"This report provides a holistic, data-driven analysis of how countries are currently implementing open government practices, the main challenges they face and the untapped opportunities that exist for enhancing transparency, accountability and citizen participation both in the policy-making cycle and in service design and delivery. The questionnaire and analytical framework on which the report is based stem from more than a decade of work on open and inclusive policy making by the OECD Secretariat. This work includes thematic reports and country-specific open government reviews, and was enriched by the policy dialogue that has taken place in the OECD Public Governance Committee and in the three regional networks on open and innovative government that the OECD hosts in Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, and Southeast Asia. The report finds that countries are moving from an intrinsic to an instrumental understanding of open government reforms, using them to achieve broader policy objectives such as good governance and inclusive growth, rather than as a goal in themselves. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a case in point, as open government policies and initiatives can not only contribute to Goal 16 (on Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions) but they are potentially beneficial to reach all the other SDGs as well. In line with this new approach, the report highlights ways to improve whole-ofgovernment co-ordination of the national open government agenda; such co-ordination is needed in order to achieve more integrated and strategic policy outcomes. There is a need to consolidate the multitude of scattered initiatives into a single national open government strategy, based on a country-specific understanding of what open government reforms entail and seek to accomplish. To support the ensuing national discussion and provide a reference model, the OECD has developed its own definition which can be adapted to countries’ specific historical, legal, social and economic contexts: Open government is “a culture of governance based on innovative and sustainable public policies and practices inspired by the principles of transparency, accountability and participation that fosters democracy and inclusive growth." (Foreword)