Publication: Does Access to Information Empower the Poor? Evidence from the Dominican Republic
Date
2014-05-01
ISSN
Published
2014-05-01
Author(s)
Abstract
This paper summarizes the results of the
impact evaluation of the Access to Information pilot project
on empowerment of citizens in poor municipalities in the
Dominican Republic. Among the dimensions of empowerment
investigated are civic knowledge, awareness and use of the
right to information, perceptions of and trust in public
services and institutions, civic participation, and measures
of local governance. Data were collected in two rounds: a
baseline round at the end of 2010 and a follow-up round in
mid-2012. No impact is found on awareness and the use of
information under the specific Access to Information rules.
However, it is observed that individuals address more
general complaints to governments as a result of the Access
to Information program regardless of whether these are
classified under the ATI law or not. Some positive and
statistically significant impacts are found on local
government responsiveness, prioritization and decisions
about the municipal budget, and trust in and satisfaction
with some local government services.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Skoufias, Emmanuel; Narita, Renata; Narayan, Ambar. 2014. Does Access to Information Empower the Poor? Evidence from the Dominican Republic. Policy Research Working Paper;No. 6895. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/18791 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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