Period of implementation: 01 March 2023- 28 February 2026
Donor: Supported by the European Union and the regional project SMART Balkans – Civil Society for Shared Society in the Western Balkans, which is implemented by the Center for Civil Society Promotion (CPCD) from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Center for Research and Policy Making (CRPM) from North Macedonia and the Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM) from Albania, and is financially supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Norway.
Objective
At the impact level, the proposed action – Integrity Watch in the Western Balkans and Turkey: civil society combating corruption with political integrity data – seeks to empower citizens and civil society actors organised at large in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey to hold their political office holders to account for the integrity of political finance, law-making and resource allocation. Thus strengthened political integrity shall foster more public decisions consistent with the common good.
Activities
Within Outcome 1: watchdogs from state authorities, civil society and media have improved their ability to detect and prevent political corruption risks using open data, and associated Output 1.1: datasets, dashboards, and corruption risk red-flagging tools are developed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey, the following activities are foreseen:
– Scoping political integrity data availability and publishing domestic and regional reports
– Project partners consult with Domestic Advisory Groups (set up in A2.2.1) and decide on datasets for each IW platform
– Building and (where applicable) connecting datasets
– Developing web-based platforms
– Developing and incorporating risk indicators in the platforms (where applicable)
Output 1.2: Civil society, media, and oversight agencies’ capacities for detecting and preventing political corruption risks are built. To avoid duplication of work, this output, in particular, will build on the results of mapping of local and regional CSOs and existing training material, as well as assessment of CSOs’ capacity-building needs that TI chapters in the region already conducted under the CEPI (Citizen Engagement for Public Integrity) project supported by the EU. Within this output, the following activities are planned:
– Drafting training materials (tutorials, syllabi, guides, etc.)
– Organising training workshops and meetings on the use of the IW platforms and data
– Engaging prospective and target users through user-driven participatory workshops, investigations or hackathons
Within Outcome 2: increased domestic and cross-border peer-to-peer exchanges amongst relevant stakeholders in state authorities, civil society, and media to detect, prevent and counter political corruption, and associated Output 2.1: best practices and tools conducive to deterring political corruption are identified, the following activities are foreseen:
– Publishing reports on applicable political integrity regulations (laws, bylaws, rules) and their implementation (comparing with data availability analysed in 1.1.1)
– Tracking progress in relevant political integrity regulations and data availability throughout project implementation and publishing findings (where applicable)
Within Output 2.2: Regional Community of Practice shares lessons and best practices and supports advocacy for better standards for the detection and prevention of political corruption risks; these activities are planned:
– Setting up Domestic Advisory Groups (DAGs) for each project partner with participation from public authorities, civil society, media and academia
– Convening DAG members from all beneficiaries into a Regional Community of Practice
– Organising online and in-person meetings of the RCP Activity
– Conducting bilateral regional exchanges between DAG members
– Conducting strategic communication and advocacy initiatives, including cross-regional ones, on specific corruption cases and strengthened standards on political integrity data and governance
– Selection and sub-granting to grassroots, local and/or cross-border CSO partners to support citizen engagement advocacy actions and awareness raising
