The Power of Using the Right to Information Act in Bangladesh: Experiences from the ground can now be downloaded from the World Bank Institute’s website. The publication, published by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability – South Asia, and the World Bank Institute’s Access to Information Program,
“documents the experiences of NGOs working in the field and how the Right to Information (RTI) Act has had an impact on individuals. The result is fifteen stories of how citizens and communities have used the RTI Act to obtain information from the government in order to hold their local government bodies to accounts and improve their living conditions. In general terms, the stories highlight the processes through which people requested, obtained and used information, as well as the immediate impact.”
At the same time, a video highlighting how Right to Information (RTI) is being used in Bangladesh by stakeholders such as grassroots groups, journalists and youth groups can also be viewed fromm the WBI site. The video
“describes three initiatives led by partners of WBI’s Access to Information Program and supported through the CIDA-WBI Governance Program. As a result, more than 100 trainers, nearly 1,000 community-based organizations and grassroots groups, and 30,000 villagers (37% women), youth and media have been trained on the use of RTI. This support has led to the filing of more than 400 information requests under the RTI Act, investigative journalism articles, and RTI stories through which citizens in Bangladesh have been able to know and demand their entitlements regarding social programs, as well as to increase accountability in service delivery and public expenditure”
