Information Disclosure Policy: A Toolkit for Pacific Governments (July 2006)
### EXPLANATORY NOTES Proactive disclosure: by the Executive/bureaucracy Proactive disclosure by the bureaucracy Promoting greater dissemination of Government information to the public is a cheap, simple but very effective mechanism for increasing public participation - a common goal of governments throughout the Pacific. It removes the burden from the public, by providing them with key information without requiring a specific request to be made. If the public are given more information about projects in their area or programmes being implemented for their benefit, they will better know what services they should expect and they will be able to intelligently engage with agencies to encourage better service delivery. The initial effort of setting up a proactive disclosure system is worth the investment because publication of key information reduces requests in the long run as people are able to easily access routine information which is already in the public domain, without having to apply to public bodies. Actively sending more information into the public domain has long been recognised as a key strategy for raising the profile of government organisations and thereby promoting its value to its constituents. It is also a simple practical means of demonstrating an organisation's genuine commitment to the good governance principles of transparency, accountability and participation. If the government is concerned about the feasibility of implementing proactive disclosure across the whole of the bureaucracy immediately, consideration could be given to identifying pilot proactive disclosure departments, which could be given priority for implementing proactive disclosure first, to develop robust systems that can then be used by other departments. The following departments could be prioritised: Finance Ministry - in particular by publishing: the budget; regular and detailed updates on expenditure broken down by line item; details about development assistance received from donors, broken down into projects/programmes; Education and Health - in particular by publishing: basic budget information and expenditure updates; details on the release of monthly grants to local health services and schools; information on special programmes; Public Works - in particular, by publishing all public contracts entered into. Key questions: Is the list of information in the Model IDP appropriate - ie. does it cover all key information that the public would regularly be interested in accessing? Are there any other types of information that could usefully be disclosed? Is information listed that is relevant to women, rural people, other marginalised groups or special interest groups? As a first step, what information is already easily available and regularly produced that could be published, at least on the web? What systems and protocols can be developed which promote proactive disclosure - eg. when key files which need to be published are created who should they be sent to, to ensure they are collated and kept for inspection AND published on the web? Should the IDP Implementation Unit be the hub for proactive disclosure? Is there any other agency that is responsible for publishing government information/documents/reports? Is official information available in appropriate forms by people with low levels of literacy? How can systems be developed to encourage officials to produce information in a form that is useful to women, the poor and the handicapped, in terms of content and accessibility? Updates on the budget The regular publication of key budget and financial information is of particular importance, especially in countries which are struggling to bring their budgets into order and to fund key services and activities. Putting more information in the public domain about the size of the National Budget and its priorities, as well as regular expenditure updates, can serve to reduce suspicion about mismanagement or misdirection of funds to non-priority sectors. Similarly, dissemination of information about grants to provinces/local councils could contribute to a better understanding of the roles and obligations of the different levels of government. This could have benefits by ensuring the people do not blame officials for non-performance in areas which are not their responsibility. Key questions: What budget information is currently produced which could be released to the public (eg. national budget documents, regular departmental budget and expenditure reports, specific programme/project budgets, payroll information, tax revenue summaries)? Is any of this information currently being disclosed to the public? If so, could it be disseminated more actively and effectively? What financial information are donors publishing? Can donors be encouraged to publish more information about the funding of development projects/programmes? Electoral information The need for transparency is particularly important in relation to electoral information because elections are such a core part of the democratic process. The current laws relating to information disclosure about electoral information vary throughout the Pacific. The Model Policy proposes a baseline of information disclosure, aimed at ensuring that the most important information about how elections are conducted is easily accessible by the public. It also proposes some basic transparency standards in relation to disclosing electoral funding, such as requiring the disclosure of donations made to candidates and political parties. Internationally, this kind of information is increasingly being made public in accordance with election laws and parliamentary codes of conduct. Key questions: What electoral information, if any, is currently being disclosed to the public? How can the information currently be accessed by the public? Could the information be disseminated more actively and effectively? What additional information needs to be disclosed to assist the public to make more informed choices about candidates and the political parties they may represent? Are there any government programmes or civil society activities currently being undertaken in the area of elections (eg. institutional strengthening of the Election Commission, voter education, etc)? Could information disclosure activities be (better) incorporated into such programmes?
Commissioned by the Pacific Media and Communications Facility, an Australian Government, AusAID initiative managed by MDI International in association with MC Media & Associates