The Feminist Open Government Initiative, which aims to enhance women’s participation and gender throughout the Open Government Partnership’s (OGP) work, has awarded $240,000 in research grants to five organizations to help close the knowledge gap around gender equality, women’s participation, and open government. The research awardee organizations include: Africa Freedom of Information Centre, CARE International, Equal Measures 2030, Oxfam Novib, and Tecnicas Rudas. The Feminist Open Government Initiative is a partnership between Results for Development, OGP, the International Development Research Centre, and the Government of Canada.
The grants, ranging between $40,000–$50,000, will be used for rapid research projects across nine countries — focused on core and emerging open government thematic priorities, such as natural resources governance, public procurement and fiscal transparency, the Sustainable Development Goals, and local budgeting processes. Each project will produce practical recommendations and tools to support open government actors as they consider gender and inclusion across open government co-creation and commitments.
“Open government is an underexplored platform for accelerating gender equality and closing critical gaps in information, access, and participation for citizens around the world,” said Allison Merchant, senior gender advisor for Results for Development and the Open Government Partnership. “This action-oriented research will serve a foundational role in identifying how open government can enhance gender-informed commitments across key thematic areas, and how OGP can better facilitate the input of women’s perspectives on issues of importance to their communities.”
“Meaningful inclusion is a critical part of safeguarding our democracies. We believe that when we open our governments, we must open them for all people. We look forward to bringing discussions on what works to advance gender equality to the OGP Global Summit in Ottawa, where advancing gender — and inclusion more broadly — is a cornerstone of my OGP co-chair agenda with the Government of Canada,” said Nathaniel Heller, OGP co-chair and executive vice president of integrated strategies, at Results for Development.
Funding for these grants was provided by the International Development Research Centre and the Government of Canada. More information about the grantees and their respective research projects can be found below.
Grantee: CARE International
Topic: Opening open government: Does participatory and gendered political economy analysis make open government processes more responsive to women?
Country focus: The Philippines
Grantee: Equal Measures 2030
Topic: Understanding Intersections between the SDGs, open government, and gender advocacy: the perspective of girls and women’s rights organizations in three OGP countries
Country focus: Colombia, Indonesia, Kenya
Grantee: Oxfam Novib
Topic: The power of women in local budgeting: supporting marginalized women in Kairouan (Tunisia) to become active fiscal citizens.
Country focus: Tunisia
Grantee: Tecnicas Rudas
Topic: Gender Indicators for open natural resource governance
Country focus: Mexico, Peru, Colombia
Grantee: Africa Freedom of Information Centre
Topic: Deepening open government through women’s participation in public contracting
Country focus: Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa
This call for proposals was commissioned under the Feminist Open Government Initiative, a collaboration between Results for Development, the International Development Research Centre and Government of Canada, and the Open Government Partnership. The call for proposals received more than 90 proposals from a diverse collection of organizations and research institutions and were selected by a selection committee including governments, OGP support unit, IDRC, and civil society actors from around the world. We thank all who submitted for their interest in expanding this field.
###
About Results for Development
Results for Development (R4D) is a leading non-profit global development partner. We collaborate with change agents around the world — government officials, civil society leaders and social innovators — to create strong systems that support healthy, educated people. We help our partners move from knowing their goal to knowing how to reach it. We combine global expertise in health, education and nutrition with analytic rigor, practical support for decision-making and implementation and access to peer problem-solving networks. Together with our partners, we build self-sustaining systems that serve everyone and deliver lasting results. Then we share what we learn so others can achieve results for development, too. For more information, visit our website at: www.r4d.org
About the International Development Research Centre
The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is a Canadian Crown corporation funding research in developing countries to advance knowledge and solve practical development problems. Part of Canada’s foreign affairs and development efforts, IDRC invests in knowledge, innovation, and solutions to improve lives and livelihoods in the developing world. IDRC works with many stakeholders including civil society organisations, think tanks, regional organisations, and government departments in the developing world to drive large-scale positive change. www.idrc.ca
Open Government Partnership
Open Government Partnership brings together government reformers and civil society leaders to create action plans that make governments more inclusive, responsive and accountable. In the spirit of multi-stakeholder collaboration, OGP is overseen by a Steering Committee including representatives of governments and civil society organizations.
The Open Government Partnership formally launched on September 20, 2011, when the 8 founding governments (Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, the Philippines, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States) endorsed the Open Government Declaration and announced their country action plans. Since 2011, 79 OGP participating countries and 20 subnational governments have made over 3,100 commitments to make their governments more open and accountable. www.opengovpartnership.org
Photo © Open Government Partnership
