Youth Conference on Policy Development and Open Government Partnership (OGP)
by Sin Putheary, Head of Communications and Membership Development
Phnom Penh (23 December 2014) - We, 200 representatives from Youth Group, monks, and Civil Society Organizations, attended the conference on Open Government Partnership (OGP) today, jointly organized by the Cooperation Committee for Cambodia (CCC), Advocacy Policy Institute (API), Committee for Free and Fair Election (COMFREL), SILAKA, Khmer Youth Association (KYA), Transparency International Cambodia (TIC), with a strong support from regional and international society organizations (CSOs) welcome the Open Government Partnership (OGP) in country in order to promote the interaction among the government and civil society organizations (CSOs).
We have learned that OGP was launched in London in 2011 to provide an international platform for domestic reformers committed to making their governments more open, accountable, effective, innovative, and responsive to citizens. There is a need for the Cambodian government & CSOs to be ready for an institutionalized partnership with clear procedures for development and implementation of the principles and criteria of the OGP.
We acknowledge that OGP is a new multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from the government to promote transparency, accountability, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.
We are inspired by the benefits of joining OGP by 64 countries in the world such as boosting their economic, building trust between the government and its constituencies, harnessing good governance and enhancing integrity of government and country, increasing ownership and participation from citizen in development process and results, and many more.
We appreciate the RGC for having put a number of efforts to fulfill many eligible criteria of OGP such as having National Budget Law, Anti-Corruption Law, commitment to enact the Access to Information Law, Social Accountability Framework which is the foundation for Cambodia to become a full member of OGP.
Therefore, we youth, monks and CSOs would like to call on:
Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) to:
- Participate in OGP initiative to become a more transparent, accountable, innovative, effective, and responsible government. Political will from the top of the RGC to sign the OGP is needed. A national work plan is to be jointly developed for Cambodia;
- Disclose widely on budget transparency at national & sub-national levels including budget development process, budget disbursements, and reporting/auditing on incomes and expenses;
- Provide space for citizen engagement in consultation on policy development. Full implementation of the social accountability framework, creating online platform for generating inputs and comments from different stakeholders on any policy and legal framework development;
- Support initiatives which have been developed and to be developed by youth groups, monk groups, and other CSOs such as check my schools, check my services, check my government’s performance, check my money, open parliament, open data, etc.;
- Speed up the amendment of the Anti-corruption law to promote public disclosure on incomes and assets of senior government officials, parliaments, political leaders, and to protect whistle blowers, and corruption activists;
- Improve availability of information of individual ministries, departments of both national and sub-national authorities by having setting up strong databases, online platform, and make them well function;
- Increase use of ICT as a tool to facilitate the development process and measuring results
- Improve the contents and processes of any draft laws and policies to public, some of which are Cybercrime, Telecommunications, and Trade Union Law by open for consultations with public especially with youth, monks and key affected communities;
- Strengthen inclusive partnership between CSOs and government in a more genuine and meaningful way on policies and technical issues at all levels;
- Reinforce legal frameworks, policies and operations that empower Cambodian citizens to participate in their development process at all stages, rather than restrict their rights and actions;
- Speed up the enactment of the Access to Information Law as this law is the priority for Cambodians, including youth and monks to participate in development process in a more efficient and effective way.
We also call civil society organizations in Cambodia to
- Promote principles and criteria of OGP to public by working in partnership with government, youth groups and other stakeholders
- Support initiatives which have been developed and to be developed by youth groups, monk groups, and other CSOs such as check my schools, check my services, check my government’s performance, check my money, open parliament, open data, etc.
- Be more transparent and accountable by participating in application of the NGO Code and Voluntary Certification System within CSOs.
We, youth, monks and civil society organization representatives are ready to participate in promoting the principles, criteria and tools of OGP. We will participate with government and civil society organizations by initiating a number of applicable activities/projects/tools in order to support the Cambodian government to become a member of OGP.
---End---
Participants of the Youth, Monks, & CSOs Conference on OGP from
Phnom Penh, Ratanakiri, Siem Reap, Battambong, Kratie, Preah Vihea, Kompot, Mondolkiri, Kompongthom, Banteay Mean Chey, Oudor Mean Chey, Kompong Speu, Svay Rieng, Kandal.
For detail information, please contact
Cooperation Committee for Cambodia (CCC)
- Mr. Soeung Saroeun, Executive Director of CCC, Email: saroeun.soeung@ccc-cambodia.org, Mobile: 016 900 503
- Ms. Sin Putheary, Head of Communications and Member Development, Email: putheary.sin@ccc-cambodia.org, Mobile: 016 769836
For more documents and photos of this workshop, please follow THIS LINK
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