The 2020 Global Legislative Openness Week (GLOW) will be observed  from October 26 to 28, 2020 and will provide an opportunity for diverse stakeholders in parliaments, governments and civil society to collaborate and make progress towards adopting and implementing openness commitments
GLOW brings an open, participatory legislative process around the world as well as highlights the good work that is being done in that area.
The week will be coordinated by members of the Open Parliament e-Network (OPeN) DirectorioLegislativo, Latin American Legislative Transparency Network, National Democratic Institute, OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, ParlAmericas, and Westminster Foundation for Democracy with collaboration from the Open Government Partnership.
This year’s event will help parliaments and CSOs to engage their community in dialogue, kickstart new projects designed to open the legislative branch and share ideas and experiences.
The Open Parliament e-Network (OPeN) builds upon the work of the Open Government Partnership’s Legislative Openness Working Group (LOWG) by bringing together leading international organizations who are committed to legislative openness.
The Open Government Partnership’s Legislative Openness Working Group (LOWG) was originally launched in 2013 to build awareness of OGP and open government to a broader political and parliamentary audience.
Co-chaired by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the Congress of Chile (co-chairs of the Groupo Bicameral de Transparencia, Senator HernánLarraĂn and Deputy PatricioVallespĂn), the LOWG has engaged with over 70 parliaments by providing technical support and opportunities for peer learning through Global Legislative Openness Conferences, exchanges, and the creation of a number of resources on legislative openness commitments.
As part of a 2016 strategic refresh, the OGP steering committee is keen on the working group model to prioritize relationships with partners working on thematic areas of expertise within an open government. OPeN provides a new, flexible mechanism for the open parliament community to continue to work with the OGP Support Unit on issues of legislative engagement.
There are three principal methods of participating as a member of OPeN. Organizations with a commitment to working on legislative openness internationally are invited to apply to become a full partner in the Consortium. Members of parliament and senior parliamentary staff who are committed to sharing their expertise on issues of parliamentary openness and innovation may seek membership on OPeN’s Parliamentary Leadership Council.
Finally, civic organizations that are working on issues of parliamentary openness and transparency in their respective countries are able to participate as local affiliates of OPeN.
OpeN is divided into different workstreams which include peer exchange, learning, and advocacy; technical support and resources as well as supporting policy implementation.
Its overall goal and objectives are:
- To support governments, legislatures and civil society in the process of developing and implementing OGP action plan commitments around legislative openness;
- To provide a forum for peer-to-peer sharing of best practices, tools, experiences, and innovative information technology on the issue of legislative openness;
- To deepen parliamentary engagement in OGP and building deeper awareness among parliamentarians of open government issues;
- To develop tools and resources to be shared within the broader OGP community for addressing issues of legislative openness;
- To identify particular issues within the field of legislative openness for research and sharing of expertise and standards-building;
- To strengthen the capacity of legislatures and civil society to collaborate in implementing solutions to enhance legislative openness; and
- To identify technical assistance and partnership opportunities on legislative openness.
