Open Guv Hub  | 19 March 2021 |

The new Biden administration represents an opportunity for governance and anti-corruption reform in the United States, both to undo the damage done under the Trump era and to build our systems back better and with more resilience.

To make the most of this opportunity, we can learn from countries that have faced similar windows in recent years. In the wake of scandals and with popular support, how can reformers—both inside and outside of government—make the most of this moment?

We’ll be joined by reformers who have navigated recent windows in Guatemala, Slovakia, and South Africa. They’ll share what they learned, including what went well and where they saw challenges. And together we’ll discuss what lessons from those moments apply to the United States.

SPEAKERS: Radovan Pala – Advisor to the President of Slovakia and Partner at TaylorWessing. Gabriel Wer – Executive Director of Institute 25A in Guatemala. Zen Mathe – Researcher, Advocacy and Investigations, Open Secrets, South Africa

MODERATORS: The conversation is moderated by Florencia Guerzovich and Dave Algoso.

Background: This roundtable is rooted in a recent Open Society Foundations (OSF) report “Seeing New Opportunities: How Global Actors Can Better Support Anticorruption Reformers” by Florencia Guerzovich, María Soledad Gattoni, and Dave Algoso.

“Window of Opportunity” is also a continuation of the Outside/In and Defending Democracy event series, where we bring international perspectives to apply to the United States.

The event is also the first under a new 2021 Open Gov Hub programmatic theme: “Reversing Democratic Backsliding: What America and other countries can learn from each other to continually work toward responsive and representative political systems.”