RAIC Freedom of Information Portal
This project was implemented while I was working as the Country Manager at Code for Sierra Leone
Background
The Rights to Access Information Commission(RAIC) in Sierra Leone has the mandate to make information available to the masses. Moreover, the RAIC Act of 2013 grants the public the right to ask for disclosure of public information from government ministries and agencies.
However, the implementation of the RAIC Act is fraught with challenges. Currently, the RAIC does not even have a mechanism through which they can track the freedom of information (FOI) requests that are being made to different government agencies.
The Sierra Leone Freedom of Information(FOI) Portal
The Sierra Leone Freedom of Information Portal would be based on the open source Alavateli platform, built by mySociety.
The Alavateli platform would provide the following features:
Tracking online all FOI requests made by the public to the different government ministries and development agencies(MDAs).
Encouraging proactive disclosure of public information from MDAs
Highlighting MDAs that are not proactive with disclosing information and responding to FOI requests.
The following is a flowchart describing how the platform would track the FOI requests between the MDAS and the public.
Current Status of Project
The Sierra Leone FOI Platform is currently in the design phase. Development of the platform is expected to start by the end of November, with the portal expected to go live in early 2018.