With a successful inaugural year of the Open Government Awards (Awards) in 2014, OGP is now excited to announce the theme for the 2015 Awards – Improving Public Services through Open Government. OGP is asking countries to showcase how open government initiatives have resulted in concrete improvements in the delivery of public services, e.g. economic welfare programs, health care, education, water, roads, public safety etc.

Each OGP participating country has received a unique passcode that allows them to access the website. This passcode can be shared with the team responsible for putting in an application.
Participating countries must consult with civil society organizations to nominate the best initiative to put forward for the 2015 Awards. This process may last up to 4 weeks.

To compete, initiatives should demonstrate one or more of the following results:

• Citizens have better access to information on the public services to which they are entitled, and/or information on the performance of public service providers
• Governments are better at asking for and responding to feedback or complaints by citizens on the quality of public services
• Citizens have ways to actively participate in the design and delivery of public services
• Citizens have mechanisms to monitor and oversee public works and services

Initiatives should also provide evidence if the initiative was able to expand access to public services to a larger population than before or if the quality and efficiency of public services has improved.

OGP has selected this theme for 2015 in recognition of the fact that public services are the most common interface between citizens and the government, and that governments should ensure transparency, accountability and responsiveness in their design and delivery. Good quality and effective public services respond to the needs of people, especially vulnerable groups, and form the foundation of inclusive development. OGP also believes that this theme is a key component of achieving the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals.

Countries, civil society organisations