UK conference

This is the hub page for the UK Conference for the Open Government Pioneers UK Project.

Overview

Working title: Re-imagining democracy

Date and venue: March 15th 2018, Belfast, UK.

This event aims to bring together citizens, civil society and institutions from across the UK to explore how we can use open government approaches to advance democracy in the UK home nations.

It is the flagship event of the Open Government Pioneers UK project, funded by the Big Lottery UK.

Our theory of change

The concept is that we can define a shared vision of progress for our UK home nation democracies in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, by using the Sustainable Development Goals.

Open Government approaches, such as participation, transparency and accountability provide a means for us to achieve these Goals.

The conference provides a space where we can share our experiences in building open government approaches, what works and what doesn't, and inspire each other across the UK home nations on our journey towards the Goals.

Our overall approach

The conference aims to build the capacity of people and civil society across the UK home nations to contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals
The conference will focus engagement with policy-making in progressing the SDGs using open government approaches
The conference will take place in Belfast with an interactive virtual conference running in parallel and deeply integrated with the conference
Logistics for the physical conference will be led by the Northern Ireland Environment Link
Logistics for the virtual conference will be led by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations
Agenda and sessions will be developed collaboratively using this wiki page with support from the core partners of the Open Government Pioneers UK initiative.

Event objectives

There are a number of ways that our project is looking to promote and support open government and the Sustainable Development Goals. These are grouped into four methods in our project engagement plan: building networks, facilitating learning, supporting change and promoting pioneering. These seem a logical starting point to frame our conference objectives.

		Overall Project Objective	UK Conference Objective
Objective One	Building networks	To substantially increase and broaden the memberships of the Open Government Networks in Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Wales.	To empower attendees to engage in the Sustainable Development Goals and Open Government networks
Objective Two	Facilitating learning	To raise awareness and facilitate learning with the aim of strengthening the movement and ensuring its sustainability. We will do so through promoting dialogue and debate online and in person.	To share and inspire reflection on how each UK home nation is using open government to progress the global goals
Objective Three	Supporting change	To ensure people and communities across the UK are better positioned to challenge and engage their governments to make real change.	To build momentum around the Open Government action plans and their role in progressing the SDGs.
Objective Four	Promoting pioneering	To provide greater awareness and visibility of civil society action to progress the SDGs within the UK home nations to international audiences. We want to show UK civil society as pioneers of open government.	To open up engagement on open government and SDGs to a much wider audience than before, and try out new digital technologies and open approaches to do so.

Target audiences

Audience	Reason	Message	Comms	Sessions to attend	Likely attendance
The general public	For general awareness building and support and growing a grassroots movement.	This is your democracy – have your say. Become a part of building a better society.	Twitter, Facebook Meetups.com Press	Morning focus on Global Goals	Virtual
Civil Society (ex NI)	For general awareness building and support. To maximise reach and impact of project/message and grow engagement	Open Government and SDGs as a means for achieving civil society goals.	Twitter, OGN networks	Delegation to attend full conference	Virtual Conference AM Conference PM
Civil Society (in NI)	For general awareness building and support. To maximise reach and impact of project/message and grow engagement	Open Government and SDGs as a means for achieving civil society goals in NI	Twitter, OGNI network	Full conference
Partners	To maximise reach and impact of project/message and grow engagement	Maximising reach and impact of project/message and grow engagement	OGN Networks Invitation letters
Local Policy Makers & Politicians	To raise awareness of Open Government and SDGs with key decision makers and politicians and build a network of advocates. For public and civil society to have increasing influence over actions plans, priorities and resources.	Building participation in local policy and services and driving delivery improvements
National Policy Makers & Politicians		Building participation in national policy asks and strategy /action plan development
International Network	To promote UK civil society action to progress the SDGs within the UK home nations to international audiences. To show UK civil society as pioneers of open government.	The UK as a pioneer of open government and progressing the Sustainable Development Goals