BackTransparency and accountability are key priorities of the Open Government movement. They are also areas where accountability institutions can have real impact. Information Commissions play a crucial role in guaranteeing the right to information. Ombudsman institutions handle citizen complaints about public administration and help protect citizen rights. They have a crucial mediation function that fosters reciprocal engagement of the citizen and state. Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) are also a critical part of the national accountability architecture, with a mandate to “watch over” government accounts, operations, and performance, through external auditing.
The World Bank Group (WBG) supported the strengthening of Information Commissions for effective access to information legislation implementation in Mexico, Chile, and Honduras, as well as the creation of a network of access to information and transparency agencies (RTA). WBG expects its engagement with Ombudsman institutions to deepen as a complement to its ongoing support of grievance redress mechanisms at the country level. At the same time, WBG’s knowledge exchange with the International Ombudsman Institute (IOI) will reinforce these efforts.
The WBG’s “Public Participation in Budgets and Audits” initiative helps SAIs leverage civil society organizations (CSOs) to increase the effectiveness of external audits in the public financial management system. The program invests in technical capacity building of SAIs and CSOs to enable co-creation and implementation of participatory audits.
Click here to read the full blog post which was co-authored by Jeff Thindwa, Practice Manager Governance and Inclusive Institutions at the World Bank, and Marcos Mendiburu, Senior Social Development Specialist at the World Bank, after the OGP regional event in Costa Rica and which includes interesting references as to how OGP should engage Ombudsman Institutions and other accountability bodies.
Source: World Bank Group
