Purpose and context of the assessments

The primary purpose of access to information assessments is to measure the level of transparency of public institutions, with a view to:

• providing evidence for advocacy efforts on reforming A2I/FOI legislation,
• providing evidence for advocacy efforts on improving systems and processes for facilitating access to information,
• raising public awareness on their right to information and building citizen demand for greater transparency,
• monitoring the extent to which public access to information changes over time.

The majority of assessments are undertaken at the national or sub-national level, often to compare performance across government departments or between local governments. Other tools are designed to compare across countries4, whilst others still are carried out at the supra-national level to assess the transparency of, for example, international organisations or aid delivery processes5.

4 Global Right to Information Index ▪ Transparency and Silence. A Survey of Access to Information Laws and Practices in 14 Countries
5 Behind closed Doors. Secrecy in International Financial Institutions ▪ Not Available! Not Accessible! Aid Transparency Monitoring Report ▪ Aid Transparency Assessment 2010