Access To Information Forum

The Access to Information Division of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information (MoEYI), today (September 30), hosted an Access to Information Civil Society and Media Stakeholder forum.

The event formed part of the division’s activities for ‘Right to Know Week 2021’, which ends on October 1. The Week is being observed under the theme ‘The Right to Know – Building Back Better with Access to Information’.

State Minister in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Robert Morgan, told the forum that in his role as Minister of State, he is acutely aware of how access to information directly impacts the lives of real everyday people.

“We have parents wanting to ensure that the exam script of their child was marked correctly, requests for scholarship information, procurement compliance and distribution of school textbook information, requests for information on violence in schools’ data, high-school dropout information, the PATH School Feeding Programme, and COVID-19 and school operations information requests,” he said.

According to the State Minister, these are small samples of the kinds of access to information requests received by the MoEYI. However, what is important is this right is guaranteed by the Access to Information Act (2002).

Mr. Morgan said the forum should set the tone for multi-stakeholder discussions on how to deepen constructive and meaningful dialogue around a revitalised stakeholder engagement process with the multi-stakeholder Access to Information Advisory Stakeholders Group; a reform of the Access to Information Act (2002), Access to Information Regulations (2003), Access to Information Cost of Reproduction Regulations (2003); the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 and, in particular, SDG 16.10.2 as measured by public access to information.

The State Minister added that there are also the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean (the ‘Escazu Agreement’), of which Jamaica is a signatory since September 26, 2019;   and vibrant discussions on the Access to Information and the Open Government Partnership (OGP) co-creation process for the creation of a National Action Plan (NAP).

“I believe this consultative process will assist us as a Government in achieving the outcome we seek, which is to ‘Build Back Better with Access to Information’. This is consistent with our SDG 16 commitments and our Vision 2030 National Development Plan. The Government is committed to a strong public access to information regime that enhances our democracy,” Mr. Morgan said.

The final activity for the Right to Know Week is  ‘A Conversation’ with State Minister Morgan on October 1. The focus of the  ‘Conversation’ will be the ‘Importance of Access to Information Laws and Implementation to Build Back Strong Institutions for Public Good and Sustainable  Development’. This is scheduled to start 10:00 a.m. and will be livestreamed on the MoEYI Facebook, YouTube and Instagram pages.