Our Impact
TAI worked with Bioresources Development and Conservation Programme Cameroon, Greenwatch and Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association to review and comment on a model access to information law for the African Union. TAI submitted official comments and provided recommendations to reduce exceptions to the law and included new provisions to guide the implementation and promotion of proactive release of information. The majority of our recommendations were adopted into the final model law. Laws that ensure access to information provide people with the right to crucial facts and data, including those about natural resources that are critical to livelihoods. Transparency is the cornerstone of good governance. The African Union model law provides regional standards for African countries to adopt their own transparency laws. Currently less than half of the 54 African countries have access-to-information laws. There is now a strong model for new transparency legislation in Africa.