There is a lot of attention paid to Freedom of Information (FOI) Acts. The World Bank outlined some of the issues related to the subject both in a World Development Report in 2002, with a chapter on media and also in the book, The Right To Tell. Active research also went on afterwards to identify countries that had an FOI regime and those that did not.  There are clearly many benefits to the public in countries that have enacted FOI laws. Developed countries have robust FOI laws, but they also have the necessary systems in place to deliver them to the public - though often the statistics show that it is usually business and media, rather than the general public, that make the most use of them.

But many developing countries are balking at introducing FOI laws. At times this is a political decision, at times simply inertia around the issue or perceived lack of importance of the issue. But in my many interactions with governments around the world I also increasingly come across the lack of capacity to deliver on FOIs as one of the main reasons why they are not put in place.

I believe that groups pushing for FOI laws need to take a much broader view of the country situation before pushing these laws - not only to get them approved, but also to ensure that they are effective. Simply pushing for a law - even a good one - is not enough. Unless they can be implemented they not only do not deliver what is expected, but can harm the environment for disclosure and transparency. FOI campaigners need to take a much broader view of the area before simply pushing for an FOI law. It must take a systems and a systematic approach. So what are some of the other elements that must be put into place along with the law?

• The Legal Environment - In some countries where we have seen campaigners pushing for FOI laws the overall legal environment is not taken into account. FOI laws can be trumped by Public Order Acts or Government Secrecy Acts or other administrative or regulatory procedures. The broader legal environment around FOI must be addressed and the necessary changes to all the laws and regulations related to the area need to be reviewed and changed if necessary to ensure coherence in the entire legal system.
• Records Management - Almost all developing countries where I have worked do not have a records management system; government records are not computerized; government offices outside the capital often have no records management, no computers, power, or ways to access government documents. So everything needs to be pushed up to the capital. Governments often do not even know what documents they have, never mind those that can be made public.
• Access to Copies of Government Documents - In many countries, the media for example cannot even get copies of bills passed by the national legislatures! So what are their chances of getting documents under an FOI Act? Paper copies of documents are almost impossible to find; governments charge for the copies, or there are no copy machines available. Outside the capitals the situation is often worse. Before any FOI can become useful, the distribution and availability of documents must be reformed.
• Languages - Often government documents are available in only one language or at most two. This leaves large parts of the population out even if the documents were available. Materials must be made available in vernacular languages.
• Client Service - Government officials are often actively discouraged from interacting with the public and certainly strongly discouraged to give out government information. Large-scale capacity building needs to be done in most governments in order to ensure that government workers and officials actually have a service mentality and the incentives are in place to encourage them to disseminate government information.
• Role of the Media - In many developing countries, the media themselves have little or poor capacity to know how to look for government information; how to access government materials even if an FOI is in place; and how to responsibly report on information obtained through an FOI. Many countries do not have either a self-regulating or independently regulated media board to settle coverage disputes, which will increase under FOI laws.
• Capacity of Civil Society - As with the media many civil society organizations do not have the capacity to access government information or to know what to do with it once they have received it.

Unless the entire arena around FOI is analyzed, resources planned for, and a program put into place freedom of information will not happen in developing countries. Simply pushing for a law is often counterproductive both because governments either do not want to put one in place unless all these other factors are reviewed and reformed, or they will let a law pass that becomes ineffective because government cannot deliver.

Perhaps it is time for FOI campaigners to look beyond the law and see this as a sector that needs review.

Photo Credit: Trevor Samson, 2002 (WB)