Two-day international workshop on public transparency: Cross perspectives from Europe and Africa

Freedom of Information (FOI) is recognized by the United Nations as a fundamental right, essential to governmental transparency and citizen participation. In recent decades, many countries have adopted FOI laws as tools for good governance. However, significant disparities remain between the formal adoption of these laws (de jure) and their effective implementation (de facto). Too often, public administrations fail to respond or respond inadequately to requests, creating a "black box" effect: the processes for handling requests remain opaque and poorly regulated.

It is in this context that the “Transparency in Action” workshop was organized, with the aim of promoting experimental approaches as a lever for producing knowledge and transforming practices in information access, as highlighted by the two academics.

Over two days, academics-researchers from several universities, including several members of the CIVIS alliance, participated in a workshop dedicated to transparency and the fight against corruption. Among the participants were researchers from the University of Lausanne, the University of Bucharest, the University of Witwatersrand, Makerere University, the University of Naples L'Orientale, the University of London, the University of Suceava, and Johannes Kepler University Linz. The workshop also brought together several organizations and practitioners involved in promoting transparency, such as Transparencia.be, Access Info Europe, and LoiTransparence.ch.

Interview with Professors Vincent Mabillard and Giovanni Esposito

How started the project? What motivated you to set up this project?

Originally, we have been collaborating for several years on publications and joint projects related to administrative transparency. In 2024, we organized the world’s largest event on this topic at ULB, the Global Conference on Transparency Research (GCTR: https://gctr-sbs.ulb.be/). This workshop is a kind of follow-up to the conference for people working on the right to information. The next GCTR will take place in the spring of 2026, and this workshop allowed us to continue research in the field, keep the network active, and expand it to other interested researchers.

What were the main objectives of the project?

The “Transparency in Action” workshop allowed us to take stock of the implementation of FOI laws in Europe and Africa through a comparative perspective, while launching a transnational network of experimental research on public transparency. The practical workshops laid the groundwork for upcoming experiments in several countries, with the shared goal of strengthening accountability in administrations through solid, empirical, and collaborative approaches.

What do you think are the main benefits of collaboration between multiple universities?

Beyond sharing experiences, the project partners provide privileged access to the field as part of a comparative study. Their in-depth knowledge of the context in which they operate is extremely valuable. Several exchanges around potential new projects also help to launch new avenues for collaboration.

What are the future prospects for this collaboration?

We hope to launch experiments in the targeted countries over the next few months (between June and December 2025), but we also plan to organize a new workshop to discuss challenges encountered and best practices to share. Finally, we would like to organize a larger event to expand the existing network.

Useful Resources

Explanatory video on the research conducted by Professors Vincent Mabillard and Giovanni Esposito in Belgium:

This symposium was supported by seed funding from the CIVIS alliance, with additional support from the FNRS and CEPAP.

For any questions regarding opportunities and funding within the CIVIS alliance, please contact Marie Ugeux (marie.ugeux@ulb.be).