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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-CA link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Some of you with some familiarity with the Open Government Partnership (OGP) process will find this of interest. It is a quite significant example of a “multistakeholder process” (although with little or no involvement from the private sector). Notably it has had very considerable support including financial with the USA and Brazil being the founding co-chairs and with the direct support of both President Obama and (former?) Pres. Rousseff.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>The relevant components of Civil society have taken this process very seriously with every intention of making it work, and it has had positive impacts and outputs in a number of countries. The attached letter is being presented I believe, in a spirit of providing positive feedback, however the underlying message seems to be that the CS organizations involved do not wish to be part of what is being called “open-washing’ i.e. appearing to undertake the required OG commitments (and gaining the PR and other benefits from this) while in fact not doing so or acting in such a way as to undermine any significant advances towards transparency and accountability that might be achieved.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>M<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US style='mso-fareast-language:EN-CA'>From:</span></b><span lang=EN-US style='mso-fareast-language:EN-CA'> ogp@dgroups.org [mailto:ogp@dgroups.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>helen@access-info.org<br><b>Sent:</b> April 29, 2016 7:21 AM<br><b>To:</b> OGP Civil Society group <ogp@dgroups.org><br><b>Cc:</b> 'OGP Civil Society group' <ogp@dgroups.org><br><b>Subject:</b> [ogp] Letter from Civil Society to OGP SC<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black'>Dear Paul and Joe<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black'>We would be most grateful if you could forward the attached letter, along with the content of this email, to the members of the OGP Steering Committee, on behalf of the 66 organisations who have signed it. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black'>In addition to calling on the Steering Committee to take note of the very important concerns that this letter ranges, we note that since it was drafted and opened for signature earlier this year, there has been significant feedback suggesting some editing changes, additions and improvements. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black'>Given the large number of signatures and the widespread support for the letter, we are sending it as is, but also noting that there is a strong appetite from the civil society community engaged in OGP to have a full debate around the issues it raises and for a participative process in order to arrive at well-framed policies. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black'>From Access Info Europe and the Alianza Regional who coordinated this initiative, we therefore also urge the members of Steering Committee both to act in response to the points raised here and to take swift measures to ensure that henceforth there is an adequate public space for debate, reflection and feedback on these issues. </span><span lang=EN-GB style='color:#1F497D'> </span><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black'>We look forward to hearing the feedback from the Steering Committee. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black'>Yours sincerely, <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black'>Helen Darbishire, Access Info Europe<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black'>Moises Sanchez, Alianza Regional.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB'>----------------------------------------------</span><span lang=EN-GB style='color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#366B95;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB'>Helen Darbishire</span></b><span lang=EN-GB style='color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB'>Executive Director</span><span lang=EN-GB style='color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#D5200D;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB'>Access Info Europe </span></b><b><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#404040;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB'>|</span></b><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB'> </span><span lang=EN-GB style='color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB'><a href="http://www.access-info.org/"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>www.access-info.org</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#03A1D3;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB'>@helen_access, @access_info<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB'>Madrid office<i>: </i>+34 913 656 558</span><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB'>Mobile: +34 667 685 319</span><span lang=EN-GB style='color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;mso-fareast-language:EN-CA'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><table class=MsoNormalTable border=1 cellpadding=0 style='border:none;border-top:solid #AAABB6 1.0pt'><tr><td width=55 style='width:41.25pt;border:none;padding:9.75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt'><p class=MsoNormal><a href="https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient" target="_blank"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;border:solid 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