According to the White House blog, the U.S. and Brazil have teamed up to create the Open Government Partnership, a global initiative that supports efforts to promote transparent, effective and accountable institutions.
International governments and civil society groups make up the initiative’s committee. OGP was created in an effort to stir up international momentum on the issues of open government. At an UN General Assembly in 2010, President Barack Obama spoke of promoting transparency, empowering citizens and fighting corruption.
This initiative follows Obama’s release of the Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government. Websites such as Recovery.gov, ITDashboard.gov and USAspending.gov were created to offer effective use of taxpayer dollars, release of useful data through a centralized portal data.gov, and open new opportunities for the public to engage in the nation’s most important problems.
