Activity Type: Monitoring

Young Lawyers for Improving the State and Civil Control Mechanisms in Georgia

Among the goals of the project:
1. To improve domestic monitoring mechanisms – analysis of relevant legislation in force and activities of the Chamber of Control; by organizing round-tables for relevant stakeholders; elaborating recommendations and drafts as to introduce them into relevant legislation;
2. To improve transparency and accountability during grant related relationships – analysis of relevant legislation “Law on the Grants””; by elaborating and lobbying recommendations and drafts as to introduce them into relevant legislation;
3. To contribute to effective CSOs monitoring of priority areas being identified within the framework of the Coalition – through the identification of relevant donors providing financial assistance; the perfectionining of legal system amd national monitoring mechanisms; assistance to IDPs; rehabilitation of national infrastructure.”

Publicity and transparency in the work of the administration, governance and public spending of the municipal council of the Sopot municipality

The project aimed at increasing the transparency and accountability of the work of the municipality of the city of Sopot by improving the partnership between the structures of the civil society and the local authorities. The project activities included: 1. assessment of the transparency and accountability in the work of the municipal administration; 2. evaluation and development of recommendations regarding the transparency in the work of the municipal council; 3. development and realization of a web based portal for dissemination of information regarding the activities of the municipal administration for improving the access to information for citizens and the business.

Promoting Transparency and Accountability in Southern Kosovo

The project aimed to promote effective local government and increase citizen participation in decision-making processes. INPO monitored local government institutions in southern Kosovo, published and distributed monitoring reports, promoted public access to information, and facilitated communication between citizens and elected officials at all government levels.

They (should) work for you – Learn how to evaluate your local councilors

The project aims at creating a set of efficient monitoring tools for measuring local elected officials’ mandate performance in – between elections, during electoral periods and six months after elections – with the direct scope of empowering civil society to accurately scrutinize the local governance act and hold elected representatives accountable for their work.

True accountability in National & European Parliament(s): Civil Society Accesses the MPs’ nominal votes on laws

The project aimed to:
– support the development of accountable MPs in the national and European Parliaments through systematic monitoring of the concrete activity in these bodies and through exposing this activity to the citizens of Romania;
– strengthen civil society capacity of monitoring and tracking MPs activity, by stimulating the creation of a civic platform in the region.

The Price of the State

The overall goal of the project, The Price of the State, is to improve general public and especially young generation’s general knowledge of the basic mechanisms and proportions of public finance. We consider it as an important step in increasing the public awareness and pressure on the transparency and fiscal responsibility of the government. Since the knowledge of public finance issues is very poor not only among general public, but also among graduates from high schools and even universities, the voter lacks information necessary for rational decisions and effective civic engagement. The Price of the State concentrates detailed data on revenues and expenditures for public administration. With the help of our portal it’s possible to get a comprehensive overview of how much the state takes in and spends and how these quantities are changing over time. In order to visualize the dimensions of individual state expenditures we use indicators which convert individual items into per-capita or per-working person costs. We go over some of the numbers in more detail, briefly commenting on them under the heading Number of the Day. The Universe of Public Expenditures offers a graphical image of the dimensions of public finance. Those hunting bargains in the public sphere are invited to Buy Your Own State.

The State Waste

The main goal of this watchdog project was to strengthen citizen control of public administration by means of providing comprehensive, complete and easy-to-understand information on ineffective and non-transparent public spending at one place. This can be achieved via collecting and processing cases where the media document the ineffective spending of public funds by public officials followed by broad communication of these complete collection towards both media and general public. It sought to contribute to public awareness about the governance problems and to answer the question “How much of our money do they waste?” for common people. The project also expected to increase the public pressure on ministries, mayors and various regional and local public officials to act more transparently, honestly, responsibly and effectively. A complete and easily accessible internet database of all in print media reported cases of corrupt, nontransparent or ineffective public spending was created.

Transparency of political party funding

A small research team from the Institute of Public Affairs (Instytut Spraw Publicznych) carried out an appraisal of financing of the political parties’ electoral campaigns. It was an in house research not related to any public campaign. They focused on official information provided by the parties to a governmental agency responsible for gathering such documents, which the parties are obliged by the law to deliver. Moreover, the team carried out in-depth interviews with or contacted via email/fax (one party and three main governmental controlling bodies) representatives of the political parties.
A project final output was a report on budgetary subsidies to political parties for running their electoral campaigns. The report was released at the press conference and was commented by all the major newspapers and on-line news portals as well as radio and TV news. It included a detailed analysis of a gathered material as well as recommendations aiming at enhancing transparency of the political party funding.
Goals of the project:
• assessment of corruption risks in the political party financing system
• enhancing the transparency of parties’ expenditure of budgetary subsidies
• civil society control of the party financing
• increasing public awareness of party financing system

Monitoring and evaluation of the possibilities for improving the transparency of the municipal administration

The goal of the project was to increase the capacity of the civil society organizations for improving the transparency of the work of the local and municipal administrations. The project offered practical guidelines for representatives of the civil society for better cooperation with the municipal administration and created a local network for monitoring and evaluation. The initiative included: 1. a round table on the topic “Transparency in the administration and the involvement of the civil society””; 2. a survey among representatives of the target groups; 3. an analyses, followed by recommendations, on the legal framework and the internal procedures guiding the work of the municipal administrations in their cooperation with the civil society; 4. development of an web site for the ease of the civil society network.”

Transparency Through Awareness

The aim of the project was to analyze the publication and transparency of the resources of EU structural funds and to achieve more transparency in the relevant decision-making process and the consultation with the civil organizations in these processes. A distinct part of the project dealt with the role of media in designing the aims of the project.

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.)

Promoting Active Citizen Engagement (ACTION) in Combating Corruption in Ukraine

The Project supported non-governmental monitoring and advocacy on priority areas in the fight against corruption, focusing particularly on issues identified by the Government of Ukraine in its Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Threshold Country Plan. The ACTION Project carefully tracked corruption indicators in a consistent, detailed and regularized fashion using large national surveys, special sector surveys, citizen report cards, indicators that monitor procedural transactions and outcomes, and focus groups. The objectives of this tracking were to define a baseline for corruption levels in particular functions and sectors, to monitor progress (or backsliding) in advocacy or reform strategies, to mobilize civil society, business and the mass media to action, and to demonstrate to government the critical nature of corruption in an objective way that is hard to refute. The Three Key Components of the Promoting Active Citizen Engagement in Combating Corruption in Ukraine (ACTION) Project: 1) Measuring the Government of Ukraine’s (GOU) progress and long-term commitment in their fight against corruption; 2)Supporting for civil society advocacy and monitoring efforts; 3) Supporting investigative journalism and various other anti-corruption efforts concerning the media.

Coalition for a Clean Parliament

Evaluating candidate MPs on the following criteria: Education; Political Contribution; Public Contribution; Penal Precedents; Consistency within a Political Camp and Parliamentary Performance (only for the existing MPs); and, Involvement in Controversial Activities, which was to be effectuated only in the case when an official verdict was issued by the authorities. The goal of the project was instating dignity in the parliament, by clearing it from MPs with bad record.

Civil Parliament – a model for improving the organizational work, control and monitoring in preventing the corruption and increasing the accountability of the municipal administration of the city of Koprivshtica

The project aimed at increasing the transparency, the organization and civil control over the work of the municipal administration in the city of Koprivshtica in order to achieve better governance at local level. The project activities included: 1. surveys assessing the transparency and accountability of the municipal administration; 2. assessment and evaluation of the structure and effectiveness of the governance procedures of the municipal administration and the provision of precise recommendations for improvement; 3. risk assessment of the potential for corruption practices in the work of the administration; 4. assessment of the strategic documents and legal framework concerning the governance of the municipality and development of measures and recommendations for improvement; 5. realization of public hearings and round tables (civil parliaments) aimed to define the major problems and needs with regard to transparency and control over the work of the administration; 6. variety of activities for dissemination of the project goals and results.

Monitoring the Application of the FOIA: The National Authorities Opened to People Project (on national level)

Monitoring groups consisted of citizens who, trained on possible claims related to the FOIA, were to collect certain data at particular national offices. Filing their applications for information – in person, by phone or in writing – they asked for various kinds of information. Communication manners, keeping deadlines and the content of the information required were evaluated later on. Based on the results, the monitored national authorities were ranked according to their implementation behaviour in respect to the access to information mode and the content of the information provided.
The project contributed to the enhancement of decision-making processes and the increase of their transparency and availability to public supervision, and laid basic grounds for the fight against bribery at the national authorities.

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.

Coalition “Transparent Foreign Aid to Georgia” (in-house project)

The project intended to support the forming of a Coalition of 7 NGOs focused on rising and improving monitoring, transparency and accountability. The goal of the TFAG Coalition is to analyze, evaluate and monitor projects funded within the foreign aid package allotted to Georgia after the August 2008 armed conflict; to provide wide coverage of monitoring reports and to advocate for the elaborated recommendations.

Monitoring the legal practice of the Supreme Court of Cassation

The major aim of the project is to establish and maintain the transparency and effectiveness of the Supreme Court of Cassation. The project aims to examine thoroughly the decisions taken by the Supreme Court of Cassation for the period of 2002, 2003 and 2004, which will permit an assessment of the activities of the institution. Subsequently, an objective analysis of the research results will be made, as the point is to draw major conclusions from the review of the decisions of Supreme Court of Cassation.

Public budgets monitoring

The project aims at consolidating a systematic approach to the civil monitoring and control over budgetary process. Its activities include: drawing up reports on the implementation of budget 2006; comments and evaluations, provoked by specific information occasions, related to budget proposals for 2007; drawing up a report on the status of health insurance system; drawing up a report on the readiness for absorption of European Structural funds; making of sector analysis of the expenses in the field of education; analysis of the efficiency of the existing system for education funding and the opportunities for its enhancement.

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