDING ANONYMOUS COMPANY OWNERSHIP Kenya is one of the first in Africa, and one of about two dozen countries worldwide, to de- velop a public register of companies. Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government Kenya ranks among the most secretive places in the world for financial flows in and out of the country. According to the Global Finance Integrity Report, these illicit activities cost the Kenyan government a staggering $3.9 billion between 2002 and 2010. In a bid to fight mon- ey laundering, tax evasion, and illicit transactions, the country committed to championing legislation that requires all companies to publish the names and addresses of their real, or “beneficial” owners. The Companies (Amendment) Act No. 28, which came into force in Au- gust 2017, is paving the way for an open beneficial ownership register that will make it easier to uncover who really profits from company earnings and harder to set up anonymous shell companies to hide dirty money. Regulations to operationalize this law were published in Au- gust 2018. All businesses incorporated in Kenya must file a document with the government disclosing the identity of individuals who ultimately own or control the company. COLOMBIA: REBUILDING TRUST IN THE JUDICIARY Bringing the courts closer to citizens through openness. Until recently, Colombians had little faith in the Colombian judiciary, including the Council of State — the country’s highest administrative court — despite prior attempts at judicial re- form. In 2015, when the Prosecutor’s Office arrested 11 members of the judiciary for allowing a controversial businessman accused of murder to go free, corruption in the courts became too egregious to ignore. As included in the OGP Action Plan, the government undertook re- forms to improve transparency and accountability in the Council of State. For the first time, the court began publishing its agendas and past decisions online, allowing citizens and civil society to scrutinize the court’s actions for potential corruption. The reform marks a new era of openness and brings the court closer to the citizens it serves in an unprecedented way. The court also published information about procedures to improve citizens’ understanding of complex court functions. 42 Building Blocks and New Frontiers for Open Government