Frances Seymour

Institutions and Governance Program

World Resources Institute

Global Meeting

April 25-27, 2006

Bangkok, Thailand

The Access Initiative

A global civil society coalition promoting access to information, participation, and justice in national decision-making that affects the environment.

www.accessinitiative.org and www.iniciativadeacceso.org

TAI is about being able to…

• Obtain information about chemicals in your drinking water and know whether it is safe to drink

• Participate in decisions – such as permitting or privatization – that will affect the quality and availability of natural resources

• Seek justice when substantive or procedural rights are not respected

The Access Initiative’s strategy…• Develop and continuously

refine an indicator-based tool to assess government performance

• Support civil society teams in an increasing number of countries to conduct assessments

• Utilize the results of assessments to urge governments to act on assessment results

TAI seeks to accelerate implementation ofPrinciple 10

Environmental issues are best handled with participation of all concerned citizens, at the relevant level. At the national level, each individual shall have appropriate access to Information concerning the environment that is held by public authorities, including information on hazardous materials and activities in their communities, and the opportunity to participate in decision-making processes. States shall facilitate and encourage public awareness and participation by making information widely available. Effective access to judicial and administrative proceedings, including redress and remedy, shall be provided.

1992: 178 governments sign the Rio Declaration. Principle 10 mandated appropriate access to information, encouragement of public participation, and effective access to judicial proceedings.

2002: WSSD Plan of Implementation calls on governments to implement Principle 10.

TAI in 2000

• Early 2000: WRI staff have “a big idea”, and begin seeking partners and funding

• November 2000: WRI and EMLA host a global consultation in Washington

Corporación Participa

ACODE

TEI

EMLAWRI

Bringing ideas together

Initial Strategy• Based on Principle 10 for global legitimacy; use of WSSD

process (Rio Plus 10) for global outreach

• Focused on national-level implementation of Principle 10 (rather than regional or global conventions)

• Covered all 3 pillars (A2I, PP, A2J) plus capacity building

• Emphasis on independent CSO assessment and evidence-based advocacy

• Emphasis on common assessment method applicable across countries; started with “low hanging fruit”—countries open to dialogue

• Decision to benchmark progress within countries (rather than rank countries against each other)

TAI in 2001

• February 2001: First “Core Team” meeting in Washington to develop the assessment methodology

• 9 pilot tests launched:– Chile, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South

Africa, Thailand, Uganda, United States

• November 2001: Workshop in Budapest to exchange findings and refine the methodology

TAI in 2002

World Summit on Sustainable Development• February: New York PrepCom• May/June: Bali PrepCom• August/September: Johannesburg Summit• Publication of Closing the Gap

• Early 2002:

“brand” is born

TAI in 2002

• 2002: WSSD in Johannesburg

is born

Partnership for Principle 10: TAI’s Strategy

• Multistakeholder forum to provide international legitimacy to national-level government engagement on Principle 10

• Mechanism to provide incentives, funding, and accountability for commitments to implement Principle 10

• Instrument for mainstreaming the Principle 10 agenda (and the TAI approach) into international organizations

• Deliberate decision not to include private corporations

Global Growth of the TAI Network

32 assessments completed

40+ countries in which TAI is active

Regional Meetings and Training Workshops

• Latin America (October 2004, July 2005)

• Europe (November 2005)

• South Asia and Australia (training, December 2005)

• Africa (trainings, June 2005 and January 2006)

• Early 2001: Pilot-test version developed• Early 2003: Version 1.1 released on CD-

ROM

Methodology Development

Methodology Development

• April 2006: Version 2.0 released

– User friendly design– New framework

includes “law”, “effort” and “effectiveness”

– Online tool – Global findings website

• 2001: Two U.S. private foundations provide seed funding to WRI

• 2002-2003: TAI takes advantage of special funding for WSSD (Danish, Dutch, Swedish, Swiss, U.S. governments)

• 2004: Regional grants:– UK FCO grant for Latin America– World Bank grant for Africa– U.S. State Department grant for Europe

• 2005: European Union grant

Funding

Governance • “Core Team” established in 2001; IA-Mexico added later

– Provides guidance on global strategy and policy– Individual members lead regional implementation

• WRI serves as global secretariat– Provides coordination, communications, and large

part of fundraising

Initial expected results:• Enhanced credibility for civil society

critiques• Platforms for constructive

government-civil society dialogue and collaboration

• Explicit commitments from all participants to improve law, practice, and capacity

Evidence that the strategy is working

• In individual countries:– Development of new platforms for CSO-

government engagement (e.g., Mexico Alliance)

– Governments making and acting on commitments (e.g., FOIA in Uganda)

• Globally:– Methodology recognized as a useful tool in

assessing environmental governance (e.g., Aarhus Convention; Partnership in Indonesia; World Bank)

Strategic Challenges in 2006• Shift in emphasis from assessment to

catalyzing change on the ground• Improving network governance

– Questions of membership, representation, and accountabilities

• Expansion challenges– Initiating TAI in more challenging political

climates– Engaging developed countries

• Working with PP10• Working with “establishment”

organizations• Capturing evidence of our impact