APPROXIMATELY 400 government workers will next week head to the classroom to learn how to effectively disseminate information to members of the public, ahead of the implementation of the Access to Information Act.

The Act was passed in Parliament in June 2002 and will become operational this year.

In preparing for the changes, government will next Tuesday launch the initial leg of a four-month-long training programme for several hundred of its employees involved in handling and disseminating sensitive information.

The sessions, which will take place at the Management Institute of National Development (MIND), will include:

* the fundamentals of change management;

* the ATI legislation and;

* records/information management.

The first group of trainees will be drawn from the Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Finance.

"This process of formal training of public sector workers seeks to prepare them to effectively and efficiently handle requests for government information and meet the general information needs of the public," the Access to Information Unit said.

Information Minister Senator Burchell Whiteman, Cabinet Secretary Dr Carlton Davis, director of the ATI Unit, Aylair Livingstone and president of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, Oliver Clarke will speak at the January 21 launch.

At the beginning of each training week, representatives from civil society are also expected to address the trainees in a bid to increase "awareness of the expectations of the public", the organisers said.

Other government officials and representatives of stakeholder groups are also expected to attend the launch.

The Act was passed seven months ago, despite strong opposition from several quarters.

But the government maintained that its passage would "promote accountability, transparency and increased public participation in government by giving members of the public a general right of access (subject to exempt provisions) to official documents in the possession of government bodies".

One month after passing the Act, the government established a unit -- Access to Information Unit -- in the Office of the Prime Minister to spearhead and guide its implementation and administration.

That unit has since conducted numerous sensitisation sessions with senior government officials and held collaborative meetings with stakeholders such as the media, lobby groups and the private sector.

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