Is it just another global talking-shop—or a fresh approach to shaking out government secrecy?

Openness in a government is great for people's confidence and satisfaction with their state. Maybe. Often esoteric data can be made public, to the consternation of those trying to understand it and without generating much change. Specific groups and lobbies for deciphering all of this and explaining/presenting it are crucial. Especially for pointing out and publicizing waste, possible corruption, or unreasonable allocations. The internet is an extremely useful tool in linkinking these organization and, more importantly, acting as their mouthpiece. An increase in oppeness by a state is a boon to these organizations, and current technology & connectivity allow these organizations to sprout and thrive in almost any state. Empowering and enabling these watchdogs and political advocacy groups with access to government finances is key to establishing and maintaining public trust in the government. Without third parties to act as a mediator between government transparency and the people, the new openness is only translucent.

To clarify: UK budgetary aid is not conditional on Open Government Partnership criteria, although transparency is a key factor that DFID considers.

We will look at progress against OGP membership criteria as part of our overall assessments on budget support, in those countries where we provide it. We will spend up to 5% of budgetary aid as additional funds on activities that support progress towards more open government.