Right to Information Act project of RIB sponsored by Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung of Germany

In Bangladesh, the Right to Information Act (RTI) 2009 has come into full effect from July 1, 2009, aiming to ensure peoples’ right to information and to establish good governance in government offices and NGOs, thus increasing transparency and accountability. Research initiatives, Bangladesh (RIB) has started a project regarding poverty alleviation and right to information for the marginalized communities of Bangladesh and this project is being funded by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation of Germany. This project, named   “Empowering the Disadvantaged in Bangladesh through Access to Justice by the Right to Information Act (RTI)”, includes Rishi and Munda communities of Satkhira and Khulna, Bede community of Munshiganj district, Harijan community of Kushtia and Rabidash community of Nilphamari. The aim of this project is to find out how RTI act can be used to improve the quality of life and in poverty alleviation of these marginalized communities. RIB has been working with marginalized (this includes anthropological, religious, class or cultural marginalization) since 2002. These people want justice, their right to participate in all sectors of the society and they want their constitutional rights as well. The main objective of this project is to help the deprived communities of this country in using this recently passed RTI act in establishing social justice, acquiring their human rights and changing their current situation. Moreover this project plans to give them special training so that they can identify their problems, present their questions correctly and apply to the appropriate authority with a properly written application.

This project has started on January 2010 and the methodologies that are being used include participatory action research, advocacy and training. The important accomplishments till March 2010 includes: establishment of Local Animator groups, identification of the community problems in group discussions, Project coordinator, grass root coordinator and local animator selection, baseline survey, training on RTI act, publication of a brochure and easy to use manual on RTI act and  training for applying  through RTI act in different offices.