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Description
In 2004 a law was passed in Romania that offered protection to whistleblowers who file a complaint about infringements within public authorities, institutions, or companies. 17 years later though, after monitoring the implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (https://static.anaf.ro/static/10/Anaf/Informatii_R/SNA_2016_2020_28112016.pdf) between 2016 and 2020, the overall conclusion was that a whistleblower has little to no ways through which they can safely disclose wrongdoings. Employees are often scared to report abuses of the system due to negative consequences.
Recorder will raise awareness about the importance of whistleblowers in a democratic state and will show some commendable examples of bravery by publishing a video series of the most important and impactful Romanian whistleblower cases of the past years.
We will choose journalistic campaigns from Recorder and other newsrooms that had great exposure and impact in Romania as well as less known cases to the public. The main goal of the campaign is to inform the citizens of their rights and the law that offers protection to whistleblowers. We hope to portray the fundamental importance of whistleblowers to civil servants who are frustrated with our current government and have tried in the past, or plan in the future, to assume that role.
Funky Citizens, our partner, will contribute with their training and advocacy expertise. By expertise we understand both their collaborative input in elaborating project materials, such as the informative clip on the role of whistleblowers, but also in preparing and holding trainings, while the advocacy component is fundamental in assuring that the initiative here presented has a far-reaching impact of the topic at hand, even after the project period is over.
The main beneficiaries are civil workers, that thought of or tried assuming the role of whistleblowers, with a secondary focus on those that are frustrated with how the system operates.