On July 17-19 Open Government Partnership and the Government of Georgia hosted the 5th OGP Global Summit in Tbilisi. At the Summit, thousands of reformers from around the world gathered to discuss the future of open government and redefine the relationship between governments and the citizens they serve.
The summit focused on how governments fight corruption, open civic space, and ensure public services, such as health and education, meet the needs of all communities.
On July 17 with the support from Open Society Georgia Foundation the Civil Society Day at Rooms Hotel Tbilisi was held. Civil Society Day was the principal gathering of the global civil society community working on advancing open government. The overarching objective of Civil Society Day is to provide the community with the time and space to connect, learn, strategize, and forge collaborations to boost our collective impact.
Keti Khutsishvili, Director of Open Society Georgia Foundation was one of the keynote speakers reflecting on lessons learnt over the past 6 years of OGP and emerging priorities for the partnership.
In 2017, political rights and civil liberties around the world deteriorated to their lowest point in the past decade. The rise of misinformation, illicit money in politics and attacks on the free press have all fueled this decline. Recent analysis reveals that OGP countries have significant challenges ahead to protect human rights defenders, journalists, media freedoms, and peaceful protest. At the Summit, we will hear from courageous leaders in OGP who are challenging harmful trends even in the most challenging of contexts: government reformers committing to enact new transparency laws; women demanding equality; civil society leaders protecting the right to be heard; journalists using public information to track money laundering.