Metamorphosis was part of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Global Summit, hosted by the Government of Spain in October 7-9, 2025, in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.
The summit united over 2000 reformers, leaders, and experts from over 70 countries for one sole purpose: strengthening trust, transparency, and democracy in a rapidly changing world. The summit focused on rebuilding public confidence, safeguarding civic space, and responsibly leveraging data and AI for better governance. The adoption of the Vitoria-Gasteiz Declaration by nearly 160 governments and organisations reaffirmed a global commitment to collaboration, integrity, and resilience in democratic governance.
During the opening plenary, the Summit honored a good friend of OGP and a previous OGP Steering Committee member, Helen Darbishire. In Helen’s memory, they announced the first recipients of the first call for applications under the Helen Darbishire Fund for Civil Society, honoring the late champion of access to information and human rights, among which was Metamorphosis Foundation in partnership with the Center for Civil Communications. These grants will strengthen open government processes, sustain civil society engagement, and drive ambitious reforms across OGP members.
As part of the Summit, Danche Danilovska – Bajdevska, Program Director at Metamorphosis Foundation was a speaker on the panel “Beyond the Commitment: Reflecting on 15 Years of OGP’s Journey“. In preparation to mark that anniversary, the session took stock of the major achievements and impact of the partnership. It brought together a “data and stories” approach sharing rigorous data on the impact of OGP on policies, countries and government and civil society reformers over the past decade. Using the format of “lightning talks” the session brought together reformers and provided an opportunity to hear real stories from national and local governments, civil society and thought leaders (including some of the founding members) on how they have used the OGP platform to advance their goals.
In her speech, Danilovska-Bajdevska spoke about North Macedonia’s 15-year journey within the initiative, describing it as a community of values and a platform for resilience that strengthened transparency, accountability, and citizen participation — even during the country’s period of state capture. She reflected on key reforms achieved through OGP, such as the Open Treasury, the national Open Data Portal, the register of beneficial ownership, and the Law on Free Access to Public Information, while emphasizing the crucial role of civil society in co-creating and monitoring of six National Action Plans. Highlighting local-level breakthroughs, she noted that over 280 datasets from 50 municipalities were published, earning international recognition for North Macedonia’s tools for municipal transparency at the OGP Global Summit in Seoul.
She further underlined that one of OGP’s greatest impacts in North Macedonia has been the institutionalization of civic participation through the Council for Open Government and the OGP Civil Society Network, which now includes more than 75 organizations. While acknowledging challenges such as limited institutional capacity, political turnover, and slow legislative implementation, she stressed that OGP’s true success cannot be measured only by data or compliance but by the trust, collaboration, and culture of openness it has built between government and civil society. Her key message was clear — the real impact of open government lies not only in delivered reforms but in how they transform relationships, accountability, and citizens’ trust in institutions.
The Summit was closed by His Majesty King Felipe VI closing remarks that open government is the cornerstone of democracy and public trust.
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