A five-year partnership that hoped to improve procurement through open data and transparency

The Hivos Open Up Contracting programme is a strand of the Strategic Partnership for Dialogue and Dissent funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. It is a five year, €12.5 million programme led by Hivos in partnership with Article 19, the Open Contracting Partnership (OCP), the School of Data and the Engine Room.

The ultimate goal of the programme is to see a world where "People have equal access to
quality public goods and services they care about: good public education, quality health
care, safe roads and clean drinking water. Governments are increasing transparency of public
spending; non-state actors are participating in and engaging citizens in the planning,
procurement, and monitoring of public contracting; and accountability mechanisms have
been created to receive and act upon citizen feedback".

The programme chose to focus its national level work in seven countries across Southeast
Asia, Africa and Latin America. An initial country selection was made in July 2016—following
an analysis of baseline and scoping studies—including Tanzania, Malawi, Kenya, Ghana,
Indonesia, Philippines, Nepal, Honduras, Peru