The first thing to admit is that the title of this post might be a bit misleading. While in the last few months Sunlight was indeed busy researching procurement transparency on many different levels, we’ve never had the intention (or the power) to do holistic international research on procurement transparency, nor did we want to rank countries based on their performance. This would have been an endless - and probably pointless - effort. Our motive behind mapping the global landscape of procurement disclosure trends was to find best practices, powerful online tools and also to gain inspiration for Sunlight’s recently released open data guidelines for procurements.
Continue readingTransparency Case Study: Public Procurement in the Slovak Republic
Introduction
Transparency and open data policies and initiatives have reached a state of maturity where it is crucial for us to evaluate them to learn what works, what doesn’t and why. Transparency is not likely to be a cure-all, but we think it is a cure-some; so, we need to figure out where and how it should be best applied. As part of that process, we have been conducting a series of in-depth case studies on the impact of technology enabled transparency policies around the world. Our initial case studies look at transparency in public procurement and we have chosen four countries to study. This analysis discusses our findings about public procurement disclosure by the Slovakian government.
For the Slovakian case study, we conducted interviews or sent questionnaires and surveys to members of the following groups: members of transparency NGOs, journalists who have covered procurement, academic researchers, the Slovakian Government Office of Public Procurement and the Slovakian Business Alliance. The experiences of these diverse respondents have allowed us to develop an equally diverse and comprehensive picture of the impact of the public procurement reforms enacted in Slovakia over recent years.
Our major findings: Slovakians' increased access to public data has led to increased oversight and engagement by the civil sector and the public. However, because of a lack of enforcement, corruption in public procurement remains a significant problem.
Continue readingRegulating Money in Politics a Global Shortcoming
Open government advocates around the world (including Sunlight) are thrilled to see how more and more governments commit themselves to openness. Unfortunately, a vital piece of the transparency agenda--party and campaign funding--remain depressingly opaque. Because the financing behind how candidates and parties come to power influence later policy and spending decisions, it is critical that countries address political finance transparency. Sunlight is committed to create a strong base for reform by combining our efforts with other activists and sharing our expertise in a meaningful way.
Continue readingMapping the Global Transparency Ecosystem: Crowdsourcing for Clarity
In advocacy, knowing who your friends are is half the battle. With this in mind, Sunlight Foundation has gone about compiling and curating a list of international organizations working on open government issues in their own countries or regions, an effort that brings a touch of clarity to an unwieldy transparency ecosystem. The spreadsheet can be viewed here and any organization or project that is missing from the list is encouraged to fill out this brief survey. While Sunlight may be taking the lead here, we see this as a project that is by the community and for the community -- so please contribute!
After several months of gathering information from transparency-related organizations, our repository was made public in late May and was received with enthusiasm by many members of the community. Since its launch, over 40 organizations from every corner of the globe have requested that their work be included. We were happy to add them to the list and are excited to continue to hear from new organizations and new projects. We know there are a number of groups doing incredible work that are still not included on this list and we hope to hear from those organizations very soon.
Continue readingOne Year of Monitoring the World’s Parliaments
It has been just over a year since the PMO Leaders Conference convened an ever-growing community of activists working to open up their national and local parliaments. It has been a year since numerous individuals and groups participated in drafting the Declaration on Parliamentary Openness. It has been a year full of promise and success for the PMO community, but that’s not to say that we couldn’t do more to work together.
Continue readingNew G8 Open Data Charter
The G8 countries today released a new declaration, and with it an Open Data Charter policy paper, which together constitute... View Article
Continue readingPossible impacts of the Czech political turmoil
The Czech Republic has been facing a rather earth-shattering corruption scandal that is probably one of the most revolutionary episodes in... View Article
Continue readingOpenGov Voices: On the eve of a disappointing FOI law, Spanish civic organizations meet the challenge
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by the guest blogger and those providing comments are theirs alone and do not reflect the opinions of the Sunlight Foundation or any employee thereof. Sunlight Foundation is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information within the guest blog.
This guest post is co-authored by David Cabo, Victoria Anderica and Jacobo Elosua. David and Jacobo co-founded Fundación Ciudadana Civio, which promotes an engaged citizenry through transparency and data openness in Spain. Together, they empower citizens with information technologies and data journalism to demand for transparency and accountability from government. David also created dondevanmisimpuestos.es, a website that visualizes annual budgets from Spanish public administrations. Victoria Anderica works with Access Info Europe -- a group that provides access to legislation information under the Right to Information Rating projects. She is involved in the “Legal Leaks” -- a project that trains journalists on how to use access to information laws.
Corruption is the second biggest concern for Spaniards, right after unemployment, according to quarterly polls.
From news about fraud accusations about the King of Spain’s son-in-law to judicial investigations into the ruling People’s Party to a scandal involving the Socialist Party and major trade unions over unemployment benefits fraud, citizens are losing patience and much of the media’s attention is focused on the country’s institutions.
In response to these scandals, the word “transparency” is suddenly heard in every corner, in every demonstration, in every TV debate. Many more Spaniards are now aware of what some civic organizations have been denouncing for years: Spain is the only country in Europe with more than one million inhabitants who do not have access to information legislation.
The Spanish Congress is currently debating a draft law that fails the test when subjected to most basic international standards. Access to information is still not a fundamental right in line with the ruling of international courts of human rights. Currently, the law only applies to administrative information – not to the judicial and legislative branches of the state. The definition of “administrative information” excludes drafts, notes, internal reports or communications between administrative bodies. And the monitoring and appeals body is not independent because it is part of the Ministry of Public Administrations.
Continue readingAnnouncing the Global Open Data Initiative
Sunlight is excited today to announce, with a few of our friends and allies, the Global Open Data Initiative, dedicated... View Article
Continue readingThe Open Data Census Needs Your Help
An increasing number of governments have now committed to open up data but how much data is actually being released? What kind of data is this and in what format? Which countries, regions and cities are the most advanced and which are lagging in relation to open data?
The Open Data Census has been developed by the Open Knowledge Foundation (OKFN) to assist in answering these questions and assess the state of open data around the world. It collects and presents information on the evolution and current state of open data around the world. The Census is a community-based effort initiated and coordinated by the OKFN but with participation from many different groups or individuals. The Census was launched in April 2012 to coincide with the OGP meeting in Brasilia.
We want to help our friends at OKFN improve the coverage of the Open Data Census (http://census.okfn.org/) and verify existing contributions to ensure information is still up to date and reliable. We need your help in doing this!
Continue reading
59063
