Open Government Partnership - Armenia

Civil society has many roles within the Open Government Partnership, both formal and informal. Below is an overview:

OGP Steering Committee
Nine civil society representatives from around the world currently sit on the OGP Steering Committee, which governs the initiative at the international level. These members possess a wide range of thematic and regional expertise, and regularly engage in OGP outreach at the national, regional and international level. You can view the names and organizations of these representatives here:

Civil society are encouraged to contact these steering committee members to share important insights, concerns or plans at the country level—especially those they believe should be raised within the OGP Steering Committee for discussion. Civil society can write to the OGP Support Unit for Steering Committee member contact information at [email protected].

Development of OGP Country Action Plans
Civil Society is also a formal part of the OGP process at the local level. The OGP guidelines require all participating governments to consult with civil society and the broader public as they develop their OGP action plans. The OGP Independent Reporting Mechanism will verify this consultation after the first year of implementation. You can view the OGP guidelines on public consultation here: 

OGP strongly encourages civil society to take advantage of these public consultations and play an active and informed role in the commitment development process in their country. As part of this engagement at the country level they can:

• Contact their government to identify the official/agency leading on OGP commitment development and implementation, and seek a meeting with this person to discuss their ideas about open government priorities. OGP is in the process of collecting government contacts for all OGP implementing countries and will post them on the relevant country page here once available. You can find a sample template letter from civil society to government at the bottom of this page, along with two examples of letters from international and local civil society to governments.
• Convene interested civil society organizations at the local level to discuss their policy priorities and objectives within the open government sphere, and strategize how the OGP commitment development process can be a platform to advance those goals.
• Organize multi-stakeholder outreach events with government, civil society, the private sector and other key actors to share information on and promote awareness about OGP at the local, national and/or regional level. 

See more: http://www.opengovpartnership.org/civil-society