Open government policies represent one of the most important drivers to modernize public administrations and improve the quality of services delivered to citizens and businesses. Implementing the principles of open government allows for a more effective response to the growing need for transparency of administrative performance and for citizen and civil society participation; it allows to more effectively combat corruption and to increase trust in institutions.
The three key hallmarks of an open government are: transparency, accountability and participation.
– Transparency helps the public to understand the workings of their government. It is an essential precondition for open and inclusive policy-making, and also helps build public trust in government.
– Accountability implies a willingness to be transparent, allowing the public to observe and evaluate government’s performance.
– Participation gives the right to citizens to be involved in the development, implementation and evaluation of public policies.
Inclusive digital innovation is an enabling condition for the implementation of public policies in support of public participation, transparency and accountability. It is essential to guarantee access to technologies, promoting a widespread acquisition of skills required for digital citizenship. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure privacy and protect from the risks of improper use of artificial intelligence.
Since 2011 Malta has enhanced its contribution to open government through various initiatives, including the commitments arising from its membership in the Open Government Partnership (OGP), the introduction of e-government in order to provide better public service to the public, providing a legal framework for access of information, the launch of an open data webpage and an online public consultation platform where stakeholders and the public can participate.
Open Government Partnership (OGP) is an international initiative supporting collaboration between governments and civil society organizations with specific objectives and on concrete projects to render governments more open. OGP brings together government reformers and civil society leaders to create action plans that make participating governments more transparent, inclusive, responsive and accountable. The aim of the OGP is to secure concrete commitments from governments to their citizenry to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.
Transparency, participation, integrity and digitization are the principles of the Open Government Declaration 2011 whereby the member countries commit themselves to the initiatives in the context of open government. The key commitments include:
Since 20 September 2011 - the official launch of the initiative - the number of member countries has been growing steadily, now includes 78 current members.
