This year, for the first time after 2011 OGP steering committee was elected by the member states. 11 states had been competing for 8 seats, including Georgia. The results of the elections, which took place on July 30, had been declared on August 4. USA, Brazil, UK, Philippines and Tanzania got re-elected, whileGeorgia, Croatia and France joined the committee for the first time.

Separate quota has been allocated for the representatives of civil society. 37 candidates had been competing for 5 places. The names of the 5 winners is already announced:

• Sugeng Bahagijo, Indonesian, Executive Director of the International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID), and a member of the Asia Democracy Network
• Cecilia Blondet, Peruvian, Executive Director of Proética, the Peruvian chapter of TI and Former Minister for the Advancement of Women and Human Development
• Alvin Mosioma, Kenyan, Founder and Director of Tax Justice Network-Africa 
• Mukelani Dimba, South African, Executive Director of the Open Democracy Advice Centre
• Manish Bapna, American, Executive Vice President and Managing Director of the World Resources Institute (WRI) 

In October 2014 the co-chairs of the Open Government Partnership will change.  As the Government of Indonesia and Rakesh Rajani complete their one-year term as lead chairs, the current support chairs – the Government of Mexico and Suneeta Kaimal – will assume the role of lead chairs.

In preparation for this transition, the OGP Steering Committee has now selected two new co-chairs to join OGP’s leadership group, first as support chairs from October 2014, then as lead chairs from October 2015.  The Government of South Africa, led by the Department for Public Service and Administration, will become the government co-chair, and Alejandro Gonzalez, Executive Director of GESOC, will become the civil society co-chair. They will be the first African country to lead OGP, following the previous lead government chairs of the US, Brazil, UK, Indonesia and Mexico.

OGP member states voted for the candidates. Governments were awarded staggered terms of 3, 2 and 1 years based on the number of votes they had gotten. The maximum point was 10. Here is the list of results:

The OGP Steering Committee will start operating in October 2014. The first meeting of the newly elected members of the Committee will be held in New York, at the end of September. Georgia will be represented by the Minister of Justice. You can view the application of Georgia on the following link.

The major objective of the Steering Committee (consisting of 9 countries: Mexico, Indonesia, Philippines, Norway, South Africa, UK, USA, Brazil and Tanzania) is “to develop, promote and safeguard the values, principles and interests of the OGP. It also establishes the core ideas, policies, and rules of the partnership, and oversees the functioning of the partnership”. Leadership consists of the lead government chair, support government chair and two representatives of civil society.

The ambitious projects of 2014-15 action plan and the high quality of transparency and accountability achieved through introducing e-governance and innovative technologies, have contributed to Georgia’s membership of Steering Committee. This is a honor and big challenge for our country. We express hope that Georgia will perform its responsibilities during its term as member of Steering Committee and continues enhancing open and transparent governance in our country.