NI Open Gov
The Northern Ireland Open Government Network is a loose alliance of individual citizens and representatives of voluntary/community organisations aiming to engage in dialogue with the NI Executive to campaign for a more open form of government. We want government to be more transparent, participatory and accountable to the people it serves.
We aim to use the international Open Government Partnership as a vehicle to achieve this objective and are making links with similar civil society networks in the UK and Ireland.
13th June 2019
Written Colm Burns The UK’s fourth Open Government National Action Plan 2019-21 (NAP), published just in time for 6th Open Government Partnership Global Summit in Ottawa on 28 May 2019, builds on the previous plans published in September 2011, September 2013, and May 2016. The NAP was developed in dialogue with the UK Open Government…
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13th June 2019
Written by Ann Allan Originally posted on apvallan.com On Friday I attended the Democracy Games at Stormont. Now I’m sure you’re asking what are Democracy Games and aren’t you a bit old to be taking part in any sort of games. I was in fact there to host on behalf of the Open Government NI…
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12th June 2019
Written by Jenny Muir What does democracy mean to us? Has its meaning changed over time? Which countries are the most democratic? How does good democratic practice relate to activism? What are the barriers to achieving change? NI OGN Directors Paul Braithwaite and Jenny Muir led a workshop asking these questions – and more – …
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10th June 2019
Written by Connor McLean “It has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time…” – speaker at OGP Summit quoting Winston Churchill This year’s OGP Summit was hosted in the Canadian capital, Ottawa. The sixth international gathering of its…
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26th February 2019
Written By Colm Burns I voted for the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) in May 1998 because I felt it was the right thing to do. I was 20 and not politically active, and hadn’t actually read the Agreement but I did grow up in North Belfast beside Girdwood Army Barracks. I remember the bombs and…
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14th January 2019
Written by Colm Burns On the 9th January 2017 the Executive and Assembly collapsed. Whilst there are many reasons for the collapse, it doesn’t look like our political representatives will be back any time soon. Before the collapse we had more than a year of deadlock and failed attempts to resolve differences over issues such…
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30th November 2018
On 24th November, the NI Open Government Network invited activists from across Northern Ireland to give their views on whether community planning is working and to discuss how local democracy might be improved. This workshop provided a forum for engaged citizens to give their views on community planning in Northern Ireland, given the original vision…
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30th November 2018
Better Retail Better World is mobilising the retail industry to meet some of the biggest global challenges of the coming decades. Using the widely recognised United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as a framework, clear, transparent and measurable Goals developed with businesses and campaigners are at the heart of the initiative. The initiative addresses five of…
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25th October 2018
Better Retail, Better World is mobilising the retail industry to meet some of the biggest global challenges of the coming decades. Using the widely recognised United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as a framework, clear, transparent and measurable Goals developed with businesses and campaigners are at the heart of the initiative. The initiative addresses five of the 17…
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25th October 2018
With the establishment of the 11 new super councils in 2015, significant new powers were transferred to local authorities. At the same time, legislation introduced the concept of community planning, which requires councils to work with statutory partners and communities “to develop and implement a shared vision for promoting the well-being of an area, community…
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