NDI will be joining leaders from NGOs, the private sector, academia, government, civil society, technologists, and other advocates at the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Summit. The three-day conference, which will be held this week in Mexico City, will convene sessions on a variety of topics, including creating and implementing action plans, engagement with the legislative branch, civil society and parliamentary partnerships, standards and frameworks for parliamentary transparency, Latin America regional updates and efforts on openness, and open election data principles.

NDI will be leading and participating in a number of sessions throughout the week. Whether you're interested in how legislatures are implementing commitments toward openness and citizen engagement, or how open election data principles can be used by civil society to benefit electoral integrity, we'd like to talk to you. If you can't attend, you can follow along on Twitter with the official Open Government Partnership Summit hashtag, #OGP15.

Open Parliament Action Plans: From Idea to Implementation
Wednesday, October 28
Time: 3:00 - 3:50 PM
Location: C4, Palacio de Minería

The Legislative Openness Working Group, which is co-chaired by the Congress of Chile and NDI, has continued to work with partners in OGP member countries to either help incorporate the legislative branch into their National Action Plans or to support the development of independent parliamentary action plans. Significant progress has been made on this front, with legislative action plans made in countries like Chile, France and Georgia, as well as legislative commitments in a number of government actions plans. Some countries are partnering with civil society to pursue reform agendas, such as in Mexico. Representatives from these four countries will discuss their experiences in developing, implementing and monitoring their plans to strengthen transparency in the legislative process.

Engaging Legislatures More Deeply in OGP: Recent Developments
Wednesday, October 28
Time: 4:00 - 4:50 PM
Location: Main Stage, Palacio de Minería

Parliamentary leaders from around the world will convene to share experiences and challenges in implementing commitments to parliamentary openness. The session seeks to identify and explore solutions for how OGP can further engage with the legislative branch. NDI President Ken Wollack will moderate the session featuring representatives from the Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability, Fundar: Center for Research and Analysis and the Pan African Parliament, as well as parliamentary and government leaders from Mexico, Chile, Serbia and South Africa.

Strengthening Civil Society and Parliamentary Networks to Open Parliaments
Wednesday, October 28
Time: 5:00 - 5:50 PM
Location: Bernardo Quintana, Palacio de Minería

OGP’s Legislative Openness Working Group will convene a session on legislative engagement and the development of international networks on parliamentary openness with MPs from Ghana and Mexico and civil society representatives from Fundación Ciudadano Inteligente and mySociety to discuss experiences from their own countries about working toward parliamentary openness. In recent years, civil society networks have formed in different regions, and their collective advocacy, often with parliamentary champions, is changing the landscape of open government reform.

Normative Standards for Parliamentary Openness, Ethics and Lobbying
Thursday, October 29
Time: 12:00 - 12:50 PM
Location: C9, Palacio de Minería

Building upon the Declaration on Parliamentary Openness, the Legislative Openness Working Group has developed a set of Common Ethical Principles for MPs, which will launch at the Summit. Panelists from NDI, the Senate of Mexico, Directorio Legislativo and Transparency International EU will discuss how these standards and frameworks, as well as others that have been adopted, can be used to advocate for greater parliamentary openness.

Efforts toward Parliamentary Openness Reform in the Americas
Thursday, October 29
Time: 2:00 - 2:50 PM
Location: Directores, Palacio de Minería

MPs from Chile, Paraguay, Mexico, Costa Rica, Peru and the Dominican Republic will convene to provide updates on regional efforts to advance legislative openness. Latin America has been a leader on legislative openness issues, and has recently seen the creation of a parliamentary network on such issues - the Red de Parlamento Abierto. OAS and ParlAmericas, co-hosts of the session along with the Legislative Openness Working Group, have led initiatives on parliamentary openness in the region.

Opening Elections: From Transparency to Accountability
Thursday, October 29
Time: 3:00 - 3:50 PM
Location: Maestros Room, Palacio de Minería

Leaders from NDI, the Global Network for Domestic Election Monitors (GNDEM), election commissions from Mexico and South Africa (INE and IEC, respectively), and Google engage in an interactive panel discussion to raise awareness surrounding open election data principles and ways to put those principles into action. The session builds upon recent dialogues between citizen election monitors, election management bodies and international election observers, and also highlights NDI's Google-supported Open Election Data Initiative (OEDI), which outlines open data principles and provides learning tools for civil society to analyze and use election data for promoting electoral integrity.