1. Video-Conference Workshop Current Records Management, Poverty Reduction, and Corruption Control
June 6, 2000
Accra, Dar es Salaam, Kampala
Buenos Aires, London, Paris, Washington DC

2. Current Records Management, Poverty Reduction, and Corruption Control
ANNE THURSTON
Executive Director
International Records Management Trust

3. “Without access to information
there is no transparency;
without transparency
there is no accountability;
and without transparency
and accountability
there is no democracy.”
Dr. Harrison Mwakyembe
Senior Lecturer in Law
University of Dar es Salaam

4. Information management
is a key aspect of civil service reform
in countries throughout the world.
All too often we forget that reliable,
authentic, legally verifiable records
constitute the primary form of information
which governments require
to serve their citizens.

5. Record keeping systems
in many countries around the world
are unable to cope with
the growing mass of records
which governments create.

6. Electronic governance offers new solutions
Electronic governance offers new solutions. It has the potential to transcend constraints imposed by distance and to increase
the speed of service delivery.
It also poses challenges for accountability, the rule of law, and the maintenance of organizational memory.

7. It makes it possible to process,
manipulate, reformat,
and change information easily;
the rule of law depends on
evidence in a fixed form.

8. Unless there is a very well developed
capacity to manage electronic records
as legally verifiable evidence of
entitlements, contractual obligations,
policies, or transactions for as long
as they are legally required,
it is essential to support mixed media,
paper/electronic systems.

9. If public sector reform is to achieve its
objectives it is essential that governments, donors, and lenders should address the substantial problems which governments are facing in managing their paper and their electronic records.

10. The video films which will be shown as part of this workshop have been produced by the International Records Management Trust to illustrate key issues in records management.
For information about obtaining copies,
please contact:

11. Module 1
Records Management Infrastructures

12. Is the framework
required for managing records
in place at the national
and the organizational levels?

13. Module 2
Records
and
Accountability/Anti-Corruption

14. Does records management
have a role to play
in accountability
and anti-corruption programs?

15. Module 3
Records, Payroll,
and
Personnel Controls

16. Can payroll
and personnel controls
be improved
without records management?

17. Module 4
Electronic Governance
and
Electronic Records

18. Are IT systems being designed
to take account
of records management issues
(paper and electronic?)

19. Module 5
Developing a Sustainable
Record-keeping Culture

20. Can we tackle records management
as a global development issue?