Project Title: Combating Clientelism in Local Investments and Financial Transfers (CC-LIFT)

Donor Organization: The Open Society Initiative for Europe through Expert Forum Association (EFOR)

Grant Amount: USD 8,360

Project Duration: November 2017 – February 2019

Objectives and Goals

CC-LIFT contributes to the development of watchdog mechanisms in Romania, Moldova and Georgia regarding the clientelistic allocation of funds towards the local communities. The project aims to improve the effectiveness, transparency and accountability of governance by enabling local civil society organizations to oversee the budgetary development procedures and participate in debates on resource allocations by facilitating the policy dialogue between the authorities and CSOs.

The general objective of the project is to contribute to improving the effectiveness, transparency and accountability in budgeting and procurement in Romania, Moldova and Georgia. The specific objective of the project is to enable civil society to oversee budget, participate in public finance policy formulation and implementation by facilitating the policy dialogue between the authorities and public & civil society.

Through the project, local CSOs from the three countries will develop tools and share best practices to oversee public budgets and the intergovernmental fiscal transfers, as well as budgetary allocations and procurement for local investments. The local stakeholders, assisted by the project partners, will participate in public finance policy formulation and implementation by facilitating the policy dialogue between the authorities and local civil society. All these will be achieved by:

1. Translating in simple, visual instruments the key data on public budget transfers and thus provide more transparency on the local budgeting process.

2. Advocating with local and central decision-makers for better budgetary allocations in critical moments (before budget approvals or amendments).

3. Empowering (developing the capacity of) a network of local activists and journalists in 15 municipalities (6 in Romania, 6 in Moldova and 3 in Georgia) to undertake watchdog activities on public budgets and procurement processes.

Activities

A1. Preliminary Research

A2. Data Collection and Analysis of 3 Target Municipalities

A3. Identifying Local Activists in 3 Municipalities

A4. Organizing Three Training Sessions for the Local Activists

A5. Organizing Public Debates on National and Local Budgets

A6. Monitoring the Government’s Budget Allocations to Communities

A7. Map of Clientelism and Press Conferences

A8. Developing an Analysis Methodology for Public Procurement

A9. Preparing and Publishing Periodic Newsletters

Expected Outcomes - the project will deliver:

- A set of visual tools to clarify key budget data, which can be later updated yearly. These will be disseminated through a series of public events and media / social media.

- A methodology for monitoring and advocacy for budgetary transparency and implementation of criteria-based allocations to local governments, monitored from above (central budget) and from below (in 15 selected communities).

- A community of local citizens-activists and journalists, trained in budgeting and procurement, and who will also get in contact with a regional network of projects and best-practices of civic monitoring of public budgets and fighting clientelism in New Member States.

- Pressure from below in all three countries for making the allocation and use of public resources more transparent, rule-based and less clientelistic.

- Pressure from above, through possible benchmarking in the future among the countries in the project (Romania, Moldova, Georgia) and other countries in the EU or EaP.

Activity Plan 

Budget 

Contract