This project is one part of a three-part Development Account project entitled "Institutional development for better service delivery towards the achievement of the sustainable development goals in Western Asia" which was launched by the Commission in 2016. The Technology for Development Division (TDD), Conflict Mitigation and Development (ECRI) and Social Development (SDD) share the project with the overall objective to build the capacities of Member States so that officials can utilize emerging technologies effectively and efficiently to enhance transparency and accountability, and adopt a more participatory approach to governance. The project directly targets SDG 16 “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels”.

 
Technology has influenced the work of Governments since the beginning and is today a key enabler of open government initiatives. Open government is a relatively new and innovative concept, which has the potential to enhance trust in Government, fight corruption, and improve growth, while citizen engagement through shared responsibilities and open collaboration can lead to tailored services and policies that serves the needs of the people.
 
Countries in the Arab region have made great strides in using technologies to delivery services to their citizens and other clients, especially the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. However, the focus is still mainly on the provision of access to government information and the digitization of some administrative processes.
 
New technological trends such as open data, citizen-centric techniques, social media, e-participation, open collaboration, and open innovation are important tools that can transform public engagement by supporting shared decision-making, shared responsibility, and public dialogue; and in doing so change the manner in which government and citizen perceive each other.
 
The project focuses specifically on the employment of emerging technologies and embracing the concept of openness. The goal is to increase the capacity of Arab countries, specifically Governments, to utilize these technologies for enhanced transparency, accountability and responsiveness through better service delivery as well as the acceptance of a participatory approach for better collaboration between Government and citizen. The implementation of the project includes a number of documents (reports, studies and flyers), meetings and workshops (regional and national).
 
This webpage provide access to all project documents and events as well as activities of other ESCWA Divisions related to open government and external links to other sources of information. The purpose of this webpage is to provide the visitor with access to all ESCWA information on open government in the Arab region.