An independent evaluation committee composed of trustworthy public personalities decided on the selection of projects to be supported by the fund.
New projects Fund for transparent Slovakia 2019/2
Institute for Economic and Social Reforms (INEKO): Promoting the independence and transparency of public institutions (€ 16 000)
The aim is to increase the independence and transparency of the regulatory, control and judicial institutions to protect the public from abuse of power by politicians and interest groups. The independence assessment will be extended from the current 18 to around 25 institutions. Based on the analysis and comparison of the institutions as well as the opinions of their representatives and other experts, recommendations and suggestions for systemic changes will be drawn up. In order to create public pressure, the outputs will be published on the internet portal, in the media and also offered to political leaders. The project will include an evaluation of the openness of competitions for leading positions of selected institutions, as well as lectures for secondary school students throughout Slovakia
Transparency International Slovakia: More transparency in the work of courts and prosecutors (€ 16,000)
The main objective of the project is to increase public control over the work of the courts and prosecution. In the case of the courts, a ranking of judges will be created and compared to previous years, thus putting pressure on their improvement. We will analyze the role of family ties in the judiciary on the basis of the 2019 selection procedures, which are held in a new, supposedly fair way. In the case of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the official prosecution statistics will be reworked to a user-friendly PDF form to an interactive database of open data on this sector. Overall, this will strengthen personal accountability and transparency in the key sectors for law enforcement.
Slovakia.Digital: Red Flags 4.0 (€ 15,000)
The informatisation of public administration is carried out through large national IT projects, which are systematically evaluated by the specialized Red Flags methodology. 58 projects were included in the evaluation and the activities so far contributed to improving their quality and saving public administration costs. In the next 2 years, all projects are expected to pass public procurement and start implementing projects. We strive to achieve greater transparency by assessing the progress of projects and working with key partners from the public administration and IT sectors. The general public will be informed about IT projects through the media and at http://redflags.slovakia.digital.
Fair-play Alliance: Smaller gray zone, better analysis – healthier public finances (€ 9,000)
The ambition of the project is to identify weaknesses in legislation, enabling sophisticated speculative practices of companies that lead to lower revenues or higher expenditures of the state budget. Thanks to extensive experience in the analysis of published financial statements and other public data, companies with non-standard behavior for their type of business will be identified. Using the experience of former KPMG auditors (pro bono consultations), the assumption that this is a exploitation of a legislative weakness will be confirmed / disproved. If the abuse of a legislative weakness is confirmed, the process will be described and a transparent solution will be proposed, narrowing the scope for tax evasion, corruption or other (not only) economic activity on the edge of the law. The draft amendment will be submitted to the new government and published.
Institute for a Well-Managed Society: Improving the quality of public debate and recognizing false information in the election campaign and after (€ 16,000)
The project aims to raise public awareness of the truths and untruths in political discussions and thereby contribute to strengthening democracy. In addition to verifying statements, the Demagóg.sk database with 14,000 statements will be used to identify whether politicians are more inclined to speak untrue in election campains than before, which topics are most prone to misleading, and what are the most common arguments and so-called „Red-flags“ – suspicious arguments. Based on the findings of the research, popularization publications and a campaign will be prepared with an emphasis on one of the most vulnerable disinformation groups – students from regions at risk of extremism. They will receive trainings and also aforementioned publications.
Slovak Debate Association: Young Debates on Transparent Slovakia (€ 8,000)
The project aims to bring young people closer to issues related to the transparency of public life. In the first phase of the project training materials for young people will be prepared in order to familiarize themselves with the topic of transparency in their schools. Subsequently, debating events will be organized to discuss with their peers topics such as proof of origin of a property, anti-corruption, whistleblowing and so on. At these events, they should not only get information on the subject, but also understand the importance of transparency for a healthy society. Debate events will be followed by Oxford-type public debates, where experts will discuss with students and the public.
New projects Fund for transparent Slovakia 2020
VIA IURIS: Measures for trusted rule of law institutions (€ 17,400)
Publicized information on the influence of oligarchs on politicians and the judiciary shows that it is essential to continue systemic changes to ensure the credible and responsible functioning of the rule of law institutions. After the parliamentary elections, the priorities of the government and thus the direction of Slovakia for the next 4 years will be redefined. We will use this period to push expert proposals on key institutions of the rule of law (prosecutor’s office, judiciary, parliament) into the government’s program and then translate them into real legislative changes. As part of the project, we will monitor the legislative activities of the Government and actively participate in their comments and monitor the selection of the new Attorney General.
Chcemvedieť.sk (Iwanttoknow.sk): Digital Transparency and Freedom of Information (€ 12 400)
Through the portal Chcemvediet.sk we make it easier for citizens, journalists and non-profit organizations to request information from public institutions. We want to improve several functionalities, we would also like to add an administrator to the team, who would provide regular support to applicants in dealing with infos, which today is irregular and dependent on the volunteers‘ free time. We want to program a public.digital connection to updated public data sources. We would also like to involve the wider public in hackathon analyzes. For programmers, there will be a “pitch” with pre-prepared codes to analyze the link graphs. For journalists there will be tips and tricks, how to find information, but also a case study
Stop the Corruption Foundation: Zindex.sk: First evaluation of town purchases in the half of the term
(€ 18 400)
After a successful premiere evaluation of public procurement by Slovak ministries, state authorities and companies using the Zindex methodology, in 2020 we will look at how the towns and municipalities use the publick finances. In sum, it may be a smaller amounts, but larger numbers of purchases and often out of the sight of public, media or NGOs. It will be the first systematic analysis of purchases of local governments in Slovakia and the first certificate for mayors in the half of their term. In addition to the calculation of Zindex itself, we will analyze the purchases of state and local governments, point out good and bad practices and promote systemic changes in public procurement in the new parliament
Institute of Strategic Policies.: Infosecurity.sk (€ 15 400)
Public discourse and political campaigns have largely shifted to non-transparent cyberspace and social networks. Disinformers, politicians and extremists are hiding from the law or public pressure as a veil of virtual anonymity as they could never afford it in the real world. They erode the pillars of liberal democracy, spread hatred and divide society. The Infosecurity.sk project was created in response to a new situation in a rapidly changing information environment. It is an analytical, watchdog, and educational platform that reveals anonymous actors in cyberspace through digital investigation and communicates key topics in a comprehensible and effective way by publishing for the public.
Institute for Economic and Social Reforms (INEKO): Open on Transport – Large projects under scrutiny
(€ 16,400)
The project enhances transparency and oversees the use of resources in a large department of transport. It reveals the contrast between the plans of generous buildings and the poor state of most roads and railways that are not even repaired. It puts pressure on reducing waste and finding more effective solutions. In 2020, it will focus mainly on 1) opening other important data, 2) monitoring large projects and tenders, 3) active participation in working groups, 4) training leaders (journalists, politicians, civil servants) through workshops and the public through blogs, interviews and media commentaries. It will contribute to a broader perception and promotion of sustainable, higher value for money solutions.
