OECD Open Government Meeting in Finland - presenting good practices in Finnish open government
The Open Government Working Group will meet in Helsinki on 12-13 May. In addition to holding the meeting, the working group will be introduced to Finland’s open administration practices, such as national dialogues and the OpenProcurement.fi and exploreadministration.fi services.
“Open government is a key resource in the Finnish society when building citizens’ trust, security and confidence in the future,” said Minister of Local Government Sirpa Paatero, who spoke at the meeting.
The OECD Open Government Working Group was formally established in 2019. Prior to that, the group served as an informal group of experts. The working group is chaired by Katju Holkeri, Senior Ministerial Adviser at the Ministry of Finance. The meeting will be attended in person by 25 people from 15 countries. In addition,19 countries will attend via remote connection.
Dialogues
Lockdown Dialogues 2020-2021 is a major innovation that has attracted attention and interest worldwide. Lockdown Dialogues helped create a shared understanding of life during the COVID-19 pandemic. Discussions held during the crisis also provided an opportunity to build social inclusion and trust. This work continued with Democracy Defence Dialogues and the creation of a model for national dialogues.
On 11 May, 2022, the Timeout Foundation awarded the Governance Policy Unit of the Public Governance Department of the Ministry of Finance for its work to promote dialogue in Finland. The award was given in recognition of the work to strengthen democracy.
“One of the key goals of the open government strategy is to enhance the skills required for dialogue and to encourage dialogue in the public sector. For these reasons, we value this award and are very grateful for it,” says Katju Holkeri, Senior Ministerial Adviser.
Open government and OpenProcurement.fi
What attracts international interest in the work on open government is the centralised support provided by public sector organisations in the form of the Open Government Support Package, online training on transparency for everyone interested, and the NGO academy. The OpenProcurement.fi service is a unique by international standards. It provides information on how public funds are being spent in procurement.
Good practices in Oulu and Äänekoski
Finland is, for the time being, one of the few countries where the entire public sector participates in co-operative work on open government. Municipalities play a key role in this work. The strategic and comprehensive work on open government carried out in the cities of Oulu and Äänekoski will be presented in conjunction with the meeting.
Inquiries:
Katju Holkeri, Senior Ministerial Adviser, tel. +358 295 530 087, [email protected]