MOZAMBIQUE OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY y SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS To determine which organisations (both government and public) provide information to citizens upon request, timeously and with relative ease. y To determine which organisations (both government and public) utilise online platforms to promote ATI. y To help measure the progress or setbacks of the selected institutions compared to previous studies. Category 1: Website analysis y All institutions assessed have websites and other social media platforms (mainly Facebook and LinkedIn). y Websites contain relevant information, contact details, instruments, policies, and programmes. However, not all content is up-to-date. y All institutions have chat and comment options. However, this is not widely utilised, and in cases where citizens raise questions, there is no culture of responding. y There has been significant improvement in terms of website accessibility. Most websites are navigable. However, some are frequently offline. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The research used qualitative and quantitative data collection methods to evaluate the level of public ATI held by government and public organisations. Each MISA Chapter conducted research by evaluating the websites of government and public organisations along with submitting written requests for information. This method seeks to establish the transparency and efficiency of government and public organisations in providing information to the public. Category 2: Requests for information y Overall, there is a culture of denying information. Few institutions responded positively to requests, and others remained silent. y Information management continues to rely on a sector not adequately equipped for this purpose. Receiving documents is done by receptionists or secretaries, and these are subsequently forwarded to the departments responsible for the requested information. y The communication and image departments created by some institutions do not have autonomy in information management. Their mandate is limited to coordinating the relationship between the institution and the media. y Similar to the findings of previous studies, there is still tight control of information. Generally, it is under the control of a higher authority, to whom internal requests for information must be made, often resulting in a delayed response. y The information management filing system in the tested institutions remains deficient. However, the lack of responses is not always solely due to this challenge. Many times, it stems from the observation made in the previous point. The extra caution from some public officials, especially those belonging to institutions involved in sensitive cases, also explains the prevalence of the problem. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY Despite relative peace in Cabo Delgado, the impact of unrest in that province continues to affect the functioning of provincial public institutions and centrallevel supervisory entities (ministries). Another aspect that may have influenced this study is the successive signs of corruption and mismanagement in some institutions, leading public servants to adopt a culture that is averse to information requests. Although the COVID-19 pandemic forced institutions to invest in providing services through online ICT, digitisation of public service provision has been gradually abandoned. ORGANISATIONS SURVEYED The following organisations were surveyed: 1. Ministry of Education and Human Development 2. Ministry of Land, Environment, and Rural Development 3. Ministry of Justice, Constitutional and Religious Affairs 4. Municipal Council of Matola 5. Mozambique Tax Authority 6. National Institute for Disaster Risk Management 7. Municipal Council of Maputo 8. National Institute of Cotton and Oilseeds 9. Ministry of Labour, Employment, and Social Security 10. Mozambique Airlines 57