Changing Lives through RTI

The Right to Information (RTI) has been highlighted as a key condition for citizen participation, social accountability and good governance, while also being recognized as a human right. In this context, the number of countries adopting RTI legislation has increased significantly in the past decade.

While in some countries RTI has been seen as part of the anti-corruption or state modernization agendas (for instance Mexico and Chile), in South Asia, particularly in India, it has been seen as part of the empowerment agenda. There, the 2005 Right to Information (RTI) Act has been embraced by grassroots groups as a powerful tool to demand their entitlements, especially those under government-sponsored social programs. This has resulted in use of the RTI Act by people to improve their living conditions. Although to a lesser extent, citizens in Bangladesh are beginning to realize the potential that their RTI Act has in this area.

The RTI Act in Bangladesh was approved by Parliament in 2009, and implementation started that same year. As with any country in early stages of RTI implementation, Bangladesh still faces challenges and there are areas for improvement, however some progress has been made (see for instance this editorial in Bangladesh’s leading English Newspaper highlighting challenges and progress). The Information Commission has been set up and started operations. Furthermore, there are several organizations working to raise awareness and build capacity among citizens regarding the benefits of using the RTI Act. 

Awareness raising and capacity building are key in order for citizens to understand how to harness the power of RTI, particularly at the local level. Support for work on the demand side at the local level can yield results in the short term. It is at this level where citizens can, through the use of RTI, solve everyday problems.

In this sense, several Bangladeshi organizations, with support from the international cooperation in some cases, have been working with grassroots groups. Through their work, these organizations have contributed to foster the use of RTI at the local level in various districts in Bangladesh.

In parallel to supporting citizens and communities on the use of RTI, it is important to document these experiences. Documentation and dissemination of success stories on the use of RTI could then encourage further use by other citizens, as it showcases benefits and impact. Furthermore, this will contribute to draw lessons from such experiences that will inform further efforts.

A group of organizations in Bangladesh—assisted by the World Bank Institute’s Access to Information Program, together with the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability - South Asia, and the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative—documented various stories where individuals or community groups used RTI to improve their livelihoods. The resulting report is a powerful account of how RTI can have positive impacts when used by citizens. It includes, for instance, stories about how through requesting information to local authorities, citizens were able to learn about their entitlements under certain government programs, or how an information request helped in implementing minimum wages in shrimp processing plants, among others.

The report also suggests some lessons. Some of these lessons are:

• Awareness about RTI procedures, benefits, etc, and capacity building to implement and use such legislation is necessary for both supply and demand side groups. However when there is demand for information, government officials, even if not fully aware of their responsibilities regarding RTI, can react to such demand and provide the information requested.


• Intermediaries such as NGOs and community organizations play a key role in building the capacity of citizens to harness the power of RTI. This not only includes awareness raising campaigns and training sessions, but also hands-on assistance on identifying information needs and gaps, filing of information requests, following up with such requests, filing appeals to the internal information committees and to the Information Commission, understanding and making use of information obtained, etc. As information requests oftentimes can be a lengthy process, this assistance also contributes to avoid discouragement of citizens to use RTI.


• The levels in which specific RTI requests can impact may vary, while some requests may only have an impact on an individual, other requests will have a broader impact in the community. For instance, on the one hand, some information requests result in the incorporation of the requester into social programs. On the other hand, some requests have a broader impact by triggering or strengthening social accountability exercises and other accountability mechanisms.

While it is important to keep in mind that new RTI regimes, such as Bangladesh, face important challenges regarding implementation, progress and success stories need to be highlighted in order to encourage further use. This in turn will contribute for RTI to realize its transformative potential. 

Picture: Peter Casier for the UN World Food Programme

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