OECD Recognizes GMF’s Open European Dialogue as Innovative Best Practice

BRUSSELS—The German Marshall Fund is excited to announce that the Open European Dialogue (OED) has been selected by the OECD’s Observatory for Public Sector Innovation (OPSI) as a global best practice and an “innovative network tackling cross-border innovation.” The announcement came with the publication of the OECD’s new report, Achieving Cross Border Government Innovation.

Launched in 2015, the Open European Dialogue (formerly called ‘Mercator European Dialogue’) offers a unique participatory approach to strengthening cross-border dialogue and collaboration among national parliamentarians. The project works in democratic innovation and experiments with new ways of meaningfully connecting Europe’s policymakers. The focus on dialogue is based on belief in the collaborative, democratic process of decision-making and on the idea that the value of dialogue as a tool lies in its power to address complex, political challenges.

The Open European Dialogue has been pioneering and experimenting with designing constructive dialogue spaces for policymakers across the political spectrum for over half a decade.

Speaking about OED’s distinctive approach to public sector and political engagement, OED head Chiara Rosselli noted that: "The Open European Dialogue has been pioneering and experimenting with designing constructive dialogue spaces for policymakers across the political spectrum for over half a decade. From our experience applying process design to the challenge of cross-border communication and collaboration we have learned how important it is for political and policy institutions to be built taking into account the human and relational elements of politics and political changemaking."

Reflecting on OED’s impact after today’s acknowledgement GMF Acting President Dr. Ian Lesser stated that: “The Open European Dialogue is a great example of how GMF works with partners to encourage cross-border conversations on critical issues in the European and transatlantic interest. The initiative underscores the importance of innovative approaches to convening and networking, encouraging debate – and the search for common ground – across political divides. At a time of increasing polarization, projects like OED are even more critical. We are very proud of the whole OED team.”

More information about the Open European Dialogue is at https://www.openeuropeandialogue.org/.