Making Change Inevitable: OGP on 15 Years of Reform and the Future of Democratic Governance

Paul Maassen
Deputy Chief Executive Officer
Open Government Partnership

Fifteen years ago, eight governments and nine civil society leaders came together with a simple but ambitious promise: that governments become more effective and earn greater public trust when they are more open and responsive to their citizens. Since then, the Open Government Partnership (OGP) has grown into a global partnership of 73 national and more than 135 local governments, advancing transparency, participation and accountability through collaboration between government and civil society. As OGP marks its 15th anniversary, we look back at what this experience has taught us about making reform work and endure, from strengthening public institutions and fighting corruption to opening up public spending and giving citizens a greater voice in decisions that affect their lives. We also look ahead to a more challenging democratic landscape, where shrinking civic space, declining trust and rapid technological change are reshaping the conditions for reform. In this interview with Team Europe Democracy, OGP’s Deputy CEO Paul Maassen reflects on 15 years of progress and the next generation of open government: how cooperation can build democratic resilience, how governments and citizens can navigate the digital transition together, and why the case for open government has never been more urgent.

 TED Secretariat: We would like to start by offering huge congratulations to the OGP team on reaching a 15-year anniversary! What started in 2011 with eight founding countries built around a bold idea has grown into a global movement of 73 national and over 135 local governments. As you reflect on this journey for your upcoming global impact report, how has the concept and practice of 'open government' evolved since those early days?

 OGP: OGP began with a simple but ambitious idea: that governments become more effective and earn greater public trust when they are more open and responsive to their citizens. Open government was never simply about opening information. It was about opening government itself by creating ways for citizens and civil society to participate in shaping decisions, holding power to account and working with reformers inside institutions to make change possible. OGP brought together transparency, public participation and accountability around a broader proposition: that better government is built with people, not simply for them.
Fifteen years later, we have a much stronger body of practice and evidence. We have learned that openness can create the conditions for reformers inside and outside government to work together, unlock political support for ambitious change and hold institutions accountable for delivering it.
The results are tangible: countries have used OGP to strengthen right to information laws, open public contracts and budgets, and create more permanent spaces for citizens and civil society to shape policy. Across the Partnership, 57 countries have passed, amended or strengthened legislation in key open government areas, while 51 have embedded open government principles and practices in administrative, executive or legal instruments to help reforms survive political transitions. These are real reforms, improving people's daily lives, many of which seemed almost impossible not long ago. That matters because the stakes have never been higher: climate crisis, inequality, declining trust and shrinking civic space are now compounded by major geopolitical shifts, attacks on democracy, retreat from multilateralism, and wars raging across our continents. We face a systemic crisis testing the very foundations of our societies.Perhaps the most important lesson is that open government is not something governments can deliver alone. It is about creating the space, relationships and practical habits that allow people inside and outside government to work openly towards shared goals. That cooperation is what can make reforms stronger, more ambitious and more durable.

TED Secretariat: In this time period, you have facilitated hundreds, if not thousands of co-created action plans— with commitments ranging from uncovering spending in public contracts to ending anonymous company ownership. As we look forward to the progress report this September, what is one major trend or success story that best demonstrates the tangible difference OGP makes on the ground?

OGP: If I had to identify one major trend it would be this: when government and civil society work together, reforms can become more ambitious, better implemented and more likely to deliver tangible results. We have also learned that making a commitment is only the beginning. The real challenge, and where OGP can make a difference, is creating the political support, coalitions and practical conditions that allow good ideas to be implemented and sustained.
Ukraine's open contracting system, ProZorro, is a powerful example. It was co-created by reformers from government, civil society and the private sector, and held to independent scrutiny through successive OGP commitments. The reform survived changes of government, saved billions of dollars that would otherwise have been lost to waste and corruption, and continued to evolve including by expanding opportunities for citizens to monitor procurement, using AI to predict corruption risks, and helping create a fairer and more competitive marketplace for businesses seeking government contracts. 
Nigeria's beneficial ownership reforms demonstrate another important lesson: persistence matters. Moving from an initial political promise to implementation took almost a decade and required a coalition of national reformers, civil society, political leaders, international partners and technical experts. OGP helped provide a platform for that coalition, political momentum and critical resources for implementation. The resulting  BO register has supported anti-corruption efforts and helped authorities recover more than a hundred million dollars in stolen assets and exit the Financial Action Task Force grey list. 
The impact is not limited to national reforms. At the local level, open government can change how people participate directly in decisions that affect their lives - from Madrid’s innovative  digital participation model, adopted by more than 90 local authorities worldwide to Palmira, Colombia, where open procurement enabled small, women-led agricultural businesses to win school meal contracts, Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, Ecuador, where a co-created digital platform manages more than 100 environmental threats and 200,000 reforestation requests.

TED Secretariat: Your anniversary comes at a pivotal moment. With rising polarization, shrinking civic space, and declining trust in public institutions globally, the environment for reform is increasingly complex. How does OGP's unique model of co-creation between government and civil society act as a vital bulwark against these broader democratic backslidings?

OGP: At OGP, we often talk about democracy beyond the ballot box. Democracy is a daily effort - about how decisions are made, who gets to participate in them, and whether people can hold those in power to account.
At a time of growing polarization and declining trust, that makes creating meaningful spaces where government and civil society can work through difficult issues together more important than ever. OGP's model is built around the idea that democracy becomes stronger when participation, dialogue and accountability are part of how government works every day.
What is encouraging is that this collaboration is increasingly becoming institutionalized rather than depending on individual champions or a particular government. Through OGP, 51 countries have institutionalized public participation - from requirements for public consultation to permanent spaces for dialogue between government and civil society. Over time, these processes can build understanding, partnership and trust, while also making reform more resilient across political transitions. 
We are also seeing open government increasingly move towards an Open State approach. What may once have been driven by reformers in the executive is spreading across different branches and levels of government. 90 percent of OGP countries have involved parliament, the judiciary or local governments in at least one action plan. This matters especially locally, where government is closest to people's everyday lives.
And at a time of geopolitical tension, OGP is also helping like-minded countries work together in smaller, action-oriented coalitions around shared challenges - from participation and justice to proactive disclosure and democratic governance of new technologies.
Open government is political, because it shapes  how power is exercised and how decisions are made - but it is not partisan. Its strength lies in bringing diverse perspectives together around shared democratic principles. In an increasingly polarized world, that capacity for dialogue and collective problem-solving is itself an important form of democratic resilience. 

TED Secretariat: OGP has been a core partner in Team Europe Democracy right from the start. Reflecting on this ongoing collaboration, how has being embedded in the TED network supported OGP’s global mission over the years, and where do you see the greatest potential for joint action moving forward?

OGP: OGP has been a proud partner of the Team Europe Democracy initiative from early on, including through our Partnership for Democracy and Accountability programme with DG INTPA and as co-lead of the TED Network's Working Group 1 on Accountability and Rule of Law. TED’s emphasis on collaboration and bringing together complementary European strengths aligns closely  with OGP's own approach.
Together, we have supported ambitious, domestically co-created reforms, backed leaders at the forefront of open government and democratic resilience, and helped translate global discussions and pledges into country-level action across areas such as anti-corruption, digital governance, inclusive civic space and participation, and infrastructure governance.
Connecting the TED Network Working Group to global fora such as the International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) and the OECD's Global Anti-Corruption and Integrity Forum (GACIF) has helped advance priorities including the EU Global Gateway, while creating space to feed directly into DG INTPA's anti-corruption guidance for Global Gateway projects.
TED has also enabled OGP to engage more closely with Ministries of Foreign Affairs in Sweden, France, Germany and the Netherlands, while strengthening country-level coordination. Together  with the TED Secretariat, EU Delegations and Member State embassies, we have supported open government reformers on the ground, including Guatemala, aligning EU programming, Member States support and national policy priorities.
Looking ahead, we see three particularly promising areas for deeper collaboration. First, extending sectoral integrity work further into Global Gateway priority areas to reinforce the governance foundations of sustainable, inclusive and locally owned investments. Second, strengthening country-level programming, where TED and OGP can align around specific reform moments to raise ambition and deliver impact on citizens' everyday lives. Third, deepening joint work on illicit finance and kleptocracy, tackling the cross-border corruption and money laundering that undermine democratic accountability and development gains.
More broadly, we also see potential to connect OGP approaches with other Team Europe initiatives beyond the democracy space. Infrastructure, climate, digital transformation and anti-corruption all depend on stronger governance, participation and accountability. That creates significant potential to bring open government approaches into other areas of Team Europe programming and to build new partnerships around shared priorities.

TED Secretariat: As new challenges to democracy emerge, OGP is increasingly focusing on digital governance, artificial intelligence, and their impact on civic space. How is OGP helping governments and civil society collaboratively navigate the democratic risks and opportunities of the digital transition?

OGP: Digital transformation reshapes how governments make decisions, deliver services and interact with citizens. As OGP we have always recognized the immense potential. Digital technologies, data and AI can make public services more responsive, expand participation and help governments solve complex problems at scale. But they can also concentrate power, deepen exclusion, weaken rights and create new forms of surveillance or automated decision-making that citizens cannot see, understand or challenge.
This is why OGP approaches the digital transition as a democratic governance challenge, not only a technical one. Our aim is to ensure that digital infrastructure, data and artificial intelligence are governed openly and accountably, with the people they affect.
The principle is consistent with everything OGP has learned over the past fifteen years: digital transformation requires public trust, and trust depends in large part on whether people feel they can understand, participate in and influence the decisions that affect them. People are more likely to see government action as legitimate when they have meaningful opportunities to shape it, even when they may disagree with particular outcomes. Digital transformation should not be something done to people. It must be built with them, governed openly.

TED Secretariat: A recent message from OGP’s leadership noted that the past 15 years were about proving that positive change is possible, and the next 15 years are about making that change inevitable. What are the biggest structural hurdles to mainstreaming open government globally, and what shifts are necessary to overcome them?

OGP: The biggest structural hurdle is moving from treating open government as a collection of individual commitments to making it the norm - a standard way of governing better.
Fifteen years have shown that the approach works. The challenge now is to embed its principles across branches and levels of government, so reforms can survive election cycles, changes of government and periods of political difficulty. That also means protecting the conditions that make cooperation possible: civic space, inclusion, independent accountability, the rule of law and access to trustworthy public information. 
The first fifteen years have given us a much clearer understanding of what works. Now we are ready to apply those lessons to some of the biggest challenges of our time - from climate and inequality to justice, prosperity and the democratic governance of new technologies. The challenge is to build open government approaches into how these problems are addressed, rather than treating open government as a separate reform agenda. This is also where OGP's role as a platform for action-oriented coalitions becomes increasingly important. At a time when the multilateral system is under pressure, groups of like-minded countries can come together - with other actors - around shared challenges and turn national reforms into coordinated global action.
After 15 years we know what makes reforms work and are ready to apply those lessons to some of the biggest challenges of our time - from climate and inequality to justice, prosperity and the democratic governance of new technologies. This is where OGP's role as a platform for action-oriented coalitions becomes increasingly important: bringing like-minded countries together with other actors around shared challenges and turning national reforms into coordinated global action.
Our ambition for the next fifteen years is to turn open government from a niche reform approach to the norm of governing, helping countries across different political contexts build stronger institutions and tackle the challenges that matter most to people. 

TED Secretariat: Once more on behalf of the Secretariat, huge congratulations on reaching this remarkable milestone. Looking ahead, what is your message or call to action for fellow network members who want to celebrate this moment with you and join forces on the next generation of open government reforms?

OGP: Our 15th anniversary is a moment to celebrate what governments and citizens have achieved together, but also to recognize the urgency of what lies ahead.
The case for open government is proven. We have seen that openness can strengthen institutions, fight corruption, improve people's lives and help governments become more responsive and resilient. The task now is to build on that evidence and take what works further.
Our call to the OGP community and our partners is to join forces around three priorities where open government can deliver concrete answers to today's most pressing challenges: building inclusive and resilient societies, advancing democratic digital governance, and creating prosperous and competitive economies through greater openness, integrity and accountability. That includes everything from protecting civic space, participation and access to information, to governing AI and digital infrastructure democratically, fighting corruption and illicit finance, and responding to climate and environmental challenges.
And our message is simple: commit, deliver and inspire. Make ambitious reforms. Carry them through implementation so that they improve people's lives. And share what works so that others can build on it. We also need partners and funders to invest in the reformers driving this agenda, align resources behind these priorities and champion open government in their own networks and institutions. Above all, we need to continue cultivating the cooperation that makes reform possible. OGP's greatest strength lies in bringing together governments, civil society, partners and funders - to achieve real change. Fifteen years ago, we came together around a promise. Today, we have evidence that it works. The challenges are real. The tools exist. The coalition is vibrant. The task now is to take it to the scale that this moment demands - together.