FOIP in 2016

The Freedom of Information Programme (FOIP) is looking forward to a full and busy 2016 with a number of exciting new projects on our agenda.

Local Government Capacity Building Project

Last year saw the development of a pilot local government capacity-building project in which SAHA moved away from the usual sector based training, undertaken in previous years as part of the FOIP Training Programme, and partnered for the first time with local government to offer capacity building to municipal officials dealing with access to information. This year will see the roll out of phase two of the local government capacity building project, starting with engagements with municipalities and local community activists in the eThekwini metropolitan area.

PAIA Tracker Development

SAHA’s PAIA Request Tracker, an online information management tool developed by SAHA to track and manage requests made under the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 (PAIA) in South Africa, both by SAHA and by other members of the PAIA Civil Society Network (PCSN) will be undergoing development this year. While much of the information about requests submitted through the PAIA Request Tracker is already publicly accessible from the FOIP website, this year we will be working to make even morepublicly accessible, including information about Requestee bodies such as contact information and compliance statistics.

Litigation

In 2015 SAHA received, as a result of successful litigation launched along with the Right2Know Campaign and arising out of a request for information made by SAHA, in terms of PAIA, the list of National Key Points. 2015 also saw the beginning of the end of an 11 year battle for the release of records from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s in-camera (Section 29) hearings and the launching of litigation in a number of matters. More strategic litigation is lined up for 2016 with FOIP seeking to get judgment on key aspects of PAIA as well as gain access to a number of historically important records.

Collaboration

FOIP will also continue to work with our civil society partners including the PAIA Civil Society Network and the Right2Know Campaign.

Learn more about the work of FOIP