Government Openness:

Since 2013, NDI has worked with the Open Government Partnership (OGP) to advance transparency initiatives and reforms around the world at the parliamentary, executive, and local levels. With global partners in the Open Parliament e-Network (OPeN) consortium, NDI supports governments, legislatures, and civil society organizations to promote parliamentary openness through the development of commitments related to transparency and access to information, ethics and probity, accountability, and citizen participation. 

Participatory and Deliberative Engagement 

NDI promotes government responsiveness in a number of ways, using entry points at all levels of government to create space for residents to voice their opinions and shape public-sector priorities and decision-making.  

At the national level, NDI has worked with Moldova’s State Chancellery and three ministries to develop and pilot a new model of public consultation that featured widespread advertising of online and offline events, informed participants of how feedback was used, and resulted in a marked increase in citizen engagement. In the Maldives, NDI supported civil society to hold citizen assemblies on environmental policy in three regions, which drafted, voted on, and approved recommendations for a national ‘citizen’s manifesto’ presented to the government. 

At the local level, NDI has worked with subnational governments to create and empower local advisory bodies composed of youth in Morocco and gender-focused caucuses composed of local council members in Ukraine; these bodies offer unique perspectives and recommendations on government policymaking, and encourage effective and equitable inclusion that moves beyond tokenism. NDI has worked with officials in Bangkok, Thailand and central European cities like Budapest, Hungary to revive democratic participation in government through participatory budgeting practices, where public spending is not only made more transparent but also allows residents to submit and vote on proposals for local projects. In Europe and the Americas, NDI has worked with city officials to develop responsive feedback loop mechanisms that engage residents to identify top priorities and inform government solutions, and ensure governments follow up with residents on success and obstacles.