Fundación Ciudadana Civio (Civio) is a Spanish non-profit organization established in February of 2012.
Its strategy is to increase transparency and accountability through the use of information technologies and data journalism.
Their commitment is to promote transparency and the recognition and democratization of the right to access to information.
Civio’s ultimate goal is to increase citizens’ participation and awareness and to achieve significant cultural and legislative changes fostering a stronger democracy.
Civio’s combine web applications and data journalism to develop innovative digital tools that facilitate access and interpretation of public information.
Through the use of data mining, scraping, analysis and visualization, as well as the generation of quality content, Civio addresses fields such as public budgets, governmental pardons, access to information and conflicts of interest.
Facebook: Fundación Ciudadana Civio • Twitter: @Civio
#YoCo is a Mexican network of CSOs, citizens and public officials concerned about corruption. It works for the development of anti-corruption initiatives maintaining a focus on the prevention of corruption in the public sector.
The project is structured by a model based on four measures:
1. Diagnostic of work processes to identify risks of corruption in public agencies and private actors.
2. To raise public awareness on the existence of acts and behaviors to detect corruption risk maps.
3. Identifying corrective measures.
4. Identification and punishment of corruption acts.
These concrete actions seek to effectively prevent acts of corruption by public servants and citizens.
By August 2015 #YoCo will present a legislative initiative that will focus on prevention and citizen participation in the fight against corruption.
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Organizations leading #YoCo :
- Aportes Contraloría, A.C.
- CIMTRA: Ciudadanos por Municipios Transparentes
- Desarrollo Institucional de la Vida Pública A.C
- Instituto para la Defensa del Interés Público, A.C. (IDIP)
- ONG Contraloría Ciudadana para la Rendición de Cuentas, A.C
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.
The project intended to study foreign models of railway privatization highlighting best practices and elaborating recommendations. As a result of the project the Report “Georgian Railway: Challenges and Perspectives”.
The TI Accountability Programme addresses the existing deficiencies in governments accountability in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia by proposing remedies in two key areas of good governance, which are currently insufficiently regulated:
– Conflict of interest of public officials
– Free access to information
The programme also aims at involving civil society in actively promoting and monitoring the above mentioned laws.
These goals are be reached by:
– Raising public awareness;
– Strengthening civil society in the region;
– Enhancing higher level of media professionalism;
– Reducing opportunities for conflict of interest of public officials;
– Ensuring free access to information for citizens.
The three-year programme is being implemented by the TI National Chapters in the respective countries and coordinated by he TI International Secretariat.
The project includes the following activities:
– Assessment of the existing legislation
– Improvement of the Laws
– Public awareness raising
– Training of journalists and CSOs representatives
– Training of public officials
– Monitoring the implementation of the Laws
The project aimed at raising the accountability of Ministerial Public Policy Units and increasing the ability and knowledge of civil society to participate effectively and valuably in the process of elaborating, implementing, monitoring and evaluating the public policy process.
2005-2006: Batory Foundation and the Institute of Public Affairs (ISP) initiated in 2005 a project named ‘Monitoring of electoral campaign financing’ and its name is self explanatory. During initial 2005-2006 period the project encompassed monitoring of both presidential and local government electoral campaigns.
2006-2008: Those observations pushed both organizations to take steps in order to amend the current inefficiencies. In 2008 they came up with proposals of amending the electoral law, especially in terms of presidential campaign financing and presented it before the parliamentary legislative committee.
Local government 2006: The monitoring of finances of local government electoral campaign was ignited in June 2006. The Batory Foundation trained 15 local NGOs and associations across Poland in the project area. These organizations were to impartially monitor and publish data about campaign financing sources, with a special stress put on the issue if the public money is used to finance incumbent majors/presidents’ campaigns. Additionally, resources utilized for media campaign, public events as well as donations were analyzed. This action was to show that the society not only care about electoral campaign finances, but also can control them.
2009: The third edition of this still ongoing project took place in 2009 during the electoral campaign to the European Parliament (EP). Again close attention was paid to campaign expenditures, financing sources and engagement of public funds by public officials for their or their colleagues campaigns. Monitoring was carried out at both national and local levels and observed irregularities were reported and disclosed in the intermediary report.
The project aimed at licensing system reform and at the creation of a unified licensing center on construction and land uses in Slavutych city.
Beyond the legal details of the restitution process, two characteristics define Romania as an unique state in the Central and Eastern Europa:
- indecision regarding compensations, in nature or equivalent, so that successive laws, produced and implemented for more than a decade, created confusion and overlapped rights
- Large-scale abuse at local and central levels, favored by laws with loopholes and irregular judicial practice, visible through the huge discrepancies among restitution indicators, from one county to another
SAR initiated the first analysis with numeric indicators regarding the situation of restitutions, which shows who is at fault and why.
The scope of the project was the improvement of capacities for the local public administration towards implementing public policies.
The specific objective was to evaluate the situation for three indicators: performance, transparency and responsiveness by utilizing a test-case applied at a national level.
Starting from the evaluation, SAR identified and promoted the best modalities to increase the local capacity in relation to the three aspects, through consultation and advocacy.
Activities:
- Evaluating the local administration through a test-case. The activity included documentation and data collection, through interviews, data analysis and interpretation and publishing the report
- Round table for consulting stakeholders
- Advocacy activities for promoting the recommendations: preparing the activity, meetings with key decision factors, workshop, disseminating publications, disseminating results to mass media
Partners
APADOR-CH
Implementation period: December 2007 – September 2008
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.
The project aimed at increasing the transparency and accountability of the public administration through the creation of a sustainable system for inclusion of the civil society structures in the formulation and implementation activities of the public administration. In short, the project included: 1. an analysis of the current deficiencies in the work of the public administration with the citizens and the business; 2. formulation and development of mechanisms for improvement through analyses of best practices; 3. implementation of a sustainable system for cooperation that guarantees the constant involvement of the civil society actors in the practical implementation of the policies of the public administration in four pilot municipalities; 4. realization of seminars for the target groups concerning the European best practices of good governance.
Among its activites the project counted: publicity and public awareness to promote case reporting, case intake, case investigation, case work with Public Prosecutors, public advocacy, media coverage.
The main goal of the project was to improve transparency, service delivery and accountability by the municipal administration in Lezha.
Working with 6 municipalities and 2 municipal units of Tirana as apart of the decentralization plans, focusing on local government transparency and analyzing bureaucracy.
Project aiming at involvement of particular regional socio-economic conditions as a criterion within the public procurement and public contracting tenders when the companies from disadvatnaged regions would receive additional points within the tender evaluation. The project was implemented in cooperation with a businessman from one of the Czech disadvantaged regions (Jesenicko). The seminars on the method took place and an agreement with Ministry of Defence on including the new criterion was reached.
Monitoring of the implementation of the law on conflict of interest focusing on particular cases including publishing the cases, taking part in the administrative procedures, court rulings and involving media into the coverage of the issues and cases. Monitoring targeted mainly deputies and senators – how they comply with the obligaton to publish all gainful activities and incomes. A substantial part was cooperation with the media (assisting them with publishing a list of those who did not comply every year). The organization also provided support to the media and background information on the interpretation of the law. Regular press conferences took place, later on in the Senate. The project changed the culture connected to the publishing of the incomes, related to the law on the conflict of interests and raised awareness of the media on the issue; after the termination of the project, the media keep continuing monitoring the obligation to comply. In the third year of running project (2004), all deputies and senators complied. The only shortcomming would be the focus on the parliamentary level only due to the capacity of the organization.
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.
The project main objective is to make an evaluation of the procedures, related to the drawing up and spending the state budget and budget surplus, and to work out recommendations for enhanced transparency and efficiency of the budgetary process. Project implementation tools include: 1. expert studying of the budgetary process; 2. legal framework analysis; 3. of the practices for the last three years; 4. identification of strengths and weaknesses, threats and opportunities (SWOT analysis); 5. focus group, consisting of representatives of the executive power (Ministry of Finance, a Ministry, Agency for Economic Analysis and Forecasting, National Audit Office, a member of parliament); 6. drawing up recommendations for: legislative changes; improvement of the institutional coordination within the process; 7. conference presenting the results of the study and the recommendations on the budgetary process to interested persons and institutions.
The project was designed as a competition: individuals and organizations could nominate a public institution/government body as positive or negative example for providing information based on the Freedom of Access to Information Act (FOIA); at the end of each year the “winner”” was given an award (http://www.infocin.sk/).”
The purpose of this project was to make aid work for Georgia by improving IDP housing policy, and by enhancing the transparency, accountability and communications of government bodies, donors, UN bodies and NGOs involved in aid (through elaboration of policy papers).
Project goals: Analysis and evaluation of the State Budget, elaboration of recommendations, active participation in the draft process of 2010 budget; an information campaign implemented in order to provide information to the wide public regarding budget priorities and other pressing issues.
The purpose of the project was the elaboration of an analytical report “Expanding the EITI Agenda to Transportation of Hydrocarbon Resources” covering 3 countries Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine.
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.
The main objective of the report was to analyse the Estonian legal framework on whistleblower protection as well as its application. The report consists of 5 chapters. The first chapter gives an overview of whistleblower protection rules and their practical application. The Estonian cultural context, especially its transitional background (still existing influence of Soviet system) as well as the small society characteristics-these are the points discussed. The second chapter focuses on the evaluation of the extent of whistleblower protection ruled regarding the scope of whistleblower legislation, disclosure channels, remedies etc. The final chapter lists key results as well as recommendations made based on the analysis as well as key informant interviews.
