GSA announces new public participation and community engagement commitment under the Open Government Partnership Challenge

September 26, 2024

Administrator joins Open Government Partnership Leaders Roundtable at the United Nations in New York

New York - Today, U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Administrator Robin Carnahan joined the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Leaders Roundtable to share the progress the Biden-Harris Administration has made on open government initiatives both domestically and abroad. This open government event was scheduled to align with the United Nations activities in New York, NY to support maximum participation from global partners.

During the roundtable, Administrator Carnahan announced a new commitment for the United States to develop a federal framework, and guidelines for public participation and community engagement (PPCE) to help federal agencies more broadly and meaningfully engage with the American public and increase trust in government. Under this commitment, part of OGP's Open Government Challenge, the United States will also develop a new U.S. Federal PPCE Toolkit to serve as a living repository of guidance, case studies, and leading practices on participation and engagement.

"Open government principles are fundamental to a successful democracy because enhancing public participation, fostering accountability, and promoting transparency, builds trust in the government's ability to serve people," said GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan. "We demonstrate GSA's continued engagement with the Open Government Partnership by serving as the long-term home for the Secretariat, working with our Open Government Federal Advisory Committee, developing new tools aligned with our U.S. National Action Plan commitments, and much more."

The Open Government Challenge is a call to action for all OGP member governments to raise ambition in ten areas to help strengthen democracy worldwide. The U.S. is a founding member of OGP, which formally launched in 2011 and today includes:

• 75 countries
• 104 local governments (representing more than two billion people)
• Thousands of civil society organizations

The roundtable was an opportunity for national and local governments, civil society, funders, and partner organizations to share examples of inspiring and innovative open government approaches to global and domestic challenges, and to identify opportunities for enhanced collaboration in the future, with particular focus on supporting the implementation of ambitious commitments pledged through the Open Gov Challenge.

Administrator Carnahan encouraged other member nations at the roundtable to make similar commitments, while also highlighting the progress that has been made to support the Biden-Harris Administration open government initiatives under the governmentwide effort and implementation of the Fifth Open Government National Action Plan (NAP) since the plan's release in December 2022.

The U.S. Open Government Secretariat, housed at GSA, is actively supporting efforts that align with multiple OGP Challenge themes, including:

• Enhancing transparency and accessibility by launching a new online commitment tracker on the U.S. Open Government Secretariat website with insights into the status of each commitment in the Fifth Open Government NAP.
• Increasing the civic space to engage the public in the establishment of the Open Government Federal Advisory Committee (OG FAC), as well as hosting a variety of public engagement sessions to foster an open dialogue with members of civil society and other stakeholders;
• Inviting input from public, private, advocacy, not-for-profit, academic, and philanthropic sectors, including state, local, tribal, and territorial governments through the Sixth Open Government National Action Plan Request for Information (RFI). This public comment period promotes civic engagement and aims to gather ideas, suggestions, and recommendations for commitments that could be included in the Sixth Open Government NAP.

GSA oversees key NAP commitments and has made substantial progress. For example, since February of this year, Challenge.gov has hosted an additional 35 challenges, bringing the total number of challenges this year to 103. One of these challenges supported efforts to increase the federal government's capacity for public engagement through the Public Engagement with Science Summit and the PMA Learning Agenda: Public Participation and Community Engagement Evidence Challenge. GSA continues to support the growing volume of federal agencies using Challenge.gov to host prize competitions and challenges that stimulate innovation, develop solutions to challenging problems, and increase citizen engagement in participatory research and citizen science.

To engage further with the U.S. Open Government Secretariat and keep up to date on upcoming events, check out the following:

U.S. Open Government Secretariat's Public Engagement Page: https://www.gsa.gov/governmentwide-initiatives/us-open-government/public-engagement

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