OAD was an active member of the advocacy initiative for an act on free access to information. OAD participated in drafting fundamental principles of the act, its wording, and helped to push the draft bill through at negotiations with representatives of state and self-governing authorities, the government and the Parliament.
Activity Type: Advocacy
Transparent County Councils!?
The project aims to: 1. assess and improve the current state of affairs regarding performance reporting practices of Romanian county level political decision makers; 2. enhance policy-learning among local decision makers in performance reporting and the publishing of assessment results; 3. showcase best practice in performance reporting and directly target political decision makers with assessment results and recommendations on how to improve their performance reports; 4. raise public awareness on performance reporting practices of political decision makers.
Advocacy, Implementation and Evaluation of the National Integrity System, with Particular Focus on the Privatizations of Strategical Enterprises in BH
The aim of the project was the adoption of the document “Improvement of the National Integrity System-Proposal for Anti-corruption Strategy in Bosnia and Herzegovina“ supported by the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which has authority to provide measures of this document and monitoring full scale of improvement mentioned measures. The focused particularly on the privatizations of strategical enterprises in Bosnia and Herzegovina and another form of private investment, monitoring public company in strategically areas, comprehension with civil partnership organizations and media. All mentioned partnership organization must have access to current process in their community that would bring transparent process of privatization in accordance with the law and world’s best practice.
PROJECT ACTIVITIES: Improvement of the National Integrity System – Proposal for Anti-corruption Strategy in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Analysis legislation in field of privatization and alignment with international standards and best practice
Monitoring and reporting individual cases of privatization
Cooperation and networking with partnership organizations
Preparing recommendations using best practice
Reform of the Prosecution Office of the Republic of Bulgaria
The aim of the project was to increase the effectiveness of the institutional cooperation in the fight against corruption, to ease the transfer of know-how in the field as well as to increase the institutional capacity and authority of the National Prosecution Office. The outputs of the project are: 1. realization of several conferences and educational workshops for the National Prosecution Office experts with the participation of experts from the civil society sector as well as representatives of the prosecution offices of different EU countries; 2. realization of a sociological survey regarding the public perception over the work of the prosecution office as well as a training seminars for the PR department of the institution; 3. publications of the results and recommendations of the project.
The Majoritarian Project: Informed Citizens and Accountable Government
TI Georgia’s project “Informed Citizens and Accountable Government”” strove to foster communication between majoritarian parliamentarians and their constituencies and promote public awareness of and input into the legislative process. To achieve these goals, TI Georgia, in cooperation with majoritarian MPs and their district office (bureau) representatives, conducted public meetings in three-month cycles in 57 districts in Georgia. At these meetings citizens received information about parliamentary developments over the last three months and its future plans. They also had the opportunity to inform their majoritarian MPs about their main concerns at the local level and share with him/her their opinions about Parliament’s work. As part of the project, TI Georgia also assessed majoritarian bureaus and administrative barriers to their work and conducted trainings for bureau staff to increase their competence.”
National Integrity System
The goal of the project was to assess the executive, legislative, and independent institutions.
The civil society and the regional administration in the South-West region – a model for partnership
The project aimed to facilitate the mechanisms for partnership between the structures of the civil society and the local and regional administrations in the South-west region of Bulgaria. The main project goal was: better transparency, more accountability and control over the work of the administration. Some of the project activities included: 1. analyses, development of recommendations and educational seminars; 2. development and maintenance of an information web site; 3. activities for capacity building for monitoring the activities of the local and regional administration; 4. development of recommendations for improvement of the legal framework, strategic documents or public services provided by the targeted administrations; 5. activities for information and publicity.
The secrets of municipal property management
The project aimed at increasing the transparency in the work of the municipal administrations in the country through monitoring and analyses of the practices in the municipal property’s management process, privatization, restitution and public procurement. Some of the main project activities include: 1. development and dissemination of information brochures on the topics: “Citizens and local authority – administrative service”” and “”The poverty – national problem connected with corruption””; 2. nomination and price award for the best anti-corruption innovation practice in local government based on the conducted analyses; 3. realization of practical seminars for citizens and experts from the municipalities; 4. regular press conferences presenting the accumulated information.”
The Partnership for a Transparent Society
The objective of this project was to mobilize Ukrainians in the fight against corruption and to promote greater accountability and transparency among government. More than 100 organizations were involved in the project.
Pedagogical model for anti-corruption education in secondary schools
The project aimed at introducing anti-corruption education in the secondary schools trough the elaboration of an applied pedagogical model with the participation of teachers, pupils and parents. Some of its expected results were:
- Analysis of corruption in the secondary education, review of the international experience in civil education;
- Teaching syllabus and programs;
- Methodological manual for teachers;
- Training seminar with teachers;
- Pilot model approbation;
- Information and media campaign
Results
January 2004
The project was launched as the project team consisting of experts and an administrative assistant was made up and they took to performing the scheduled activities.
February-March 2004
An empirical sociological survey was conducted among secondary school students, teachers and parents from Sofia. Its findings were crucial for the project’s goal since the particular corruption practices, attitudes and perceptions could be incorporated into civil and anti-corruption curricula. The sample covered 193 students, 128 parents and 129 teachers.The surveyed units were defined through a two-stage cluster sample. This sample was representative for the groups surveyed (secondary school students, parents and teachers) from the city of Sofia.
On 27 February, 2004 a press conference informing about the launch of the project was delivered at the press club of the Sofia Press Agency. It was attended by representatives of partner organizations and reporters from over ten media.
March-April 2004
A series of working meetings were held with the managing staff and boards of trustees of the two schools where the core part of the project was to be carried out: 135th Secondary General School Jan Amos Komenski and the National Secondary School of Trade and Banking. The meetings served to negotiate the project activity schedule, the responsibilities of the parties, and the manner of communication in the course of the project. Teachers that were to take part in the project were also selected.
May 2004
The sociological survey findings were processed. The statistics received was rather valuable in terms of the implications it had for the education process in the following project stages. The data drawn from the interviews complemented the information gathered in the two focus groups from the first trimester which featured 17 randomly selected secondary school teachers. The main causes of secondary school corruption as defined with the help of these two tools were:
• the general crisis of values in society;
• the crisis of family relations and family upbringing;
• the lack of basic material comfort and education facilities at schools;
• teacher underpayment;
• the sense of impunity;
• the lack of effective anti-corruption actions on the part of the public authorities (especially the judiciary);
• the public schools funding system which lags far behind modern requirements;
• the fuzzy rules on private tutoring by public school teachers;
• violations in the entrance competitions at top-rating secondary schools.
June-August 2004
Anti-corruption syllabi and curricula were developed consisting of separate modules fairly independent in contents. These modules were roughly based on the Anti-Corruption Manual previously developed by Coalition 2000. Model lesson plans were prepared for teachers to use during the try-out phase of the curricula. These included elements such as projects, role plays, group work, and a number of extracurricular and out-of-school activities. They involved an interdisciplinary approach with the possibility of using the plans in various academic subjects as well in special lessons in the weekly class-focused sessions.
November 2004
One of the project’s main lines of activity was teacher training aimed at enhancing teachers’ skills in civic education and anti-corruption. Their first training seminar was held on 12 -13 November 2004 at the Secondary School of Trade and Banking. It was attended by 30 teachers from the two target schools including their principals. The seminar was devoted to Methodology of Anti-Corruption Education Instruction.
On 26 November, 2004 the sequel of the on-site teacher training was held at the other participating school 135th School Jan Amos Komenski at which fourteen more teachers were trained. Among the training’s main topics were:
• civic education in EU countries;
• planning the education process;
• the essay as a testing tool.
January 2005
On 29-30 January 2005, at its closing conference the project team announced its secondary school corruption survey findings from the study it conducted in the two Sofia-based schools in 2004. The organizers also presented an electronic manual containing methodological hints, model curricula and teaching aids for possible anti-corruption courses at secondary schools. Its main highlights are:
• details about the Elisaveta Klark and Penka Kasabova Association;
• review of the project’s theoretical background;
• teacher training within the project;
• presentation of survey findings;
• foreign experience in civil education;
• modern approaches to education planning (model syllabi, lesson plans, etc.);
• innovative teaching methods;
• contemporary methods for student evaluation.
Free access to information of public interest is a right, not a privilege
The project aims at contributing, through watchdog and advocacy activities, to a better and a more uniform implementation of transparency and accountability principles in Romania. Specific objectives: • Building local capacity of civil society in using proper advocacy tools for holding public authorities accountable for granting free access to information. • Raising awareness of public authorities on the duty to provide unrestricted, non-discriminatory access to information for all categories of solicitors, regardless the subject matter of the request or the type of institution.
Monitoring the Implementation of the FOIA at Selected Public Authorities (on local and regional level)
OAD has carried out a number of monitoring projects concerning the application of the FOIA in practice. The aim of the monitoring has been to identify problems and shortcomings related to the application of the FOIA, highlight them and encourage the affected authorities to resolve or eliminate them.
Efforts have been concentrated on changing or removing certain established practices which were incorrect in terms of the Act, or which were disadvantageous, discriminatory or discouraging for a citizen – information seeker.
Where the law had been breached, OAD sought a remedy through legal means (e.g. appeals) as well as trough filing actions against decisions on non-disclosure of information that contravened the law. Based on OAD’s actions, the courts have delivered several judgments which have changed the practices of the respective authorities in connection with the application of the Act.
OAD, in cooperation with other NGO activists, monitored the implementation the FOIA at the local self-government offices in selected Slovak towns and villages from June to September 2001. This monitoring was focused on both the active information policy and the information provided on request.
Corruption Research Centre
This is an academic research institute within the Corvinus University of Budapest where the scholars are not only doing academic work but actively engaging in promoting their findings, collaborating with other NGOs (e.g. Energy Control Project, TI-HU), and seeking media coverage of uncovered corrupt cases.
Corruption as an election issue
A research on public opinion was conducted in September 2002. Its results were presented in the media. The project raised the public awereness about corruption, promoted important values of transparency and dedication in fighting the poverty, influenced political parties to pay attention to corruption issues in their activities. The project put pressure on non transparent politicians and their political parties and supported the implementation of the national anti-corruption strategy. This project also reinforced the civil society organisations’ role in fighting corruption as well as the role of Transparency International in the monitoring of political system in Bosnia.
Advocacy and Legal Advice Center (ALAC)
The goal of the project was to increase citizen’s participation in active fight against the corruption through the information and education about corruption.
Transparency International Georgia Office in Parliament
The project aimed at enabling Georgian parliamentarians to make informed decisions about draft laws by providing them with the advice of lower level specialists and by actively involving civil society in the legislative process and also at improving the transparency of information given by the parliament, thus better informing citizens about the work carried out by the parliament.
Open Budget Questionnaire
This was a research and advocacy project aiming to promote public access to budget information and accountable budget-drafting procedures and institutions.
The non-governmental center for public information access
This is a project with a large territorial scope, encompassing some 400 districts and municipalities. The main goal is to raise the awareness about exercising one’s right to public information. The project intended to show citizens how they can demand such data from uncooperative public offices. Within the framework of the undertaking not only individuals were instructed but also civil society organizations were trained in order to be able later to provide support to citizens. The project also intended to both gather information about cases of information refusals and systematize those instances to be able to draw more general conclusions on the matter. Finally, the public opinion was to be informed about the observance of regulation on the public information access.
Ethics Code of Public Servant
The aim of the project: the development of a Code of Ethics for the Perechyn Rayon State Administration civil servants.
Nu Da Spaga! – DON’T ASK FOR BRIBE II
The project sought to:
– inform and raise the awareness of young adults, especially those that (will) activate in fields frequently associated with small corruption;
– involve the professional associations from justice, public administration fields in promoting the legal stipulations and the deontological codes, and in promoting their self-regulation role, in order to increase their responsibility;
– strengthen TIR image as an organization with expertise in providing applicable models for reducing the small corruption phenomenon and to strengthen the role of the professional associations as promoters of an ethic and responsible attitude towards beneficiaries.
This campaig is the follow-up of a similar one developed in 2003-2004.
Energy Control Project
The project aims at advancing a clean and transparent regulatory environment for the Hungarian energy sector. Its goal is to facilitate that “as many people have factual information as possible, understanding the importance of this sector on their lives”. In order to achieve this, it is essential that interested persons have access to data concerning them, and understand the background and consequences of the decisions of power.
To do this, the Project:
1. Collects, requests, processes and publishes information, facts and data in order to have a comprehensive view on the sector.
2. Conducts researches and writes studies to analyze and reveal the conditions of the Hungarian energy sector. They investigate its institutional and legal background, financial processes, and decision-making mechanisms. They also provide generic and specific suggestions to the problems listed here.
3. Launches tenders for investigative news articles. In these they draw the public’s attention with instruments of journalism on shortcomings, inconsistencies, misconducts and corruption in the sector.
4. Takes part in a work group where compliance with the Aarhus Convention (“on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters”) in the field of nuclear energy is investigated.
Common qualities of all the pillars of the program are the controlling role of publicity, revealing and documenting facts, as well as shaping the professional and social approach to these issues.
The Control Energy Project has had a lot of success since its launch in 2009. Its studies were met with great interest, leading to a full-house conference that had high coverage in the press and attracted great professional attention. Following our tenders, a range of investigative articles were published in national media and on the oknyomozo.hu site, the author of such an article received the prestigious Soma Award for the CEP material. During its operation, the program initiated dozens of data request proceedings, with lawsuits where necessary.
The Control Energy Project is a highlighted program of the Energiaklub
Read more about CEP here.
Coping with Corruption Toolkit
Based on the experiences of SMEs with corruption, Integra SK developed an anti-corruption toolkit to help SMEs to cope with corruption.
Reviewing and drafting laws related to the Access to Information – Improving the implementation of the law by public administration
The goals of the project were reviewing and drafting legislation, as well as improving the implementation of the law by public administration, in particular regulations with a considerable effect on the right to information, forms another group of activities of OAD, e.g. Amendments to FOIA, Code of Administrative Procedure, Act on Disclosure of Environmental Information, Act on Protection of Classified Information.
Building a Political Integrity Network in Southeastern Europe (SEEIN)
The overarching goal of the project was to promote transparency in the electoral process in Southeastern Europe and the accountability of elected officials. The specific objective was to assist civil society in Southeastern Europe in building effective anti-corruption coalitions based on the models, skills, and experience of the Romanian Coalition for a Clean Parliament (RCCP). The main activities of the project were to organize a regional conference to share experience on and discuss the effective solutions to fight political corruption, to set up a regional network of NGOs willing to engage in developing activities to fight political corruption, and to assist partner organizations in developing their own clean parliament coalitions.
SAR organized the regional conference on the creation of the East European Integrity Network (EEIN) during October 12-15, 2006. The conference attracted the participation of NGO representatives from Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, and Ukraine, as well as representatives of the World Bank, Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), European Parliament, Stability Pact.
Corruption Perception Study 2004
The goals of the project were to:
– Undertake a public opinion survey regarding the perception of corruption and compare the results of the survey with the baseline database developed in 2002;
– Publish the survey in both languages (local and English) and distribute to the BiH authorities at all levels including the Council of Ministers, Entity governments as well as the leading International Community representatives. The governments may opt to use the survey as an assessment base for their anti-corruption policies;
– Promote results trough mass media;
– Inform the citizens of BiH that currently have no access to information and understanding of the implications of corruption and lack of government transparency, particularly those that are relevant to them and their region;
– Stimulate broader public discussion on anti-corruption issues;
– Strengthen the rule of the law;
– Improve accountability and transparency of the public sector: public finance management, clearer budgets, prohibition of conflict of interest, depolarisation of administration;
– Involve citizens in corruption combating: associations for controlling and fighting corruption, partnership with governments, organizing political parties, influence on the leaders.