Available Now: New Practitioner Resources on Access to Information
Citizens’ Access to Information (ATI) is an essential step to ensuring transparency and accountability in government. Promotion of ATI must be addressed through different channels.
Targeted for practitioners working on governance and transparency issues, the World Bank Institute (WBI) has recently published three working papers with examples of how countries have undertaken proactive disclosure of public information; citizen participation and transparency in Supreme Audit Institutions; and transparency in the judiciary.
Proactive Transparency: The future of the right to information? A review of standards, challenges, and opportunities (PDF 1717KB) by Helen Darbishire, Access Info Europe
- This paper on “proactive disclosure” of information (disclosure of information by public bodies without request by the public) highlights its benefits, key drivers, and emerging standards. Lessons and recommendations on how the disclosed information should be organized and published for it to be truly useful for the public are described in detail. Additional information on Helen Darbishire and AIP's work on Access to Information (Bulgarian website).
Access to Public Information and Citizen Participation in Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI): Guide to Good Practices (PDF 2408 KB) by Ezequiel Nino, Argentina’s Asociacion por la Igualdad y la Justicia (Association for Equality and Justice)
- Given its important role, there are increasing demands for SAIs to promote ATI, transparency, and citizen participation mechanisms into the work they carry out. This paper describes various practices and provides examples of such efforts in Latin America.
Access to Information and Transparency in the Judiciary: A Guide to Good Practices from Latin America (PDF 2319KB) by Alvaro Herrero and Gaspar Lopez, Argentina’s Asociacion por los Derechos Civiles (ADC, Association for Civil Rights)
- While acknowledging the importance of the Judiciary's independence, this paper highlights its connections between transparency, citizen participation and accountability within the Judiciary (including the relationship with other actors such as civil society and the media). It provides examples of practices and experiences in the administrative and jurisdictional operations of the Judiciary in Latin America.
Interested in more resources on ATI? Please see:
- ATI Enforcement Models, Content and Context (PDF 299KB)
- Budgeting Implications for ATI Legislation (PDF 415KB)
Read more about the World Bank Institute ATI program’s work in Africa.
For more information please contact Marcos Mendiburu: mmendiburu@worldbank.org or Luis Esquivel: lesquivel@worldbank.org
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