The World Bank is developing and testing a set of indicators to evaluate the implementation of right to know laws.
Expected out in June, the 120-item evaluative tool will cover topics such as enforcement and management. The Bank is testing the tool using information gathered about four countries.
Also nearing a debut is a project on implementation by the Carter Center. The final pilot phase will be completed in April and given a “soft launch.”
World Bank Tests Evaluative Tool
The Bank assessment tool is being tested using information about implementation gathered by the World Resources Institute about the United States, Jordan, Thailand and South Africa. Separate reports are be prepared by researchers on implementation efforts in all four countries.
Run by consultant Stephanie E. Trapnell, the project is a continuation of previous Bank research on implementation.
In March 2013, the Bank published a report on implementation based on reports about eight countries. (See FreedomInfo.org article.)
The Bank found that right to information laws “will accomplish little” in poor countries “unless concerted efforts are made to address the broader enabling environment, and appropriate capacity building strategies are devised.” The report was based on individual research studies of implementation in eight countries: Albania, India, Mexico, Moldova, Peru, Romania, Uganda and the United Kingdom.
Synthesis Report Planned
Development of the evaluative tool about implementation began about eight months ago with the goal of creating a set of indicators that can be used by Bank staffers “in-country” and others.
The Bank is not intending to do a large-scale comparative study.
The goal is to have a “very basic diagnostic” tool, that may not pinpoint tell where the problems are, Trapnell said, describing it as “exploratory.”
Applying the tool to the four countries is a test of its utility. The Bank plans to summarize the lessons in a “synthesis” report analyzing the indicators, Trapnell told FreedomInfo.org.
The tool is not designed to score country’s implementation, but the Bank may set a threshold for a well-functioning system.
The tool relies mostly on yes and no answers to questions, plus numerical data on such things as usage and compliance.
The pilot project focuses on the environment and agriculture ministries in the four countries, and the
There are six broad categories:
– Administrative functions
– Disclosure functions
– Monitoring and oversight
– Appeals and sanctions
– Civil society
– Political environment
The World Bank project is lodged in the division of Governance and Public Sector Management and funded by the Nordic Trust Fund on Human Rights.
Carter Center Status Report
The following report on the Carter Center project was provided by Laura Neuman, Manager, Global Access to Information Initiative, Senior Associate Director, Peace Programs, The Carter Center.
Over the past three years, the Carter Center has developed the access to information Implementation Assessment Tool (IAT) to identify the extent and quality of Freedom of Information law implementation. The IAT is a first diagnostic tool designed to assess the specific activities/inputs that the public administration has engaged in furtherance of a well-implemented law. The IAT is not intended to be used as a ranking but rather as an input for government’s understanding and progress and for civil society advocacy. It does not assess the quality of the law, compliance or user satisfaction. The IAT does establish an authoritative and comprehensive set of implementation benchmarks, identify the extent and in some cases the quality of implementation of the law in those agencies assessed, provide a roadmap for improvements based on the tool’s findings, and contributes to dialogue and scholarship on implementation and the right of access to information.
The assessment includes 65 indicators related to the main FOI functions of receiving and responding to requests, automatic publication and records management. Within these functions we look at the key elements of policy, systems, guidelines, resources and monitoring, and use a stoplight methodology of assigning a color (green, yellow, red) for each indicator.
The Center has piloted the indicators over two previous phases in Mexico, South Africa, Bangladesh, Uganda, Indonesia, Scotland and Chile. We are currently in the final phase of testing the indicators in these same countries as well as adding four additional countries: Georgia, Jordan, Guatemala and the USA. This grouping of 11 countries, allows us to test the IAT in various geographical regions and countries with differing levels of development and access to information implementation maturity, to ensure that the indicators are portable across countries.
The final pilot phase will be completed in April 2014, concluding with a validation meeting and soft launch of the tool to the community of practice in Washington DC. We are currently researching and gauging interest in applying the IAT in additional countries beginning July 2014.
For additional information about the Carter Center’s implementation assessment tool, please see: http://www.cartercenter.org/peace/americas/access_to_information/IAT/index.html.
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