Methodology for creating the agenda

The Open America Organizing Committee (OC) is composed of the teams coordinating the Regional Meeting, namely: ILDA, OGP, OAS, Open Knowledge Brasil, CGU, OECD, Núcleo de Informação e Coordenação do Ponto BR and the Colaboratório de Desenvolvimento e Participação da Universidade de São Paulo. As such, they are in charge of the logistical organization of the meeting as well as the coordination of the agenda and invitations.

The functions of the Organizing Committee are:

• Conduct preliminary evaluation of speaker proposals, analysis of the topics and pre-setting of the agenda;
• Suggest formats for each session and/or propose speakers or facilitators;
• Have final decision on the agenda and speakers;
• Propose and establish session topics that it considers should necessarily be included in the agenda, as well as strategic partners and sponsors of the  event.

The Condatos Evaluation Committee is composed of a group of individuals with expertise in the topics identified as priorities for this event. Its members come from different types of organizations, professional backgrounds and interests. All members work with and support the open government, open data and innovation communities in a variety of ways.

The functions of the Evaluation  Committee are:

• Co-design the Open America agenda with the Organizing Committee based on its proposals;
• Evaluate the proposals received through the platform, following the agreed criteria;
• Define, with the Organizing Committee, the evaluation criteria of the proposals received for the Condatos track.

Sector	Institution	Member
Government	Government of Chile	Braulio Neira
Government	Chief of Cabinet of Ministers – Argentina	Daniela Garcia
Government	CGU – Brasil	Fernando Vassoler
Government	CGU – Brasil	Flavia Schmidt
Government	Government of Ecuador	Johanna Pazmiño
Multilateral organization	CEPAL	Alejandra Naser
Multilateral organization	IABD	Arturo Muente
Multilateral organization	CAF	Camilo Cetina
Multilateral organization	IADB	Fabricio Rodriguez
Multilateral organization	OEA	Mike Mora
Multilateral organization	OEA	Nicolás Ramirez
Multilateral organization	Red GEALC	Roberto Lopez
Civil society	Democracy Hub	Agustin Frizzera
Civil society	ILDA	Ana Gabriel Zuñiga
Civil society	Data.Uy	Daniel Carranza
Civil society	ILDA	Gloria Guerrero
Civil society	Open Knowledge Brasil	Haydée Svab
Civil society	Open Knowledge Brasil	Isis Reis
Civil society	Open Knowledge Brasil	Jamile Santana
Civil society	Open Data Charter	Mercedes de los Santos
Civil society	Open Knowledge Brasil	Murilo Machado
Civil society	Open Data Charter	Natalia Carfi
Civil society	Open Data Charter	Renato Berrino
Civil society	HIVOS	Saira Ortega
Civil society	AVINA	Sara Fratti
Civil society	ILDA	Tamara Laznik
Civil society	ILDA	Violeta Belver

1. Thematic agenda definition

The Organizing Committee defined 4 main themes for the meeting:

• Collective construction;
• The power of openness;
• Better lives;
• The future is open.

The first one, Collective Construction, contains the Abrelatam track, the open data disconference. For the remaining 3 topics, a call for contributions to the agenda was made.

Agenda topics

2. The power of openness	3. Better lives	4. The future is open
Guiding questions: How to accelerate and maximize open data? How to stimulate the development of open technologies? How to advance multilevel governance structures? How are emerging technologies (AI, etc.) changing the open data landscape and what are their ethical and social implications?	Guiding questions: How can we advance the openness of data, technologies and governments in order to improve public policies and people’s lives? What is the role of data and technology in contexts of democratic and climate crisis? How can human rights be guaranteed in a digital world undergoing intense transformation?	Guiding questions: What were the lessons learned and dialogues built? What are the main concerns for the future? What opportunities should we seize? Which stakeholders should we involve? How can we ensure public policies that promote openness? Which technologies should we monitor?

2. Call for proposals

Each track (Open Government Meeting, BR Data Week, Condatos, Abrelatam, Coda.Br) that makes up Open America had different ways of composing its agenda.

For the collaborative forms of agenda composition, two ways of contributing to Open America were defined:

• Through the Discuto platform it was possible to make proposals and suggestions for activities and speakers for the Open Government Meeting track;
• Through the Pretalx platform it was possible to submit proposals for panels, workshops and lightning talks for the Condatos and Coda.Br tracks.

Proposals were submitted from August 22 to September 15, 2024 and were received:

• 307 proposals for the Condatos track;
• 97 proposals for the Coda.Br track;
• 343 contributions for the Open Government Meetings track.

3. Establishment of the Condatos Evaluation Committee and definition of evaluation criteria

The Organizing Committee brought together several people with experience in the subject of the meeting to form an Evaluation Committee for the Condatos track.

A meeting was held with the Evaluation Committee to make a general presentation and reach a consensus on the evaluation criteria.

Criteria agreed upon:

• Understandability and coherence of the proposal;
• The proposal is aligned with the central themes of Open America (“Collective Construction”, “The Power of Openness”, “Better Lives” and “The Future is Open”);
• Relevance of the proposal, given its contribution to the thematic field in which it is inserted;
• Degree of originality of the proposal, considering its relation to the current debate on the topic;
• Degree of innovation of the proposal;
• Impact of the experience or initiative addressed;
• Racial diversity (non-white person), gender diversity (cis or trans woman) and/or regional diversity (the proposer is based in peripheral regions).

4. Proposal and contribution evaluation for all tracks

Each track had a differentiated evaluation methodology, which was defined by the trajectory of how each track has defined and organized its agenda in previous editions.

Condatos proposals evaluation

Once the call for proposals had ended, the proposals were evaluated by the Condatos  Evaluation Committee and the Organizing Committee. At least 3 people evaluated each of the Condatos track speaker proposals, based on the previously agreed criteria.

Coda.Br proposals evaluation

Open Knowledge Brasil, organizer of the Coda.Br track, was in charge of the evaluation of proposals and selection of sessions on the agenda.

Open Government Meeting suggestions evaluation

OGP and OECD, organizers of the Open Government Meeting track, were in charge of the evaluation of contributions and comments received on the Discuto platform for the assembly of the track sessions on the agenda.

With the 343 comments received from 231 people, the initial proposal was adjusted to better reflect the priorities and emerging issues in the region. Here are some of the key changes incorporated:

New sessions inspired by contributions:

• More on Open State: addition of sessions dedicated to open justice and parliaments;
• Digital trends for the region: addition of  two sessions on the challenges of artificial intelligence for democracy, addressing risks and strategies for effective and ethical control;
• Public Participation: addition of a session in which practitioners and researchers from Latin America will share their experiences on advances and challenges in citizen participation;
• OGP Processes in Action: addition of a space for those involved in the OGP process to exchange learning, difficulties and experiences.

New approaches and voices enrich the agenda:

In order to  broaden the perspective of our discussions in the sessions, innovative speakers and experiences were added. Some examples are reflected here:

• Gender and Inclusion: a session focused on creating a meeting space for the feminist open government community in the region, strengthening its presence and visibility;
• Youth Perspective: addition of young voices in high-level sessions, ensuring intergenerational representation on the most relevant issues;
• Civic Space and Escazú Agreement: working groups  themes were refined to reflect the importance of fostering an enabling environment for civil society organizations and improving the participation of citizens and stakeholders.

5. Agenda consolidation

Once the topics and sessions of each track had been pre-selected, a comprehensive evaluation of the complete agenda, including all the tracks, was carried out in order to bring together all the sessions of Open America.

At this stage, the format and roles in each session were defined and, based on the consensus reached, the Organizing Committee began the process of contacting panelists and coordinating support scholarships for those who had requested them.