Published: 2011
TAI and ARTICLE 19 joint position paper leading up to Rio+20. Also available in Spanish and Portuguese.
Topics: Capacity Building
Published: 2011
Twelve Responding Governments
Attached you will find a full write-up of the responses from the responding governments.
Governments who responded:
- Argentina
- Bolivia
- Cameroon
- Costa Rica
- Ecuador
- El Salvador
- Gabon
- Hungary
- Ireland
- Latvia
- Madagascar
- Mexico
- Peru
- Thailand
- Venezuela
Governments contacted, no response:
- Benin
- Chile
- Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
- India
- Jamaica
- Macedonia
- Malawi
- South Africa
- Sri Lanka
Published: 2010
Advocacy, for the TAI Network means turning our research into meaningful change on the ground. It is actively convincing others that our goal of widening access is worth implementing and ensuring that implementation is done well.
The Access Initiative (TAI) Advocacy Toolkit is a set of tools developed to help TAI partners strategically achieve reform and policy practice around access to information, public participation, and access to justice. Partners in Latin America contributed directly to the development of the toolkit in the regional meeting from 2009. Partners from Asia and Africa and attendees of the 2nd TAI Global Gathering contributed to the review of the tools over the course of their development. Partners used the toolkit successfully in Cameroon (FEDEV), Chile (PARTICIPA), India (LIFE), Ecuador (CEDA) Zimbabwe (ZELA). Partners from the 3rd Global Gathering in Uganda in 2010 have helped to refine and finalise proposals for this tool kit.
Published: 2010
Changes in Laws for 29 TAI partners
Attached, is a database of improvements in over 30 TAI Partner Countries. This database highlights changes in national laws towards access improvements from 2005 to 2010. The database highlights areas of change based on Access Pillars: Access to Information (A2I), Access to Justice (A2J), Public Participation(PP) and Capacity Building. Within the database, one can click on the link country tab to find the laws changes within each country.
Published: 2010
Attached, is a matrix of stories that have been written by TAI partners from October 2008 to July 2010 on access changes within their respective countries. The chart highlights the areas of change based on Access Pillars:Access to Information (A2I), Access to Justice (A2J), Public Participation (PP) and Capacity Building.
Within the chart, one can click on the link provided. This goes directly to a story or short blog post on this website explaining. The post provides first hand information from TAI partners working within that pillar of access.
Published: 2008
The Access Initiative (TAI) Thailand, an environmental governance coalition has conducted three national assessments on environmental governance in Thailand in order to find ways to improve its environmental accountability. Having proposed by friends in the non-governmental organizations that a citizen’s toolkit of environmental governance should be made available for the interested public to be used as guidelines in considering the governance performance of projects conducted in their local areas, TAI Thailand then produced this toolkit.
This toolkit is therefore designed for the public to use as guidelines in considering the levels of good governance for projects (or planning or policy making) only. It is not meant for the public or any organizations to use to assess good governance, because the number of indicators gathered in this toolkit is only half of the indicators of the full version. Moreover, in conducting a complete assessment, it would have to follow procedures and involve many analysts/researchers. This toolkit can also be used by the government agencies as guidelines to enhance good governance in conducting the work of your agency.
San José, Costa Rica. 2009
Last April 29th and 30th, representatives from TAI Coalitions from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Costa Rica gathered in regional workshop to create a common Action Plan to strengthen their work on the implementation of Principle 10.
The Action Plan has three sections:
A) Challenges and commitments of the leader organizations in each coalition: This point is related with the strengthening of the following aspects: 1) National coalitions to promote the Access Rights. 2) Information channels within the coalitions and between the coalitions. 3) Fundraising for national coalitions projects. 4) the inclusion of the Dominican Republic and Panama in the regional process. 5) Establishing a regional partnership that consolidates common work strategies and get funding for regional projects. 6) Political context challenges in each country. B) Regional Agenda: This point refers to issues related with: 1) access to information and communications between governments and civil society, 2) Legal framework on access rights. 3) Proceedings and institutional structures of public participation. 4) Education and training on access rights. 5) Funding for public participation and access to information. C) Building a regional partnership: It contains the actions defined to create a regional partnership of TAI Coalitions in Central America.
As part of the program, the meeting had two spaces to tend other topics: Daniel Barragán, from TAI Ecuador, presented the hemispheric strategic plan of Latin America Access Coalitions. Aldo Palacios and Diego Cooper from PP10Secretariat presented the components and the work of the Partnership for Principle 10.
This workshop is an activity of the project “Partnership 10 Central America” which is funded by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and executed by Foundation for Peace and Democracy(FUNPADEM).
Further information please contact Luis Diego Segura from Foundation for Peace and Democracy, FUNPADEM. Email sociedadcivil@funpadem.org or +506 2283 9435.
San José, Costa Rica. 2009
Last April 29th and 30th, representatives from TAI Coalitions from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Costa Rica gathered in regional workshop to create a common Action Plan to strengthen their work on the implementation of Principle 10.
The Action Plan has three sections:
A) Challenges and commitments of the leader organizations in each coalition: This point is related with the strengthening of the following aspects: 1) National coalitions to promote the Access Rights. 2) Information channels within the coalitions and between the coalitions. 3) Fundraising for national coalitions projects. 4) the inclusion of the Dominican Republic and Panama in the regional process. 5) Establishing a regional partnership that consolidates common work strategies and get funding for regional projects. 6) Political context challenges in each country. B) Regional Agenda: This point refers to issues related with: 1) access to information and communications between governments and civil society, 2) Legal framework on access rights. 3) Proceedings and institutional structures of public participation. 4) Education and training on access rights. 5) Funding for public participation and access to information. C) Building a regional partnership: It contains the actions defined to create a regional partnership of TAI Coalitions in Central America.
As part of the program, the meeting had two spaces to tend other topics: Daniel Barragán, from TAI Ecuador, presented the hemispheric strategic plan of Latin America Access Coalitions. Aldo Palacios and Diego Cooper from PP10 Secretariat presented the components and the work of the Partnership for Principle 10.
This workshop is an activity of the project “Partnership 10 Central America” which is funded by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and executed by Foundation for Peace and Democracy(FUNPADEM).
Further information please contact Luis Diego Segura from Foundation for Peace and Democracy, FUNPADEM. Email sociedadcivil@funpadem.org or +506 2283 9435.
By Monika Kerdeman (Posted: March 6, 2009)
50 people representing 29 countries participated in the second TAI Global Gathering, held in Sligo, Ireland at the Sligo Institute of Technology. The gathering was the largest international conference held at Sligo Institute of Technology. Highlights from the meeting include:
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Jeremy Wates, from the Aarhus Convention Secretariat in Geneva, opened the conference by discussing the importance of access work in the role of shaping environmental policy.
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The deputy leader of Seanad Eireann (the Senate of Ireland), and Green Party chairperson, Senator Dan Boyle, addressed the gathering. He spoke on Ireland’s need to ratify the Aarhus convention and the importance of access to information in a mature democracy.
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TAI partners shared ideas, stories, successes and solutions for moving the network to more action on the ground.
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Latin American partners agreed on next steps for a collaborative regional advocacy plan.
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The TAI Secretariat shared major themes and messages from its publication, Voice and Choice: Opening the Door to Environmental Democracy.
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Partners discussed case studies on access rights for the poor carried out by five TAI partners and next steps for including poverty-access rights analysis in all future TAI assessments.
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The Thailand Environment Institute (TEI) introduced partners to a draft citizen’s toolkit.
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New sectors were explored in the context of TAI, including climate change, forestry and aid effectiveness.
Click here to read the full report from the gathering.
Published: 2006
El presente documento es un manual de apoyo a la capacitación sobre los derechos ambientales de los ecuatorianos y las formas de acceso a la justicia y otras instancias para lograr su efectiva vigencia.
El manual aborda el tema del acceso a la justicia a través de una caracterización sencilla de los derechos ambientales que establece nuestra Constitución Política, así como otras normas ambientales. Trata, además, sobre aquellos mecanismos para impulsar el respeto y cumplimiento de derechos establecidos en las Leyes.
La capacitación tiene como objetivo lograr que las personas que no son Abogados/as y que ejercen cargos públicos o cargos en organizaciones ambientales manejen los principales conceptos jurídicos y herramientas legales en sus acciones diarias.
Pretendemos que a través de esta publicación las personas capacitadas puedan conocer los derechos y aplicarlos, El conocimiento, la exigibilidad y la responsabilidad contribuyen a lograr un país transparente, democrático y justo que todos anhelamos.