From the 15-16 March 2006, the World Bank together with  Participación Ciudadana and the  Fundacion Institucionalidad y Justicia (FINJUS)   carried out a workshop to support the Dominican government in thinking through strategies for implementation of the Access to Information Law .

Approximately 70 participants from government, civil society and the private sector attended the event (agenda)

The specific objectives of this workshop were to:

(i) inform public entities subject to the Law, as well as a broad range of civil society actors, about the content and process of the elaboration of the Access to Information Law;

(ii) share the model of the Oficina de Acceso a la Información (OAI) established in the attorney general's office (Procuraduría);

(iii) share international experience on how laws in other countries have been successfully implemented;

(iv) understand the expectations behind and the constraints to the implementation of the Law,

agree on phased strategies for implementing the law.

The methodology of the workshop consisted of providing international experience in the area of implementation of similar laws on the first day and on the second day dividing into sector working groups to elaborate action plans.

On the first day, various actors presented the background on the adoption of the Dominican access to information law, the stage of its implementation and institutional models for its implementation.

Two World Bank projects currently under preparation that will support implementation of the access to information law in the Dominican Republic were presented. The  Institutional Strengthening Technical Assistance Loan (ISTAL)    includes a component supporting the implementation of the access to information law. At the same time, the World Bank supports an Action Plan for Access to Information financed by the ESSD Trustfund  that aims at raising awareness for the importance of access to information, at generating demand for timely and accurate public information, and at strengthening the State’s capacity to respond to requests for public information. The Social Protection Investment Loan (SPIL)  will strengthen the social protection system and increase the access of poor and extremely poor Dominican households – especially the undocumented and youth at risk – to programs that strengthen human capital and that offer short-term poverty alleviation opportunities. Availability of information on these programs is crucial for beneficiaries to access these services and for monitoring and evaluation of implementation.

Finally, international experience on the implementation of access to information legislation was shared. The Mexico case was presented by Ricardo Becerra Laguna, Director of the Department for Assistance to the Public of the Instituto Federal de Acceso a la Información (IFAI). Alejandro Urizar from Acción Ciudadana , Guatemala presented the Importance to Access to Information of Social Programs in Guatemala.

On the second day, participants divided up in working groups and prepared matrices on phased strategies for the implementation of the access to information law.

Main results from the working groups include the following recommendations:

(i)  The creation of an interinstitutional commission coordinating implementation of the AI law under responsibility of CONARE;

(ii) Interinstitutional coordination for identification of (i) financial resources, (ii) human resources, (iii) capacity building needs, (iv) archives/systems for implementation of Oficinas de Acceso a la Información;

(iii) Interinstitutional coordination for elaboration of an operational manual to be applied by all public institutions concerning institutional structures, internal information flows, human resources and procedures for archiving, documenting, presenting and providing information;

(iv)  Capacity building activities for Responsables de Acceso a la Información to ensure their responsiveness to requests for information;

(v)  Establishing electronic system for online requests for public information;

(vi)  Awareness building among Dominican citizens concerning their right to access to public information