Political Accountability and New Technologies ( POINT 3.0 ) conference took place in Art Cinema Kriterion in Sarajevo from May 22nd to May 24th.
This year’s program offered a variety of great speakers, panels, exhibitions, workshops and screenings.
Among other great speakers, there appeared Michael Slaby, the CTO of the Obama 2008 campaign; Chris Albon from Ushahidi; Sultan Al-Qassemi, one of the most distinguished bloggers and analysts on the Middle East also Ardian Haxha and Drinor Selmanaj from FLOSSK Kosovo in collaboration with Victor Nitu and Ioana Cristea from Ceata Foundation Romania with the workshop about Security and Privacy.
Several panels in the two days of the conference addressed interesting and burning issues, like challenges of open government, humor and satire as means of political activism, measuring truth in the eve of elections and political activism going digital.
Albanian Institute of Science was introduced , in the second day of the conference, with the project of Open Spending Albania/ Open Data Albania. Our representative Besjana Hysa spoke about Open spending Albania – five apps for treasury monitoring. First, money map provides information on the budgets in the past few years (planned and actual!). Bubble tree is an app that visualizes the budget and provides citizens with an overview of budget categories, a cool thing to do, being that budgets can be boring sometimes. Daily bread tells you how much money are you giving to which area through your taxes. Another part of Open spending Albania is Fund diversion. Great feature of this app is that it identifies most discriminated areas of the budget. Also, the most important thing was monitoring of state treasury spending, and although we had problems with transparency from the government, things are now much better.Thanks to several years of work and coordination among the civil society and the public administration in the framework of OGP, Open Data Albania managed to develop an application for monitoring the state treasury. The work for this result has started much earlier than the project itself.Finally, the Albanian state budget is open, and our application offers some information filters based on: how public administration spendsthe Money; where do the funds go; how much is paid for different services; how much Money specific companies receive from specific institutions over a certain period of time; how much Money was spent in a short period of time.
Treasure Monitoring marks the most decisive moment in the process for an Open Government.
Due to the tragic situation caused by unprecedented floods across the country, POINT 3.0 Conference dedicated part of its time to try and help people in need. U.G. “Why not” already established the “Flood Map” website throughout which citizens can report the problems incurred as a result of floods, publish locations help collection, the most important information to contact support services operating in BiH, but also lists of all the bank accounts opened for donation.
POINT 3.0 Conference devote the entire third day of the conference, which is scheduled for practical workshops, to developing new or improving existing platforms for disaster aid.
POINT conference was organized by CA Why not (Zašto ne) from BiH, in cooperation with Center for Research on Transparency and Accountability (CRTA) from Serbia, Metamorphosis from Macedonia, Mjaft from Albania, Center for Democratic Transition (CDT) from Montenegro and IPKO Foundation from Kosovo.
Partners and supporters of this year’s conference were also National Endowment for Democracy, Balkan Trust for Democracy, Embassy of the United States in BiH, Heinrich Boell Foundation, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, TechSoup, Emerging Democracies Institute, Analitika and Mediacentar.
AIS presents at Samos Summit on ICT-enabled Governance
/in Events /by adminAIS participates at Samos Summit on ICT-enabled Governance, 30 Jun – 02 Jul 2014.
The principal advisor of AIS, Dr. Ing. Julia Hoxha, presented a paper on Open Spending Albania.
Link to the paper
Link to the talk presented at Samos Summit
Below is the abstract of the talk:
In this paper, we describe Open Data Albania (ODA) project and concrete cases of open data utilization. ODA aims at providing open datasets of valuable information which can be structured, analyzed and presented in different forms leading to intuitive knowledge representations. Besides the datasets, the project has also produced analytical studies based on the data and insightful visualizations to make the knowledge understandable and easy to utilize by different communities.
The platform where the data is published online is the most prominent one for open data in Albania and very popular between the journalists, who are continuously using data from ODA to provide the public with information on different social-economic aspects. In many cases, the project has been used in direct advocacy initiatives. In this paper, we described a set of cases where the data is utilized by different groups, such as government institutions, NGOs, media, and academia.
OGP Albania – Ministry of Finances Censures the State Treasure Public Data
/in Homeposts, Press Releases /by aranitaIn the name of the principles of Journalism for Public Information, I would like to share with you a concern over a recent case of State Treasure Public Data being censured.
The Albanian Government is obliged by law and by the respective secondary legislation acts to ensure transparency over every single detail about the way that the Albanian taxpayers’ money and monetary public assets are spent. Besides, in the context of its commitments for an Open Government Partnership (OGP), our Government is obliged to publish the daily List of Payments sent by the State Treasury to the Bank of Albania for execution. In addition to the date, total amount, and paying authority, such list includes also the identity of the beneficiary, the legal act on which the transaction is based, and other descriptions. Since February 2012, these data have been updated on the website of the Ministry of Finances, under the section Reports – Treasury. The Prime Minister Sali Berisha, Minister of Finances Ridvan Bode, and the Minister for Innovation Genc Pollo have also referred to this process of ensuring respect for the principles of democracy, good governance, transparency, and rule of law. Although the data were published using a technological model not in compliance with the ‘user friendly data’ principle, they were constantly published online from 1 February 2012 – 30 May 2013. Currently, however, the data for February, March, April, and May 2013 have been removed and censored during the first week of September. These four months of 2013 are significantly important, both because they are the last months of the right-wing Government, and months of an electoral year. In addition, the data for June and July are presented in a defective and non-convertible format.
The Treasury data have to be published even as a result of a very expensive project for introducing AMoFTS, a modern system for processing the transactions of the Central Government based on international standards and practices for financial reporting, and efficient, effective, and transparent use of public money and assets.
The Open Data / Spending Albania staff notes that this is a case of flagrant censorship to the detriment of public information. This type of censorship affects one of the largest responsibilities of a Government, i.e. the responsibility for efficiently using public finances and assets. The Albanian citizens have the right to know how their money is spent, and whether that money is used in the public or political and personal interests. Likewise, every citizen of the Republic of Albania has the right to know who the suppliers of the state and public institutions are, and who benefits from the taxpayers’ money. The removal of the data for four months, and the continuous defective publication of these data shows a case of misuse of duty, if not the fact that the respective state officials do not feel comfortable facing the public over this period of their governance.
A democratic state ensures transparency and accountability for the ways it spends public money. With hopes of having your attention and media awareness through your website and programs,
Respectfully,
Aranita BRAHAJ
Open Data Albania
Web: http://open.data.al
Email: [email protected]
Media Coverage- “Castles of my coast” action in Borshi Castle
/in Media Coverage @en /by Besi HysaThe event was covered on TV through spots that promoted citizens’ reaction and action.
RTV Ora News : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIdsHZ0ELto&hd=1
UTV News : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUtgCCpUotc
Voice of America, Albanian Edition : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i85VAL_bbds
Radio Tirana : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqLqKMoZcVc
or in Newspappers :
Gazeta Shqiptare : http://www.balkanweb.com/gazetav5/artikull.php?id=139427
Gazeta Start : http://www.gazetastart.com/index.php?p=hg&hid=15992
Gazeta Standart : http://www.standard.al/reportazh-borsh-aty-ku-vullnetaret-i-bashkohen-aksionit-kalate-e-bregut-tim/
AIS attended the conference: Political Accountability and New Technologies ( POINT 3.0 )
/in Events, Press Releases /by Besi HysaThis year’s program offered a variety of great speakers, panels, exhibitions, workshops and screenings.
Among other great speakers, there appeared Michael Slaby, the CTO of the Obama 2008 campaign; Chris Albon from Ushahidi; Sultan Al-Qassemi, one of the most distinguished bloggers and analysts on the Middle East also Ardian Haxha and Drinor Selmanaj from FLOSSK Kosovo in collaboration with Victor Nitu and Ioana Cristea from Ceata Foundation Romania with the workshop about Security and Privacy.
Several panels in the two days of the conference addressed interesting and burning issues, like challenges of open government, humor and satire as means of political activism, measuring truth in the eve of elections and political activism going digital.
Albanian Institute of Science was introduced , in the second day of the conference, with the project of Open Spending Albania/ Open Data Albania. Our representative Besjana Hysa spoke about Open spending Albania – five apps for treasury monitoring. First, money map provides information on the budgets in the past few years (planned and actual!). Bubble tree is an app that visualizes the budget and provides citizens with an overview of budget categories, a cool thing to do, being that budgets can be boring sometimes. Daily bread tells you how much money are you giving to which area through your taxes. Another part of Open spending Albania is Fund diversion. Great feature of this app is that it identifies most discriminated areas of the budget. Also, the most important thing was monitoring of state treasury spending, and although we had problems with transparency from the government, things are now much better.Thanks to several years of work and coordination among the civil society and the public administration in the framework of OGP, Open Data Albania managed to develop an application for monitoring the state treasury. The work for this result has started much earlier than the project itself.Finally, the Albanian state budget is open, and our application offers some information filters based on: how public administration spendsthe Money; where do the funds go; how much is paid for different services; how much Money specific companies receive from specific institutions over a certain period of time; how much Money was spent in a short period of time.
Treasure Monitoring marks the most decisive moment in the process for an Open Government.
Due to the tragic situation caused by unprecedented floods across the country, POINT 3.0 Conference dedicated part of its time to try and help people in need. U.G. “Why not” already established the “Flood Map” website throughout which citizens can report the problems incurred as a result of floods, publish locations help collection, the most important information to contact support services operating in BiH, but also lists of all the bank accounts opened for donation.
POINT 3.0 Conference devote the entire third day of the conference, which is scheduled for practical workshops, to developing new or improving existing platforms for disaster aid.
POINT conference was organized by CA Why not (Zašto ne) from BiH, in cooperation with Center for Research on Transparency and Accountability (CRTA) from Serbia, Metamorphosis from Macedonia, Mjaft from Albania, Center for Democratic Transition (CDT) from Montenegro and IPKO Foundation from Kosovo.
Partners and supporters of this year’s conference were also National Endowment for Democracy, Balkan Trust for Democracy, Embassy of the United States in BiH, Heinrich Boell Foundation, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, TechSoup, Emerging Democracies Institute, Analitika and Mediacentar.
AIS promoting Get Online Week Albania
/in Media Coverage @en /by adminJava Europiane e Përdorimit të Internetit 2013, në Shqipëri ka diçka të veçantë. Për shkak të emigracionit në vendin tonë interneti përdoret sëtepërmi edhe nga nga mosha e tretë. Historia e dy të moshuarve nga qyteti i Vlorës të cilët paguajnë një të pestën e pensionit mujor për të pasur lidhje interneti në banesë është një histori frymëzuese. Në Javën Europiane të Përdorimit të Internetit, AIS sensibilizon për më shumë vëmendje për aftësim në përdorim me dobishmëri tek moshat e treta apo tek të rinjtë.
YouTube Video
Gjysher ne moshe interneti.
Get Online Week – Employment Perspective of Albanian Youth in ICT Sector
/in Homeposts /by adminAIS and WorldVision organized a meeting with 100 young Albanians from Kurbini to discuss opportunities of employment at the ICT sector.
This activity is part of the Get Online Week project.
AIS at the Open Society Initiative for West Africa
/in Homeposts /by adminAlbanian Institute of Science. represented by its Executive Director Ms. Aranita Brahaj, is participating in the event organized by Open Society Initiative for West Africa to present
“Making Elections Count: A Guide to Setting Up a Civil Society Election Situation Room”.
The event takes place 25-28 May, 2014 in Senegal, Dakar.
More information on http://www.osiwa.org/en
Java e Përdorimit të Internetit – Get Online Week Albania 2012
/in Press Releases /by aranitaInstituti Shqiptar i Shkencave në partneritet me Telecentre Europe organizon për herë të parë në Shqipëri fushatën: Get Online Week 2012 – Java e Përdorimit të Internetit 2012. Kjo fushatë organizohet prej tre vitesh në vende të Bashkimit Europian. Qëllim i kësaj fushate është nxitja dhe aftësimi i sa më shumë personave në përdorimin e internetit. Këtë vit Telecentre Europe ka mbështetjen e drejtpërdrejtë të Komisionit Europian dhe disa organizmave të rëndësishëm ndërkombëtar. Synimi është shtrirja e kësaj fushate në vende të ndryshme të Europës. Instituti Shqiptar i Shkencave do të përcjellë dhe konkretizojë në Shqipëri qëllimin e fushatës për dobishmëri dhe zgjerim të përdorimit të internetit nga qytetarët. Në fushatën 2012 në fokus qëndron aftësimi i grave për të përdorur internetin, si dhe tek përdorimi i internetit në punësimin e të rinjve.
Sipas Eurostat Europa është ende larg për të arritur përdorimin e gjerë të internetit nga popullsia e saj. Vitin e fundit niveli i rritjes ishte vetëm tre përqind duke shënuar kalimin nga 65% tek 68%. Kjo dëshmon që ka shumë për të bërë. Në Shqipëri niveli vjetor i rritjes është shumë më i lartë, por numri i përdoruesve të internetit dhe përdorimi për aftësim dhe dobishmëri janë proçese dinamike që kërkojnë vëmendje dhe kontribut. Gjatë kësaj fushate një javore në 30 vende evropiane, nëpërmjet 15 000 qendrave të internetit synohet të realizohet aftësimi në përdorim i rreth 200 000 personave. Në Shqipëri fushata Get Online Week 2012 synon nxitjen e mbi 500 qytetarëve në përdorim apo aftësim të mëtejshëm në internet. Instituti Shqiptar i Shkencave fton qytetarët, organizatat jofitimprurëse, institucionet e edukimit, median dhe këdo tjetër të interesuar të përfshihen dhe bashkëpunojnë në Javën Shqiptare të Përdorimit të Internetit 26 – 30 mars 2012.
Fiscal Impact Assessment of Structural Reforms – Case Study on Albania
/in Publications /by adminThe country case studies in this volume represent just such an in-depth needs assessment for countries in the region, on an issue that is both critical and insufficiently addressed: how the fiscal impacts of structural reforms are integrated within the budget process. Working closely with Montenegro’s Ministry of Finance and with support from the World Bank’s SAFE trust fund, the Center of Excellence in Finance(CEF) identified authors with the right knowledge to assess the situation and offer recommendations for improvement. The Fiscal Impact Assessment of structural Reforms (FIASR) project is part of a long-term CEF program, Building Capacities for Policy Design and Implementation. The capacity development needs that the case studies have identified will be addressed through a series of CEF learning events entitled Strategic Planning and Budgeting from 2013 to 2015.
For this study, the working group of AIS focused on the most important structural reforms undertaken over the last 10 years in five sectors: Enterprise, Financial, Human Resource Development and Labor Market, Administrative Services, and Network Industry.
The main sources of data were taken from the Ministry of Finance, the Institute of Statistics, the Bank of Albania, line ministries and other responsible institutions, sector strategies, and the related legal framework in the five sectors examined, as well as signed agreements with other countries or international organizations. The European Commission’s progress reports on Albania and the reports from international organizations, such as the World Bank and UN, were also taken into consideration.
This case study consists of four sections. The first introduces the methodology used for this case. The second introduces the process of budgeting, not only its importance but reforms made during recent years, the legal framework, detailed procedures, and the main actors of this process. The third section focuses on the reforms undertaken in key sectors, institutions, and processes to include the cost of structural reforms in the state budget. The last section gives some conclusions and recommendations for all of the issues treated above.
Publication on the case study for Albania.
Link to the complete publication.
Hackathon Day in Tirana
/in Events, Press Releases /by adminThis event is a gathering of friends, activists and citizens that want to give their contribution through visualizations or projects, and help the general opinion.
Hackathon is a casual meeting, where we collaborate as a team in writing applications, downloading data, creating visualizations or publishing analysis by using the open data. This is done in order to show support and to encourage the implementation of open data policies from the government, as well as local and international institutions.
This year’s theme is: IT in Service of the Civil Society!”
A large group of activists, programmers, designers, economists contributed in the event.