Winds of Change II: Progress and Challenges in Open Government Policy in Latin America and the Caribbean

Nearly five years following the creation of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), 15 member countries in the region of Latin America and the Caribbean are in the process of implementing open government policies. The OGP should be viewed as a collective work platform that enables ordinary citizens, representatives of civil society organizations, academia, and the private sector to collaborate with political authorities and civil servants in the design and implementation of public policy. Public scrutiny will be a measure by which authorities will be held accountable to provide absolute integrity and accountability. This paper is a continuation of the first review made of the regional panorama with regard to open government policy that was contained in the publication, Winds of Change, which examined the First Action Plans that were presented to the OGP by the same 15 member countries. This sequence provides a review of the Second Action Plans, and is an update in the form of a single statistical document that highlights the number of commitments and the issues that need addressing. The paper will focus on the OGP process and will offer recommendations on how to further stimulate the exercise and improve the quality of the information.