Maldives will place special emphasis on identifying ways to increase the involvement of people in the decision making process of the country’s local councils during the Open Government Partnership (OGP) meeting, said Minister for Cities, Local Government and Public Works, Adam Shareef Umar.
Speaking to the media prior to his departure to the Philippines to attend this year’s OGP meeting, Minister Adam Shareef said the participants will discuss transparency, sustainable development, increased participation in council decisions and good governance through the decentralised system of governance.
The meeting will also shed light on the successful implementation of decentralisation in various countries and identify ways to bring about such changes in the Maldives, he said.
The Minister said he would give special focus to identify ways to increase the people’s involvement in the decision making process of local councils during the meeting.
“The focus is on how we can work towards increasing the participation of the people in the decisions made by the councils and we will give special priority to discussing how we can identify problems within our system and what changes need to be made,” Minister Adam Shareef explained.
“We will also get to see first-hand how the decentralised system of governance functions in the Philippines.”
The OGP was formed in 2011 by governments and civil society organisations seeking new ways of working together to address difficult challenges.
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.
This year’s meeting of the OGP will take place from 5-7 February.