Follow the Money – Series of Workshops

The Albanian Institute of Science (AIS), a non-governmental organization known as a promoter of Open Data in Albania, is planning to hold a series of Round Tables, Workshops, and Forums on the topic ‘Follow the Money’. The events intend to present instruments and databases that ensure data and facts about public expenditures, procurement, contracts, contractors, and other processes related with money and governance. The purpose is to encourage discussion on the use of facts in journalistic investigations or citizens’ advocacy, and to make the fact-finding process more concrete and qualitative. The participants will include journalists and activists from Tirana and other municipalities in the country. The three first round tables will take place during October 2016 – January 2017 on the following topics:

  1. Public Procurement, Tenders, and Contracts in the Health Sector, Date 26 October, Donor: U.S Embassy in Tirana- Democracy Commission Small Grants Program Project Public Health Sector Procurements
  2. Auditing of Political Parties and Electoral Subjects. Donor: Netherlands Embassy in Tirana.
  3. Monitoring of Municipality Clients in Public Contracts, with the support of Lëviz Albania.

Those interested in participating in these events are invited to fill in a registration form, upon the receipt of which we will let you know whether you are selected to participate. AIS is going to reimburse the justified participation costs. The events will take place in the course of one day. The two first ones will take place in Tirana.

Please Regsiter HERE

For any additional question or information, do not hesitate to write to [email protected] .

 

FINANCING OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN ELECTORAL CAMPAINGS, Policy Paper

In Frame of “The Electoral Room for Reform” Project, Albanian Institute of Science (AIS) drafted a Policy Paper with recommendations on “FINANCING OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN ELECTORAL CAMPAINGS”.

Link for draft of recommendations:   ais-the-electoral-room-for-reform-policy-paper

AIS addresses the Strasbourg Court. Albania does not guarantee trial within a reasonable time (Article 6 of the ECHR)

On 9 June 2015, the Albanian Institute of Science sent an official request to the three main electoral subjects, i.e. the Socialist Party (SP), the Democratic Party (DP), and the Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI) asking them for the following information:

  1. list of donors of non-public funds, from whom they had benefitted since 21 May 2015 amounts above 100 000 (one hundred thousand) Lekë or the equivalent value in services or goods;
  2. list of every expense made since 21 May 2015 using the annual funds benefitted from the state budget in 2015.

The above quoted electoral subjects received the request on 10 or 11 June 2015 as confirmed by the postal service.

The above electoral subjects did not respond to our request. Therefore, pursuant to Article 24 of Law no. 119/2014 “On the right (access)  to information”, the Albanian Institute of Science AIS filed a complaint with the Commissioner for the Right to Information and Protection of Personal Data on 7 July 2015.

The Commissioner for the Right to Information and Protection of Personal Data informed us on 25 July 2015 of its decision no. 44, dated 22.07.2015 on “Rejection of complaint”. The Commissioner rejected our request no. 675, dated 9.07.2015, arguing that “the requested information is to be administered by the organizations foreseen by this law and it’s Article 2, which are not defined as public authorities in terms of how they are organized, how they operate, and their regulatory legal framework”.

Pursuant to Article 25 of Law no. 119/2014 “On the right to information”, the Albanian Institute of Science filed a lawsuit with the Administrative Court of First Instance of Tirana.

Upon completion of the court hearings, the Administrative Court of First Instance of Tirana issued decision no. 5687, dated 10.11.2015 (fundamental register no. 5714 310004-05334-80-2015, according to which: “The court rejects the lawsuit of the Albanian Institute of Science against the Commissioner for the Right to Information and Protection of Personal Data, the Socialist Party of Albania, the Democratic Party of Albania, and the Socialist Movement for Integration of Albania, which claims the “Abrogation of decision no. 44, dated 22.07.2015  of the Commissioner of the Right to Information and Protection of Personal Data as a lawsuit not based on evidence or law. The court forces the political parties (electoral subjects), i.e. the Socialist Party, the Democratic Party, and the Socialist Movement for Integration to provide the Albanian Institute of Science with the information requested about the financing of their electoral campaigns as per its (AIS’) request dated 9 June 2015.”

The Albanian Institute of Science complained against the decision of the Administrative Court of First Instance by addressing the Administrative Court of Appeal on 25 November 2015.On 10 February 2016, AIS filed its request with the Administrative Court of Appeal asking for  “a faster judicial adjudication of the “.  The nature of the lawsuit and its importance for the public interest makes it indispensable for this case to be adjudicated as fast as possible, and not in the course of several years, which would make both the complaint and its adjudication irrelevant.The Administrative Court of Appeal did not respond to such request On 31 March 2016, the Albanian Institute of Science submitted a second request for a faster adjudication, but to this date, the Administrative Court of Appeal has not given any response, whatsoever.

Although a final decision is not yet taken by the Albanian Court (the case is not with the High Court yet), following its procrastination and given the lack of clear provisions in the Albanian legislation that would enable an effective remedy, AIS addressed the Strasbourg Court on 18 May 2016, asking this court to express itself on this adjudication process, and whether they constitute a violation of Articles 6 and 13, respectively, of the European Convention of Human Rights.

AIS Request to Strasbourg Court (PDF)

Kërkohen bashkëpuntorë: Data Analist për të dhëna mbi shoqëritë tregtare

Data Analist për të dhëna mbi shoqëritë tregtare

Kush mund të aplikojë: Student Master për Drejtësi, preferohet e Drejtë Biznesi, ose student Shkolla e Avokatisë.

Kritere: mesatare mbi 9. Nota në lëndët e Drejtë Tregtare dhe e Drejtë Shoqëri Tregtare të jetë 10. Aftësi për të analizuar dhe ekstraktuar të dhëna të regjistrit tregtar. Njohuri mbi Kodin Tregtar dhe Ligjin për Shoqëritë Tregtare.

Preferohen individ të trajnuar në auditim ligjor të shoqërive të biznesit. Preferohen individ që janë të aftë të rriten profesionalisht duke mësuar gjatë punës.

Dërgoni një CV dhe një paragraf motivimi (jo më shumë se 250 fjalë) në adresën [email protected] titulli i emailit CV Data Analist për të dhëna mbi shoqëritë tregtare.

Kërkohen bashkëpuntorë me kohë të pjesshme : Data Analist për të dhëna mbi kriminalitetit, vëllimi, trendi dinamika.

Data Analist për të dhëna mbi kriminalitetit, vëllimi, trendi dinamika.

Kush mund të aplikojë:  Student Maste për Drejtësi, Profili e Drejtë Penale ose student në Shkollën e Avokatisë.

Kritere: Mesatare fakulteti mbi 9. Nota e tre viteve shkollë e mesme për lëndën matematikë duhet të jetë 10. Njohuri shumë të mira mbi të drejtën penale, aftësi për të artikuluar, aftësi në analizë, të ketë formuluar të paktën një ese apo detyrë kursi bazuar në analiza sasiore/statistikore mbi fenomene kriminale.

Preferohen student të fakultetit publik. Preferohen individ që janë të aftë të rriten profesionalisht duke mësuar gjatë punës. Dërgoni një CV dhe një paragraf motivimi (jo më shumë se 250 fjalë) në adresën [email protected] titulli i emalit CV Data Analist për të dhëna mbi kriminalitetit, vëllimi, trendi dinamika.

Training on the use of ICT tools to increase transparency over the budgets and expenditures of the local government units.

The training took place on 13 September, at Doro City Hotel. It aimed at enhancing the capacities of the local government unit employees in independently using transparency instruments over their budgets and expenses: Budget by the Economic Classification of the Actual Expenses (Money Map); Monitoring of Transactions for Local Government (Monitoring Treasury).

10 organizations meet in Tirana on the Perspective of Open Contracting Standards in the Regio

Open Data against abuse and corruption using public money. Ten regional organizations met in Tirana on 28-29 July at a workshop organized by AIS: Civil Monitoring of Public Procurement. The participants analyzed how transparent the data from different phases of public contracting are and presented some CSO initiatives for citizens’ monitoring of public procurement in Albania, BiH, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Rumania, and Serbia.  Considering Public Contracts as the number one risk of corruption, representatives of ACER/SELDI, Alternativa, Riinvest, TI for BiH, Initiativa Romania, Open Data Kosovo, Metamorfoza, ANTTARC, KDI, and AIS emphasized the need for applying Open Contracting Standards in the Region. There was also a presentation of  Open Contracting Partnership as an effort for  Brighter Government Deal-making: save money and time, improve service delivery, boost integrity, and create a fair business environment. The presentations of the workshop are all published on AIS website.

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Speed Geeking, Civil Monitoring of Public Procurement Workshop.

workshop

CSOs Presentation, ACER Albania.Civil Monitoring of Public Procurement Workshop.

Workshop, Disucssions

Working Groups,Civil Monitoring of Public Procurement Workshop.

Working Groups

AIS starts the new program “Transparency with the Public Health Sector Procurements”.

AIS started to work in July on disclosing procurement data from the Health Sector. The newest project on Public Health Sector Procurements will enable the creation, promotion, and use of a well-structured database, which serves as an instrument (tool) for transparency, information, citizens’ monitoring about procurement processes of the Public Health Sector for 2016. Fact-based journalism and fact-based public debate is the final purpose of the creation of such well-structured database. Accordingly, it will provide exhaustive information about every public procurement process in the health sector. The project is supported by the US Embassy in Tirana in the framework of the Democracy Commission Small Grants Program. The database with open data for the Public Health Sector shall be placed on the Open Procurement Albania portal, where data about local government procurement processes are disclosed on daily basis.

Control of the Conflict of Interest leads to opening data about assets declared by high level officials of the Bank of Albania

As part of our Money Government and Politics (MGP)Project, data on assets declared by high officials of the Bank of Albania are published under the Money and Power section.Such declarations shed light on property and economic interests of high officials, who have the authority to take decisions about bank policies, which are so significant for the country. The data disclose information about the structure of assets and incomes, sources of properties gained during the time they have been in office, and about their economic interests. The Money and Power section opens data and gives people access to monitor information about the wealth, Incomes and expenses of public officials. The same section offers also updated data about additional financial and assets disclosure declared by Members of the Parliament over the last year.

Public Health Sector Procurements

The Public Health Sector Procurements Project has enabled the creation, promotion, and use of a well-structured database, which serves as an instrument (tool) for transparency, information, citizens’ monitoring about procurement processes of the Public Health Sector for 2016. The database contains well-structured data, updated in real time[1] and filters for ensuring user friendly information. It serves as an instrument for anti-corruption. Fact-based journalism and fact-base public debate is the final purpose of the creation of the well-structured database. It provides exhaustive information about every public procurement process in the health sector, and every public health policy-making and service institution, including the Institute for Health Insurance as an institution responsible for the obligatory public insurance scheme. Procurement processes of all kinds and values shall be controllable by the public in real time and in compliance with open contracting data standard

The objective of this project is to establish a platform that makes the public tenders and procurement contracts of the public health sector (institutions) open and easily monitor-able by citizens. The platform allows the citizens to observe which high-value services, works, or public purchases are being contracted, as well as monitor aggregated amounts of money allocated to public health programs. These data are interlinked with the Open Corporate Albania, creating a complete profile for each company that serves as an online Corporate Passport. The proposed platform and the dissemination activities around it shed the missing light on the procurement procedures and tenders, which are directly related to the citizens’ quality of life and health services for citizens.

Donator :  US Embassy through the Democracy Commission Small Grants Program

[1] Open tender, calls for proposals, direct negotiations, public-private partnership procurement, consultations, and auctions for the period 1 January – 30 December 2016