Activity Type: Advocacy

Building capacity of the National Prosecution Office in the context of curbing corruption

The project aimed to support the National Prosecution Office when identifying the actual problems in the fight against corruption in view of improving the existing procedural rules, and identifying an effective model for increasing the transparency and efficiency in the investigation of cases of corruption. The main project objectives were: 1. to identify the actual problems of the Prosecution office which hinder it from successful counteraction of corruption; 2. to provide analytical (legal and sociological) research on the matter; 3. to initiate an on-going debate in order to make the prosecutors speak about their actual problems; 4. to suggest working mechanisms for effective implementation of the anti-corruption legislation when prosecuting crimes of bribery, trading in influence, bribery in the private sector or bribing of foreign officials; 5. to introduce foreign experience in achieving transparency in the Prosecution Office’s work and to increase the level of efficiency in investigating corruption; 6. to encourage the cooperation between the National Prosecution Office, on the one hand, and civil society and the media on the other.

Transparent Health Service

The health service is prone to corruption due to combination of uncertainty, informative asymmetry, and sheer quantity of participants (interests). The specific project aims were: to analyze the health service system from the perspective of transparency and corruption risks, to identify and name shortcomings and their consequences for the quality of health care in the Czech Republic; to increase public awareness and knowledge of the functions of the system and its procedures, its participants, rights, and obligations; to propose procedures and specify instruments to lead to an increase in the transparency, responsibility, and credibility of the system.

Regional initiative for an integrity-related message

This regional project aimed to acknowledge the value of efforts made by caricaturists and investigative journalists in promoting a public integrity (anti-corruption) message in South-Eastern European countries. The project involves investigative journalists and caricaturists from Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia, Macedonia, the Czech Republic, the Republic of Moldova and Romania. The locales of the projects were Busteni and Bucharest, Romania. The following were partners in the project: Media Monitoring Agency – Catavencu Academy, Cartoonist Network Rights – Romania, Goethe Institute Bucharest.

Hypocrisy

The goal of the project was to exert pressure on parliamentary parties to arrive at a consensus on the need for and contours of reform in party- and campaign financing. It advocates for: (1) Introduction of a designated campaign account; (2) increased ceiling for campaign spending; (3) shortened campaign period; (4) strengthened oversight of campaigns.

Active citizens – transparent local authority

The project aimed to establish a partnership between the structures of the civil society and the local authorities for increasing the public opinion towards the municipal administration in the city of Lovech through more transparent and eased access to information. The major goal was to develop a mechanism for public control. The project included: 1. assessments and evaluation of: the legal framework related to the internal organization of the administration; the mechanisms for monitoring and control; the transparency and the potential risks for corruption (potential risk points and practices); the effectiveness of the local councils for their cooperation with the municipal administration;2. formulation of recommendations and best practices; 3. precise proposals for the municipality of Lovech on how to improve its methodology for service delivery in order to be more transparent and accessible; 4. realization of educational seminars for representatives from the civil society sector; 5. improvement of the web site of the administration; 6. activities for information and publicity (media publications, information brochures etc.)

Monitoring of the activity of Sofia city council and public register of the municipal property transactions

The project objectives are: Raising the level of transparency at Sofia Municipality and guaranteeing the public character of decision-making through development of a public register of the municipal property transactions and monitoring the activities, related to: economic policy and municipal property; municipal budget; urban planning, architecture and construction; ecology and land use.

Anti-corruption education and civic action against corruption in the Sofia University

The project aimed to encourage the dialogue between teachers, student’s organizations and students and engage potential participants in the process in the fight against corruption. Some of the project’s main activities include: 1. introduction of anti-corruption education courses for students in their second and third year of study at the Sofia university – around 150 students from various pedagogical departments; 2. elaboration of anti-corruption educational programs and courses in anti-corruption behavior and corruption fighting in the universities (15 teaching weeks); 3. establishment of an university ombudsman; 4. sociological survey among students and university professors and analytical reports preparation; 5. Round table about the anti-corruption education.

Center for legal advice for victims of corruption

The creation of the Center for Advocacy and Legal Advice addressed the need to raise the public awareness of the challenges confronting the Bulgarian society in fighting corruption and to provoke public interest in the ways and mechanisms of fighting the phenomenon. The purpose of the Center was and still is to allow citizens to play an active role in fighting corruption by providing them with free legal assistance in their efforts to deal with corruption-related crimes by public institutions and civil servants. The Center also aims to raise the capacity and readiness of state institutions to work with citizens regarding corruption complaints.

Transparent State Budget

Within the project a study dedicated to a general definition of the term and historical context, description of the budgetary process – its creation and its shortcomings, and control and checks was elaborated. The study contains recommendations for increasing transparency of the budgetary process.

Improving the policy making capacity of the Bulgarian Judicial system

The goal of the project was to examine the practices of data-collection, reporting, and analysis of performance data in the Bulgarian judicial system. Since by that moment there was no systemic analysis of the operation of the judiciary as a whole, the idea behind the project was to introduce a list of key indicators which will track its performance, and will both make its functioning more transparent to the public, and provide a more precise policy-making instrument to the Supreme Judicial Council.

Power to powerless

The goal of the project was to involve the socially vulnerable part of the population in the local decision making process and tomcreate legal guarantees for their participation. Target group: vulnerable people, mayors, elected officials.

Open Local Government

The project was performed as the continuation of 2006 project Youth for Transparency where three municipalities participated – Mazeikiai District Municipality, Elektrenai Municipality and Anyksciai District Municipality. Participants from these municipalities acted as trainers and experts in Open Local Government project. 7 new municipalities were involved into this project. The main aim of the project was to raise awareness of local community (local authorities, schools, youth, NGO, media ect.) of the necessity to play an active role in support of civil society. Project objectives were: To support local leaders for developing and multiplying of local programmes for anticorruption and transparency education in the region; To develop and implement local programmes for anticorruption and transparency education in leading municipalities; To promote local programmes for anticorruption and transparency education in the region by local teams through cooperation with media, NGOs, other communities; To built the international experience exchange and means of multiplying the programmes for anticorruption and transparency education on the local level. In total, there were 24 schools, 122 students, 56 teachers, 18 servants of municipalities directly participating in this project. The project consisted of: 1) Preparing trainings for experts, trainers and local leaders; 2) Workshops for local teams; 3) Meetings of youth leaders with elected local government representatives and parliament members; 4) Educational materials; 5) Preparing and implementation the local programmes of education by each local team; 6) Local meetings with headmasters for promoting local programmes of education; 7) Educational activities with schools, public institutions; 8) Cooperation with all schools at the municipality; 9) Study visit in Poland; 10) Local presentation to spread out the results.

Administration close to us, partner for everyone

The aim of the project was to increase the transparency in the work of four municipal administrations in the region of Gabrovo by increasing their accountability and accessibility to citizens. The main activities included: 1. development and dissemination of an information bulletin “Dialogue”” and creation of a web site for the news campaign regarding the work of the targeted municipalities; 2. realization of a radio program dedicated to the project main goal; 3. realization of several conferences with representatives of the civil society, the business and local authorities on the issues of transparency and accountability of the municipal administration.”

Civil control over the work of court experts

The aim of the project was the elaboration of comprehensive analyses on the deficiencies in exercising control over the work of court experts. Another goal was the development, on the basis of the conducted analyses, of a set of ethical standards for the work of court experts as well as a model for their successful implementation within the practice of the courts. The implementation of the project included the elaboration of a legal analysis, aiming at identifying and investigating the gaps and loopholes in the Bulgarian legislation, regulating the work of court experts, as well as assessing the effectiveness of the existing mechanisms for control and liability of court experts. Furthermore, the project conducted a sociological survey, aiming at analyzing the tendencies in the existing public opinion, concerning the level of transparency in the work of court experts as well as the problems concerning their selection and control. Direct result of the implementation of the project was the elaboration and dissemination of the publication “Court Experts in Bulgaria – ethical standards and mechanisms for control over their activity”.

Viva Etika

The project activities included discussion about the necessity of ethical business approach, starting cooperation of public, private and non-profit segments, promotion of legislative changes and contribution to cultivated and competitive business environment. Viva Etika also represented a coalition of companies that were with TIC and influencing business environment in order to increase transparency, credibility and responsibility.

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