HN Enhancing Transparency and Accountability in Public Institutions The Transparency law that was approved on November 22, 2006 represents an invaluable step forward to create a culture of transparency, accountability and democratic governance in Honduras. Some donors (Sweden and USAID) have expressed their commitment to support the demand for information. However, there is a need for providing technical assistance to the Access to information Institute and to support public institutions in upgrading their information management systems so they are able to meet the new demand for information. The present project compliments Bank and other donor initiatives in promoting good governance in Honduras by supporting the implementation of the Transparency law and the establishment of the Access to Information institute  Objectives: 1. Contribute to create a culture of transparency, accountability and democratic governance in Honduras, through the implementation of the Transparency law. 2. Support the creation of the Access to information institute contemplated in the Transparency law and the publication of the information by public institutions as obliged by the law. 3. Support information management systems of key public institutions to ensure they are able to meet the new demand for information. 4. Facilitate broad social participation by enhancing access to information and promoting the use of the Transparency law by citizens, civil society organizations, media and private sector to demand accountability of public institutions and ensure these become more responsive to citizens' needs. Grant Components Component 1: Establishment of the Institute to access information  ($ 80,460) This component will provide support to the establishment of the oversight body responsible for the promotion and enforcement of the Access to Public Information Law so it can fulfill its mandate. Activities proposed under this component are: "   Building capacity at the Access to Information institute in a number of areas, such as those related to the institutionalization of procedures for internal operations (manuales de procedimientos), the presentation of annual reports with relevant data on access to information (e.g.: requests received by public bodies, nature and quality of the responses, etc.), and the provision of the necessary equipment, human resources and training. "   Development of pending legislation (reglamento) for the implementation of the Transparency law. "   Develop and implement a system to monitor the provision of information mandated by the law to be automatically published by government bodies, "   Develop and implement a system to process information access requests "   Support to capacity building efforts targeted to public officials - including initiatives directed at those specifically responsible for access to information, high level officials, and public servants in general This component will be coordinated and implemented by the Access to Information Institute. Training of public officials will be implemented in coordination with the Civil Service unit in government. Component 2: Strengthening management information systems of public institutions ($ 201,380) This component will focus on strengthening information management systems of public institutions so the information mandated by law is automatically published by government bodies and ensure they are able to meet other information requests as the demand for information increases. This component will include: "   Setting up specialized access to information offices in different public entities "   Support to public institutions to publish information mandatory by law on the official web page. "   Strengthening of management information systems and public administration's archives in key institutions and plans for its strengthening. "   Support the development of standards and good practices for use throughout the public sector regarding compliance with the automatic publication of basic information mandated by the law, and the processes and systems for handling of individual requests. This component will be coordinated by the Secretary of the Presidency and implemented together with the concerned public institutions. Component 3: Facilitating access to information and strengthening the demand for accountability ($ 58,060) This component aims at facilitating access to information and strengthening the demand for accountability. The component will promote the use of the Transparency law by citizens, civil society organizations, media and private sector to demand accountability of public institutions and ensure these become more responsive to citizens' needs. In addition, the component will facilitate broad social participation in policy-dialogue by enhancing access to information and strengthening mechanisms for sharing information and public discussion. Support will be provided to design non-mainstream mechanisms that are accessible to rural communities and marginalized groups. The activities to be funded under this component are: "   Competition award for universities on research on good governance and accountability using the Transparency law. "   Training for media professionals on the use of Freedom of Information (FOI) laws (Honduras and other countries) for investigative journalism to promote transparency and accountability. "   Design and implement non-mainstream mechanisms based on municipal information centers that are accessible to rural communities and marginalized groups and community-based radios. "   Support to selected information centers currently based in municipalities all over the country, including in the poorest regions of the country, so they can serve as information networks. This component will be coordinated by the Access to Information Institute and implemented together with civil society organizations as appropriate. a. Contribute to create a culture of transparency, accountability and democratic governance in Honduras, through the implementation   b. Support the creation of the Access to information institute contemplated in the Transparency law and the publication of the   c. Support information management systems of key public institutions to ensure they are able to meet the new demand for   d. Facilitate broad social participation by enhancing access to information and promoting the use of the Transparency law by become more responsive to citizens? needs.