Call for government to join Open Government Partnership (IGP) global movement

Freedom Forum took an initiative to bring together a section of civil society organizations (CSOs) and individual champions of open government partnership (OGP) to continue pushing the OGP movement in Nepal. In order to review the progress made in regard to the Government of Nepal (GoN)'s efforts to officially join OGP, the meeting was held at the Freedom Forum's conference hall at Thapathali on August 4 (Friday). "The meeting discussed the ways to strategically approach the government to declare joining the global movement of transparency, accountability and participation in view of the OGP Global Summit to be held in Tallinn, Estonia on coming September 6-7", shared Freedom Forum's Executive Chief Taranath Dahal. The meeting also reviewed the past efforts of the CSOs to push the government to become apart of the multilateral global movement and grab the opportunity to show greater commitment for open governance. On the occasion, the participants agreed to continue the discussion on governance reform agendas among other CSOs as well. "We agree to create incentives for the government to grab the global opportunity to get connected with the world leaders of reforms", Dahal further said. The meeting was attended by Narayan Adhikari from Accountability Lab, Babita Basnet from Media Advocacy Group, Sajana Maharjan, Pranay Sthapit from The Asia Foundation, Right to Information Federation Chair Umid Bagchand, journalist/researcher Krishna Sapkota, advocate Tanka Aryal and development professional Hem Tembe.