The World Bank Group has declassified about 70,000 documents previously restricted in its archives.The move forms part of an enacted multifaceted openness and outreach initiative of the group meant to ensure transparency in its dealings.
The World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Dr Yusupha Crookes, announced this at the maiden Institute of Financial and Economic Journalists (IFEJ) Flamingo Awards for Business and Financial Journalism in Accra at the weekend.
At the event, five business and financial journalists including Mr Charles Benoni Okine, Assistant Editor of the Graphic Business and Mr Samuel Doe Ablordeppey, a Staff Writer with the Graphic Business, emerged winners as the Best ICT Reporter, and Best on Development feature writer respectively.
Mr Felix Klutse of the Business Day emerged the Best while Mr Fred Sarpong of the Daily Express, and Edward Nyarko, GBC TV also won awards in different categories.
Mr Crookes said data and knowledge about issues were important tools that could be used to change the way of living of the people and explained why the World Bank Group had opened its doors to enable the people to have unimpeded access.
That, he said, could also be emulated by the government, adding that: “This will allow development stakeholders - especially the poor and the media - to fully understand this information, participate in development processes and hold governments and development providers accountable.”
“The public has responded by making more than three million visits to the World Bank Group documents and report data base, viewing more than 16 million pages and downloading more than three million files,” he said.
Dr Crookes, however, noted that data and knowledge were not ends in themselves.
“The true test of our effectiveness is how we all, particularly the media, use this evidence to change the lives of over a billion people in extreme poverty,” he added.
He said the World Bank Group would encourage everyone to continue to use data from the bank for their own analysis, or “to collaborate with us in studying development issues so we can learn from one another.”
He said: “This creates new opportunities to use evidence to find and deliver innovative local solutions that can lift people out of poverty.”
“We look forward to working more effectively with IFEJ to enhance openness, transparency and accountability at all levels in a bid to empower the media and all stakeholders to hold not only government accountable but also development institutions such as the World Bank Group and all other stakeholders of the use of public resources,” he said
A Supreme Court Judge, Justice William Atuguba, for his part, urged the media, particularly the financial journalists, to use their experience in business reporting to help bring uprightness to society as far as the management of the public purse was concerned.
The President of IFEJ, Mr Lloyd Evans, in his welcome address, said the main focus of the award was to raise the level of financial journalism as well as the standard of journalism in the country.
“We are very much aware that the level of journalism is not what some of us came to meet. We as senior journalists have a duty to help raise standards and set new benchmarks in the profession,” he added.
“Our principal objective is to match or overtake the level of the financial journalism in Southern and Eastern Africa and to also build the capacity of Ghanaian journalists to win international awards.”
Jury’s report
The chair of the awards jury, Mrs Philomena Johnson, in her report, said 29 entries with 38 stories were submitted for all the categories.
According to her, most storylines left readers to guess the objective of the story while at the same time the stories were either not balanced or lack objectivity.
She further noted that the language of some of the stories were too technical for the understanding of the ordinary reader.
Mrs Johnson said some stories did not also articulate main implications of the issues raised in the stories.