"Be responsible" campaign wins Open Government Partnership's second prize in New York

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New York, the USA (25 September 2014) -- The public engagement campaign “Be Responsible. Zero Grey Economy”, which was jointly developed by the Government of Montenegro and the Faculty for Electrical Engineering Podgorica, with significant support from the UNDP Montenegro, the UK Embassy in Montenegro, and NGOs, has won the second prize of the Open Government Partnership' s international initiative competing with the best projects from 33 countries which promote citizen involvement in implementing public policy.

The Montenegrin campaign won the prestigious award, as it was stated, due to its contribution to boosting cooperation between civil and public sectors, and active involvement of citizens in implementing public policy.

Open Government Partnership’s First Prize was awarded to a Denmark’s project, while the third-ranked project came from the Philippines. Projects from Italy, the Netherlands, Mexico, Great Britain, Peru, the United States and France were also found among the top 10.

At the award ceremony, which took place on Wednesday afternoon (late evening Central European Time) at the level of heads of state and government, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, top officials from the three-highest ranked countries spoke about the award-winning initiatives and presented the  winning teams.

Montenegro’s President Filip Vujanović presented Vuk Vujnović, Coordinator of the campaign from the Public Relations Bureau of the Government of Montenegro, and Professor Slobodan Đukanović, Coordinator of the Creative Programmers Team from the Faculty for Electrical Engineering in Podgorica.

"The Be Responsible campaign teaches us an important lesson – namely, that meaningful and effective collaboration with citizens can provide public authorities with the resources, skills and credibility they need to implement policies more successfully," Mr Vujanović pointed out. 

He stated that this project would not have been possible without advanced academic knowledge of representatives of the Faculty for Electrical Engineering in Podgorica, significant support from the UNDP Montenegro and the British Embassy in Podgorica, dedicated work of inspection services, vision and leadership of the Finance Ministry.

President of Montenegro also thanked responsible citizens and media for their continued support for the campaign, as well as non-government organisations, the Centre for Democratic Transition, Institute Alternative, Citizens' Alliance, Environmental Movement Ozone and NGO Green Home, which supported Montenegro's candidacy for this prestigious international award.

Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multilateral initiative which aims to secure concrete commitment from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption and harness new technologies to strengthen governance through cooperation between governments and citizens. Montenegro was one of the first countries to join the initiative, which today brings together 64 countries from throughout the world.