About Open Government Partnership (OGP)

The Open Government Partnership (OGP) was formed in 2011 by governments and civil society organizations seeking new ways of working together to make societies more transparent, accountable, inclusive, and participatory.

OGP has grown over its first decade into a global effort of close to 200 national and local governments, thousands of civil society organizations, and many others. 

The OGP community is made up of thousands of relentless, creative, and inspiring trailblazers, innovators, and deeply committed reformers striving to make a difference. 

Position Summary

The Senior Regional Coordinator for Europe supports civil society, governments, and other key actors in using the Open Government Partnership (OGP) to progress reforms on transparency, accountability, and participation. This position will be responsible for supporting OGP members across multiple countries in Europe in their development and implementation of high-quality, relevant, and ambitious OGP action plans. Additionally, this role will identify and encourage learning between OGP countries, engage thematic and development partners, donors, and regional / and multilateral institutions, and conduct political and strategic analysis to promote open government in the region.

The Senior Regional Coordinator will report to the Regional Lead for Europe.

Duties and Responsibilities

Strategic analysis and engagement

• Lead on providing political and strategic analysis and planning for assigned countries, based on research and intelligence gathering from in-country and regional contacts, providing regular and proactive updates to the wider Support Unit team
• Contribute to the regional team’s work planning, budgeting, monitoring, and learning activities to ensure alignment with OGP’s broader goals.
• Engage and update regional partners, relevant members of the Steering Committee, funders, and other relevant external stakeholders on the development and execution of country and regional strategies and plans. 

Country Support 

• Collaborate with civil society and government stakeholders in assigned countries to develop ambitious action plans and commitments that promote the open government agenda.
• Guide civil society organizations and governments through the OGP process and ensure they meet OGP requirements.
• Mobilize and coordinate financial and technical support from external partners to assist in the successful implementation of these action plans.
• Lead on outreach to and maintain strong relationships with senior government officials, civil society leaders, funders, and other stakeholders.
• With particular attention to priority countries, proactively identify and pursue opportunities to catalyze action on OGP’s thematic priorities, developing new lines of action, connecting country stakeholders with support opportunities and promoting examples of successful reforms.
• Design and facilitate country visits, workshops, and events that support the delivery of strategic goals.
• Liaise with portfolio countries, supporting and encouraging them to meet their annual contributions to the OGP Support Unit.

Cross-team Coordination and Collaboration

• Closely coordinate and collaborate with the following teams:
• • Policy and Partnerships - to identify and support specific thematic priorities in assigned countries, including collaborating on securing relevant external support
  • Member Services - identifying opportunities and supporting delivery of new, more consistent and more effective guidance and support to members
  • Communications, Content and Community Engagement - proactively identifying and sharing opportunities for story gathering, and contributing to content development, from assigned countries; ensuring timely preparation of social media and other content relating to country visits, events and action plans
  • Collaborate with other OGP regional teams and working groups to share best practices, lessons learned, and innovative approaches to open government reform and member services.
  • Actively contribute to internal knowledge-sharing platforms, ensuring that insights gained from European countries are disseminated across the organization.

Regional and Global Events

• Support and/or lead the organization of OGP regional and sub-regional meetings and cross-country peer exchange events and contribute to the organizing of OGP Global Summits working in coordination with other members at the SU, governments, and civil society.
• Represent OGP at external events, give presentations, network and develop contacts.

Education Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in a relevant or related field (such as public administration, political science, law or international relations).

Experience Requirements

• Extensive experience working on governance issues, preferably within Europe, with a focus on transparency, accountability, participation or open government reform
• Experience engaging with civil society organizations, governments, funders and/or multilateral institutions on related issues, including working with their senior leadership
• Experience representing organizations regionally and/or globally
• Experience organizing training workshops and events at a regional and/or global level, including public speaking and facilitation experience.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Understanding of policy and socio-political processes within Europe
• Excellent communication and relational skills, including building effective collaborations, influencing senior decision-makers, networking, public speaking and meeting facilitation
• Ability to manage complex priorities and multiple portfolios in diverse national contexts simultaneously and independently
• Strong attention to detail and precision, but also able to step back and see the big picture
• Creative and strategic mindset, able to align services with overarching organizational objectives.
• Capability to adapt to changing priorities and to thrive in a dynamic, cross-functional environment.
• Demonstrating core OGP values of honesty, humility, integrity, transparency, accountability and inclusiveness.  
• Willingness to travel up to 25 percent of the year.
• Must be fluent in English, fluency in other European languages desired.

This position involves regular office activities in both remote home working and office environments. The position also requires some travel.