When €5.7 billion is invested in infrastructure for a sporting event, shouldn’t everyone have the right to know how that money is spent? According to the Open Olympics 2026 campaign in Italy, the answer is simple: everyone.
Launched in 2024 by Libera and twenty other Italian civil society organisations, with support from One More Percent (Kenya) and other international partners, the Open Olympics campaign is about more than just winter sports. It is a fight for the right to know through timely, accessible, verifiable and complete information on public spending.
Numbers Tell a Story: Transparency as a Right
The 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Milan-Cortina will cost €5.72 billion: €1.6 billion for the Games and €4.12 billion for infrastructure. Yet, until civil society demanded transparent reporting, no unified list of Olympic-related projects existed. Citizens were unable to understand what was being built in their territories, by whom or for what purpose in the future.
This scenario is painfully familiar. From stadiums built for continental tournaments to roads promised for development, the pattern repeats: huge investments, limited information, and communities left wondering whether the projects serve their interests or simply line the pockets of a select few.
“We demand transparent, legal and accountable Winter Games,” declares the Open Olympics petition. The campaign’s demands are simple:
- A unified transparency portal for all Olympic projects.
- Open data to allow citizens to track the progress of each project.
- Clear information about responsibility, financing and environmental impact.
- Full disclosure of contracts, including subcontractors.
These demands reflect ongoing global issues. Whether we are monitoring mining contracts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, infrastructure projects in Kenya or reconstruction work in South Sudan, the fact remains that citizens have the right to know what is being done in their name, with their resources and on their land.
When Citizens Demand, Systems Must Respond
The campaign achieved significant victories. Pressure from civil society led to the creation of the Open Milan-Cortina 2026 portal, which provides centralised project data. The second report revealed that, of the 98 monitored projects worth €3.54 billion, 50% were still in the design or tender phase with the Olympics just weeks away. Only six works were complete. Of the 98 projects, 31 are classified as essential for the Games, while 67 fall under the legacy category – long-term infrastructure interventions for the territories. Moreover, 60% of the projects had not undergone environmental impact assessments.
The third report exposed persistent gaps. While the portal illuminated one aspect of Olympic spending, much remained hidden. Who will cover the €157 million cost increase? What is the real carbon footprint? Will labour and environmental protections survive compressed timelines?
These concern three key principles of the Open Olympics 2026 campaign: environmental protection, economic accountability, and integrity of public procurement.
Troubling data concerns the rectitude of public procurement: sixteen anti-mafia interdictions against companies working on Olympic projects confirmed fears of criminal infiltration, vindicating the campaign’s warnings while underscoring the need for continued vigilance. According to the Italian government’s Antimafia Investigative Directorate (DIA), one was issued against a construction company working on an underground car park included in the “Plan of Works for the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympics”, after its directors were found to have personal and professional relationships with members of several ‘Ndrangheta gangs.
Lessons for Civil Society
The Open Olympics campaign offers unmistakable parallels for Africa. Mega-events and infrastructure projects promise economic transformation. The 2010 World Cup, the Africa Cup of Nations and major road networks all generate similar narratives: “build now, develop later, trust the process.” Yet, all too often, the promised benefits evaporate while the costs endure.
The PLACE network recognises this pattern, connecting African anti-corruption organisations with Libera‘s global initiatives. The campaign demonstrates several crucial principles:
- Data is power. By documenting information that should be public, civil society creates accountability where none existed before. Detailed reports tracking projects, costs and timelines can be used to demand answers.
- Coalitions multiply impact. The Open Olympics brought together environmental groups, anti-corruption organisations, local associations and international partners.
- Persistence pays off. The campaign didn’t end with the creation of the portal. Three reports, ongoing monitoring and continued pressure ensured that the gains in transparency weren’t reversed.
- Transparency prevents corruption. The sixteen anti-Mafia interdictions proved that transparency actively prevents criminal infiltration, wasteful spending and environmental destruction.
Beyond the Flame: Long-Term Accountability
Perhaps most significantly, the campaign extends beyond the Games. As 57% of projects are completed after the Olympic flame is extinguished, monitoring will continue until the last site closes, which could be as late as 2033. This challenges the typical narrative of mega-events causing temporary disruption for permanent gain. This long-term perspective is crucial. Infrastructure outlasts ceremonies and photo opportunities. Roads can displace communities, stadiums can become white elephants, and contracts can burden budgets for decades. These realities demand sustained oversight, not momentary attention.
The campaign explicitly links Italian efforts with international solidarity. Organisations from Kenya, Argentina and other countries have joined as partners, recognising that the struggle for transparency is an inherently global one. Methods developed to combat Italian corruption inform strategies deployed against African kleptocracy, and vice versa. As Don Luigi Ciotti, founder and president of Libera, stated: “The Games belong to everyone, and everyone has the right to know what is happening.” The principle that major public projects require public oversight transcends geography and politics.
A Call to Action for Africa
The Open Olympics campaign raises important questions that must be echoed by African civil society.
When billions are spent on infrastructure, should we accept opacity as inevitable, or demand the transparency that technology now makes possible? When deadlines are tightened and oversight is suspended in the name of urgency, do we trust assurances or demand evidence? When criminal elements infiltrate public works, should we assume that institutions alone can prevent this, or should we recognise the importance of civic monitoring? When projects promise transformation but benefit only the privileged few, should we accept this as inevitable or assert that public resources must serve the public good?
Open Olympics answers with action. It demands transparency as a right, not a favour. It provides a model for organised, persistent, data-driven civic monitoring. It shows that when communities unite around the principle that “not one stone should be moved without transparency”, accountability becomes possible. The tools and contexts may vary, but the principle remains: those spending public money must be accountable to the public. When they resist, organised citizens must hold them to account.
The winter snow will melt in Milan and Cortina. The infrastructure will remain. Open Olympics asks us all – in Italy, Africa and everywhere – whether infrastructure represents genuine community-serving development, or simply disguised extraction. Whether we claim our right to know, our duty to monitor and our power to demand transparency and accountability in every public project, or simply accept the status quo, is up to us.
As the campaign declares: “We owe this to each other.” From the Alps to the Sahel and from the Mediterranean to Cape Town, this mutual accountability is worth honouring.
