July 19, 2010- For the first time ever, civil society organizations (CSOs), including some that were previously hesitant to engage with the Bank, have collaborated with the institution on the implementation of a major policy. Three well-known international CSOs – Bank Information Center (BIC), Argentinean Center for Human Rights and Environment (CEDHA) and the International Budget Partnership (IBP) – were heavily involved in the implementation of the Bank’s new Access to Information policy.
“It has been an interesting challenge for CSOs to shift from an advocacy to a collaborative role in their approach to the Bank. I hope this can be extended to other policy areas,” said Juan Carballo of CEDHA.
The new policy represents a paradigm shift in the Bank’s release of documentation, a critical resource for CSOs which monitor the Bank. Since July 1, the majority of Bank documents are accessible to the public, and a new appeal mechanism exists for those that are not.
The collaboration began in 2009 during the consultation phase of the new policy which involved extensive consultations with CSOs and other stakeholders. The Global Transparency Initiative (GTI), a network of international CSOs working on information disclosure issues, helped the Bank design and carry out the consultations, which involved over 50 consultation meetings and video conferences with multiple stakeholders in 33 countries. To gather, display and track input from the consultations, the Bank created a website which featured participant lists, meeting notes, and a final report on all input received and whether it was incorporated into the policy.
Once the policy was approved in December 2009, CSOs worked closely with the Bank’s Access to Information Working Group (AIWG) providing input and suggestions on various aspects of the implementation plan including: translation requirements, user accessibility, staff training, and civil society outreach. CSO representatives attended several AIWG meetings, providing detailed feedback on the staff handbook and testing the usability of the Access to Information website. BIC reported regularly via their website to a broad network of CSOs around the world on implementation plans and issues.
AIWG members valued the CSO’s for providing real time feedback on how policy features would be perceived and accepted by the CSO community. “The extensive involvement of CSOs was quite valuable and demonstrated how seriously the Bank is taking the implementation of this new policy. CSOs can play an important role going forward to help the Bank ensure that average citizens have access to Bank information,” said AIWG Chair, Peter Stephens, EXTOC.
As a way of both recognizing and celebrating this collaboration, the Bank, BIC, CEDHA, and IBP hosted a launch reception at Infoshop on July 1. “It has been both productive and a pleasure to work with the Bank on the consultation and implementation phases of this new policy,” said BIC head, Chad Dobson, at the launch reception. “BIC and other CSOs look forward to continue to working with the Bank on the next phase of this implementation process, taking this collaborative approach to the country level,” he said.
Caroline Anstey, EXT Vice President, noted the important milestone the Bank has reached in now disclosing the great majority of Bank operational documents. “The Bank could not have advanced so far without the strategic support of civil society,” she said, and thanked the three CSOs for their leadership roles throughout the process.
In the first two weeks of the new policy, the Access to Information website has received 44 requests for documents, many from CSOs. This represents a fivefold increase in demand over last year and signals that requests for Bank documents are expected to increase over time.
Building on this positive engagement, the CSOs have proposed that Bank–CSO advisory groups be established in a number of countries to facilitate the implementation of the policy locally. The CSOs have also proposed to work with the Bank on designing and delivering training on the new policy to country-based CSOs.
Contributed by John Garrison, Senior Communications Officer, EXTIA