"While academic studies on the impact of FOI are still surprisingly few and far between, many more studies are available as institutional reports (e.g. the 14-country study by the Open Society Foundations in 2006). Around the world, government and non-governmental organisations are launching web pla
...
tforms enabling people to make FOI requests (we found at least 34, at different stages of implementation and use). However, studies of online FOI impact are scarce. We only found six such studies of online FOI sites – one brief Spanish-language report on the government sites in Brasil, Chile and Mexico (Fumega, 2014), and other reports of the CSO [Civil Society Organisations] sites in Chile, Spain, Uruguay and the European Union – and one experimental study of 300 emails sent to government offices in Italy. This makes it difficult to separate the “added value” of online requests and responses from that of offline ones. In theory, online FOI should reflect the same benefits found for ICTs in general transparency and accountability literature: ease of access, ease of request and response, the “multiplier” effect of many groups accessing the same information, building on it and sharing it, the “glare effect” of information being much more visible, and generally beating the path to accountability. However, both offline and online, FOI faces similar challenges: impact and the transition from transparency to accountability; equitable access, security and privacy; cost and time burden both to requester and responder; institutional and public perception; and complex roles of CSOs and the media." (Executive summary)
more
"The purpose of the study is to provide baseline data and research-driven recommendations to help inform and later evaluate the impact of ‘Action for Transparency’. Action for Transparency is a three-year, media-for-development programme, managed by Fojo and its partners and funded by the Swedis
...
h International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The programme is designed to help tackle corruption and mismanagement of government funds in Zambia and Uganda by putting the power to change in the hands of citizens. Action for Transparency comprises three phases of targeted interventions designed to catalyse a culture of accountability and transparency through a ripple out effect. The three phases include: 1. Training for up to 4,000 journalists, civil society representatives and public sector employees in Zambia and Uganda on how to access, analyse and communicate information on government spending. 2. Development of ICT tools, including an online application (app) which enables users to compare the amount of government money pledged to specific schools and health clinics against their own observations of what appears to have been spent. 3. Public awareness campaign, through which those who took part in the initial training will launch and champion the new ICT tools, nationally, and raise awareness through a range of promotional activities. This study presents baseline data and findings that will inform and later help evaluate the overall3 impact of the three phases on participating journalists and civil society representatives, and their capacity to (a) access (b) analyse and (c) communicate information about government spending." (Introduction, page 4)
more
"Los diecinueve textos que conforman el libro se articulan en torno a siete temáticas: 1) Percepciones sobre el DIC y los medios, 2) Ética, 3) Estructuras de contenido, 4) Coberturas noticiosas, 5) Agresiones a periodistas, 6) Acceso a la Información Pública, y 7) Estado, medios y normativa. Su
...
objetivo mayor es motivar a la reflexión de e inaugurar debate en los temas analizados, considerados de importancia estratégica para una mejor práctica periodística y la promoción del DIC en su más amplio sentido: como derecho articulador de la comunicación democrática." (Pág. web UNIR)
more
"This series of Briefing Notes is designed to give readers an understanding of the key international legal standards that apply in the context of freedom of expression. They are aimed at an audience which does not necessarily have a deep understanding of freedom of expression issues, but they also a
...
im to be of interest and relevance to more sophisticated freedom of expression observers and practitioners." (Page 1)
more
"This toolkit is designed for journalists working in any media – newspapers, radio, and television – as well as bloggers and other information professionals who need to get access to information held by public bodies for their stories. The toolkit is for journalists making requests in their own
...
country or considering submitting a request in another country. It is based on a comparative analysis of the access to information laws in the region covered by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which has 56 participating states in Europe, Central Asia and North America; of these 48 have legal provisions on the right of access to information held by public bodies; the law of Kosovo is also analysed." (Overview, page 7)
more
"Internews’ research reveals a confluence of conditions in ASEAN that make the present time a critical moment for Freedom of Expression / Right to Information (FoE/RTI) interventions in the region. As donor support dwindles, and threats to FoE increase, there is a danger of a severe roll-back of t
...
he rights and freedoms in the region that underpin thriving democracies. The backdrop to this scenario – ASEAN integration along with various other regional synergies – has created an opening for dialogue on key social issues such as FoE/RTI that connect countries within the region." (Conclusion)
more
"This report is intended to be a practical, useful guide for stakeholders in national and local governments, the media, civil society, and business to making freedom of information laws work. The authors’ particular emphasis is on the role public officials and journalists must play in effectively
...
breathing life into these laws, giving meaning to their democratic intent and legal guarantees [...] This paper begins with a review of the theory and practice of FOI laws, which are universally recognized as critical components of a modern system of free expression. It follows with discussion of the obstacles to effective implementation, including in an appendix several interviews with stakeholders in six countries in which FOI laws have been introduced recently: Albania, Armenia, Indonesia, Jamaica, South Africa, and Ukraine. The paper then makes several recommendations." (Executive summary)
more
"The Update reveals that the challenges faced by advocates, and the campaigning tactics used in each region, are at times remarkably similar. National civil society coalitions, for example, are mentioned by many authors as having made a central contribution to campaigns. In other cases, challenges d
...
iffer greatly depending on cultural context. For example, in South Asia, a problem has been identified of a lack of NGO transparency, which has created an environment where some civil society groups are leading by example; this issue is further complicated by the fact that, in some countries in the region, civil society is formally covered within the scope of the national Right to Information law. In many regions there are relatively strong relations among advocates from different countries; the Update seeks to foster better understanding and to stimulate international dialogue among the different regions of the world about this core human rights issue and its development going forward. We note that while there are plenty of national publications about RTI developments, this is far less true at the regional level. The Update also aims to draw attention to the global nature of the movement for the right to information. We hope that this will assist advocates both within and outside of FOIAnet find out about each other, and thereby further build and strengthen the movement." (Introduction, page 8)
more
"Out of the twelve countries surveyed, only four have specific access to information laws. These countries are: Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe. However, a significant indication of the shifting tide on the continent is that six of the countries surveyed have some form of specific access to
...
information in a Bill or parliamentary process. These countries are: Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Senegal, Tanzania, Zambia." (Page 5)
more
"This guide follows a regional conference hosted by FAIR during September 2012 in Nairobi (Kenya) where more than 40 journalists, editors and media representatives discussed issues around ‘War on Terror in East Africa: security, elections and transparency. The programme also combined regional case
...
study presentations with technical skills training. Ron Nixon (New York Times and founder of the Ujima project) provided insight on ‘how to follow government spending through public information’. His session demonstrated there is a lot of data about African state spending freely available on the internet, such as US department databases, service contracts, legal documents and US aid agency websites. Although termed ‘classified’ by some Ministries, data on government programmes can be obtained via the US Freedom of Information Act, for example. The selection of websites and documents presented by Ron Nixon at the Nairobi workshop, and also contained in this guide, is meant to enable investigative journalists to dig deeper using various tools and sources without getting into trouble. The ultimate objective is to show how data from external sources can be used by African journalists to expose forms of secret lobbying and foreign aid that do not help development." (Foreword)
more