From Co-Chairs to Committee:

A fresh take on IWG leadership that values equity, diversity, and shared responsibility

by cat cortes, communications lead, Open Data Charter

Photo by John Cameron on Unsplash

As our 10th anniversary approaches, we’re pleased to introduce a new way forward with our Implementation Working Group that transforms our initial open call for 2 co-chairs to a steering committee for the group. We recognise that placing such a huge responsibility to 2 lone co-chairs monthly requires a lot of time and commitment, and especially because the role is voluntary, could lead to burnout. After reflection and feedback, we have updated the implementation group structure and replaced the traditional co-chair model with a collaborative steering committee, designed to bring more voices into the planning and direction of the meetings.

We were thrilled to receive quality applications through our original open call and decided as a team to invite the top candidates to join as one of the founding members of this new steering committee. We are pleased to introduce our first ever Implementation Working Group Steering Committee:

• Annabelle Austin, Analyst, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, Government of Canada, Canada.
• Antonio Anaya, Software Developer, OpenFlexure Microscope Project, Mexico.
• Daiana Bouzo, Human Rights Lawyer and Co-founder of B&M Consultoras, Spain.
• Diogo Pereira Henriques, Independent Consultant, Researcher and Designer, Portugal.
• Marco Zaplan, Executive Director, Gov Data Initiative (GDI), Philippines.

For each monthly meeting, The Committee will designate 2 rotating facilitators or liaisons who will lead on planning the session. Each Committee member is responsible for:

• Helping to organize meetings (a minimum of at least 3 times per member within their term) and maintaining records.
• Facilitating communication between the Committee, Guest Speakers, and Working Group members.
• Providing administrative and logistical support to the Committee, including making sure that 1 person is assigned to note-take during the session for a possible blog.
• Using our toolkit provided for meeting planning.

We hope that this new structure is more participatory and that it casts a wider net out to people whom we can learn from and involve in our future meetings. The IWG Steering Committee’s responsibilities kicked off in August and we look forward to their involvement in September’s virtual meet-up. We’re eager to hear their ideas for our upcoming meetings, and to jointly nurture our network of open data ambassadors and champions.

Read the updated Terms of Reference for the IWG Steering Committee here.

A reminder to our network that there is no Implementation Working Group meeting in August. Save the date for September’s meeting: Tuesday, 23 September 2025.

If you are a fellow open data champion and would like to join our monthly Implementation Working Group calls, fill out this form to gain access.