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Description
The project starts the lack of coherence and transparency in the formulation of public policies at local level, which correlates with the lack of politically assumed, visible initiatives aimed at opening data to the public in key sectors such as public investment, energy / heating, political spending or health. Recent events have shown that there is a reluctance on the part of political parties to open data in sensitive sectors, although there is a public demand.
The aim of the project is to increase the quality of public policies by consolidating good governance in the public sector at the local level, through citizen monitoring, legislative clarity and efficient practical implementation in the collection and publication of data of public interest.
The project will start with the development of a comprehensive watchdog guidebook for monitoring the local administration, based on our own experience and discussions with partners and local communities. It will be distributed to journalists and civic organizations and presented through a series of 6 trainings for civic groups throughout the country. We will work with teachers and students, experimenting with some of the topics in the guide and will elaborate worksheets for teachers to use in their classroom activity. Civic groups will be involved in local monitoring activities.
Expert Forum will organize discussions regarding open data policies in a series of 6 meetings and a public information campaign on the benefits of opening public data. The results will be materialized in 2 reports, launched in the closing event, with decision makers, partners and media.
We will work with journalists, civic activists, NGOs, teachers, citizens and will focus on youth involvement. The partners will support EFOR to identify the needs at the local level, the beneficiaries, will facilitate the relationship with the authorities and will contribute to the written materials.
Summary of project results
The project aimed to increase the quality of public policies by strengthening good governance in the public sector at the local level, citizen monitoring and educational tools, increasing legislative clarity, and the efficient implementation of mechanisms for collecting and publishing public interest data. With relevant experience in the field of good governance, the Promoter highlighted the lack of coherence and transparency in the formulation of public policies at the local level, which would correlate with politically assumed, visible initiatives and would ultimately aim at opening data to the public in key sectors such as public investments, energy/district heating, party financing or health. According to the Promoter, Romanian political events demonstrate that at the level of political parties, there is a reluctance to open data in sensitive sectors, although there is a public demand. However, there are civically involved actors with experience in holding authorities accountable regarding local public services, the functioning of public institutions, or opening data to the public. Therefore, within the project, the Promoter proposed to collaborate with homeowners'' associations, active in several cities in the country, with teachers from the organization''s network - School for Democracy - throughout the country, with NGOs involved in watchdog work regarding the use of public resources at the local level or with citizens concerned about the well-being of their community.
To support the project beneficiaries - NGOs, civic groups, journalists, and citizens - to have an increased monitoring/advocacy capacity and to get involved effectively in the field of public money spending, the Promoter has produced a Guide within A3, called the Public Money Detector (https://expertforum.ro/detector-bani-publici) which integrates information on how budgets are formed, how investments are approved and how public money is spent. The role of the guide is also to support the reader in collecting data to create the profile of a company or a person with political connections. The Guide was sent electronically to approximately 1300 people (journalists, NGOs, supporters) and launched publicly during several events. Within A4 - Providing assistance for the use of the guides, the Promoter launched a dedicated section on the organization''s website (https://bit.ly/3H4qHzB) where users can receive answers to ambiguities related to the aspects covered in the guide; 8 guide presentation sessions were organized, attended by over 100 people. Within A5, 6 trainings were organized - in Brasov (2022), Bucharest (2022), Constanta (2022), Cluj (2023), Resita (2023), and Timisoara (2023). Journalists, citizens, representatives of political parties, and guests from public institutes or academia participated in these workshops. The participants then formed a Facebook discussion group (the group with resources for procurement and budgets). Within the six trainings organized, a planning session was also held (to implement A6) which resulted in a list of proposals for potential local monitoring projects. The partners facilitated the entire project in the efforts to carry out local monitoring projects. Within A7, 7 presentation sessions/workshops were held for another group of beneficiaries - high school students, on the following topics: local administration, local budget, public policies, and participatory budgeting. 4 interactive worksheets were also created for teachers and available online at https://expertforum.ro/fise-lucru-bugete/. Approximately 150 students and 13 teachers participated in the seminars. Within A8, a guide for developing public policies was developed that offers practical ways local authorities can use data to formulate their public policies (https://expertforum.ro/ghid-politici-publice/). In A9, the Promoter implemented an online campaign to make political party subsidies transparent with over 4,900 reactions and 8,000 shares on social media; they launched an online petition that collected 15,223 signatures; they submitted 2 proposals for commitments for the 2022-2024 Action Plan to the National OGP (Open Government Partnership) Committee; they participated in public debates and conferences and the publication of public comments on the various proposals for legislative amendments proposed by the authorities. Within A10 - National policy brief and project closing conference - 2 national policy briefs were developed and submitted regarding party financing in 2022 and party subsidies in 2023. At the same time, 2 events open to the public were organized to disseminate the project results, and the conclusions from the analyses and reports developed. On May 18, 2023, a debate was held on the topic "Financing political parties in 2022: Why do we need more data?", which was attended by 32 people, and on September 15, 2023, a debate was held on the topic "How to make elections transparent: access to data in an electoral context" which was attended by 35 people. As part of the organizational development activity, 10 newsletters were sent with the activities of the project and the organization; an annual EFOR activity report (2022) was prepared; and during the project, 4 members of the organization participated in training courses.
EFOR has implemented activities aimed at increasing the transparency and accountability of public institutions and involving community members (over 500 ben.). We have published guides on topics related to monitoring public funds and evidence-based public policy-making, reports on open data, political party financing, or election results, and organized activities to educate students on topics related to community management and public money. All materials are available on the project page https://expertforum.ro/politici-publice-relevante/ One of the main objectives was to develop materials that allow citizens or journalists to monitor the use of public money. The content of the guide, unique in the public space (Public Money Detector) was disseminated through six workshops organized in the country to more than 135 participants, as well as in other events with students or magistrates. The topics presented in the trainings were followed up through one-off activities with participants. The workshops were attended by local speakers (vice mayors, local councillors, etc.) and investigative journalists. We contributed to the organization of a data transparency campaign within the Open Government Plan. EFOR submitted 2 proposals for commitments to the OGP National Plan, one of which was accepted, and is a partner in 3 others. EFOR organized 2 debates on the implementation of local funding programmes and participated in 10 other debates on relevant topics in dedicated working groups. We have also worked to increase the transparency of political funding and organized two conferences on this issue with the participation of key institutions. EFOR promoted an open letter for transparency of political subsidies, supported by over 15,000 signatories. In September 2023 we organised a debate on open election data, relevant for 2024.