SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS

The following public organisations were surveyed:
1.

Anti-Corruption Commission

2.

Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit

3.

Electoral Commission of Zambia

4.

Ministry of Agriculture

5.

Ministry of General Education

6.

Ministry of Health

7.

Ministry of Home Affairs

8.

Ministry of Mines and Mineral Development

9.

Road Transport and Safety Agency

Overview of key findings
y

Information
dissemination
by
public
organisations in Zambia, based on requests
from ordinary members of the public, is a
struggle.

y

Provision of information through online
platforms continues to improve. Most state
organisations utilise websites and social
media to make information available to
the public. Thereby abiding by one of the
principles of Access to Information, which is
proactive disclosure. For instance, information
provision has been at the top of the agenda of
most public organisations due to the COVID-19
pandemic, with the objective of keeping the
public informed of developments around the
pandemic.

Category 1: Website analysis
y

Most organisations surveyed have functional
websites (except for the Ministry of Home
Affairs). However, many pages on the active
websites did not load or did not contain
information.

y

Almost all organisations are active on social
media platforms and frequently post updates.

y

Some organisations (such as the Electoral
Commission of Zambia, and Road Transport
and Safety Agency) had user-friendly websites
which make it easy for the public to find
information about the organisation.

Category 2: Requests for information

RETURN TO CONTENTS PAGE

165

y

Most organisations acknowledged the request
for information almost immediately and told
the researcher that the appropriate office
would respond to the request.

y

The first organisation that acknowledged
receipt of the request for information was
the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit
(which called the researcher to tell her to redo
her request and address it to the National
Coordinator).

y

The most helpful organisation was the Ministry
of Home Affairs. However, they did not respond
the most timeously as the request was initially
sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

ZAMBIA

ORGANISATIONS SURVEYED

Select target paragraph3