Fostering Open Government in the Arab Region

Open government refers to a government which is effective and efficient in the performance of its duties, transparent in and accountable for its actions, accessible to all through its services, responsive to the needs of its citizenry, values the participation, knowledge and expertise of citizens in decision-making. An open government embraces new and emerging technologies and techniques as tools for the enhancement of its governance and service delivery. The study has three main parts: Part one explores the concept of open government, technology and international models for implementation in the context of good governance, while showcasing examples from Sweden, the USA, Indonesia, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia. Part two describes the status of open government in the Arab region based on international indicators and the responses of member states on the ESCWA questionnaire on open government. Part three describes the four-phased model ESCWA open government framework, which allows for the incremental implementation of open government initiatives either vertically or horizontally. This framework is tailored to the needs of the Arab region.