Kia ora koutou
We want to provide you with an update of what’s been happening since New Zealand’s third Open Government Partnership (OGP) National Action Plan came to a close, and what is happening next with the fourth National Action Plan being developed for next year. We are also pleased to announce a term extension for our Expert Advisory Panel (EAP).
Assessing New Zealand’s third OGP National Action Plan 2018–21 (NAP3)
Te Kawa Mataaho has drafted a self-assessment of NAP3, based on the reports from agencies that had commitments in the Plan. That self-assessment will be published for public comment in early November for a period of two weeks. We’ll email you again when the NAP3 self-assessment online. As part of the process the OGP’s independent reviewer will also report on NAP3.
Identifying potential focus areas for New Zealand’s fourth OGP National Action Plan (NAP4)
The work is being approached in four ‘phases’:
- Phase 1 (complete) – During 2020 and the first half of 2021, we spoke to the public, often in their own communities, producing over 1,500 ideas. A list of all the ideas raised has been compiled into a single spreadsheet.NAP4 compiled set of all ideas
- Phase 2 (end October) – We’ve been busy working closely with our EAP, a range of civil society organisations and relevant agency officials to analyse the ideas and to identify themes and groupings of ideas that we can do more work on, or that are already being worked on by the government.
- Phase 3 (early 2022) – We’ll work through with this group the process for developing the identified themes into potential commitments. This work will include working with this group to consider who else needs to be involved as this work progresses to ensure these different perspectives and experiences inform future work. We expect this next phase of work will inform additional advice to the Minister in early 2022.
- Phase 4 (mid-2022) – We’ll then support the development and finalisation of commitments for inclusion in NAP4.
We’d like to acknowledge our EAP and civil society organisations for the openness and expertise they have brought to the process. He rau ringa, e oti ai | Many hands make light work.
Expert Advisory Panel and Civil Society Organisations meeting with Minister for the Public Service on 28 October 2021
Members of the EAP and CSOs met with the Hon Chris Hipkins, Minister for the Public Service, on 28 October 2021. Minister Hipkins acknowledged the work that has been undertaken to date and confirmed his commitment to the development of the fourth National Action Plan.
Separately, summary notes from recent meetings with EAP and CSOs are available here.
Term extension for our Expert Advisory Panel
As we’ve mentioned previously, earlier this year New Zealand moved from the group of countries submitting NAPs in 2021 to the 2022 group.
We are still very much in the middle of the process of developing NAP4. We are therefore pleased to confirm that, to support the continuity of the process and to maintain these growing relationships, our EAP members have agreed to extend their terms through to October 2022, to see us through the finalisation of the next Plan. We thank all EAP members for their dedication to date and look forward to working together to develop NAP4 over the coming months. The members of the EAP can be found here.
Over 2020–21, we have been lucky enough to have Sarah Colcord on the EAP to fill the temporary absence of Jacqueline Paul. Sarah has brought valuable experience and knowledge to the EAP during her time with the group and we are very happy to confirm that Sarah has agreed to extend her term on the EAP through to October 2022, adding her expertise and insights to the development of NAP4. That brings our EAP membership to seven.
Noho ora mai.