Private Sector: A FOI manual by a private company in South Africa. The compliance-oriented manual by March & McLennon Companies is dated November 2013.
Isle of Man: The government publishes a summary of responses concerning a proposed FOI law.
Employment: The Open Government Partnership is looking to hire a Regional Civil Society Coordinator with a focus on Africa. “If you have plenty of open government/civil society experience in Africa (and the Middle East preferably) you might be the person we are looking for to join the OGP civil society team,” according to the announcement.
United States: Journalist Jason Leoold, who uses FOI extensively in his work, is profiled here.
Bhutan: FreedomInfo.com’s article on the National Council’s determination not to proceed with an RTI law has ben expanded to include a later, detailed report by the National Council.
Pakistan: The Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI) has introduced a Right to Information helpline to facilitate citizens in filing information requests to public offices. Citizens can now call 051-2224496 to get assistance in filing of information request to public offices.
Request of the Week: More than 400 military drone aircraft have crashed in “major accidents” both abroad and in the United States since 2001, according to a new Washington Post investigation. The report was based on more than 50,000 pages of documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
Refusal of the Week: The United Kingdom government refuses to disclose the results of a survey on Scottish attitudes towards independence, which cost taxpayers almost £47,000, according to an article in The Herald, basing the denial on Section 35(1a) of the Freedom of Information Act, which exempts disclosure of information if it relates to the formation of UK Government policy.
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