Current Affairs: Sanjay Pradhan, an Indian-origin World Bank official, has been selected to lead a multination initiative focused on improving government transparency, accountability and responsiveness to citizens.
Mr Pradhan will lead the Open Government Partnership Support Unit and report to an international Steering Committee of 11 governments and 11 civil society leaders, OFP said in a statement.
Launched by eight heads of state at the UN General Assembly in 2011, OGP currently includes 69 countries, half a dozen multilateral organisations and hundreds of civil society groups.
Open Government Partnership
Open Government Partnership or OGP is an international organization promoting multilateral initiative and seeking strong commitments from participating government institutions to promote transparency, increase civic participation, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to make government more open, effective, and accountable.
Steering committees are composed of government (Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, Philippines, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States) and civil society organization Africa Center for Open Governance (Kenya), Instituto de Estudos Socioeconômicos (Brazil), Instituto Mexicano para la Competitividad (Mexico), International Budget Partnership (international), MKSS (India), National Security Archive (U.S.), Revenue Watch Institute (international), Transparency and Accountability Initiative (international), and Twaweza (Tanzania).
There have been four rounds of membership with cohorts of countries pledging to develop National OGP Action Plans.
In October 2015, OGP launched the International Open Data Charter, a set of principles and best practices for the release of governmental open data formally adopted by seventeen governments of countries, states and cities during the OGP Global Summit in Mexico.
Mr Pradhan has held three Vice President positions sin 1986 at the World Bank Group (WBG) where he led the development of its Governance and Anticorruption Strategy, helped launch Global Partnership for Social Accountability incubated ICT-mediated citizen feedback, launched Open Contracting with Partners, and rolled out a flagship Collaborative Leadership for Development program to help leaders in government and civil society undertake collaborative actions.