AIS in partnership with the High Inspectorate of Justice

Accountability and Access to the Justice System. This is one of the AIS’s, our organization, work objectives, exemplified with one of the best models of transparency and integrity control for senior public officials, part of the Justice System, such as the Register of Magistrates. AIS is one of the six Albanian civil society organizations, part of the Partnership with the Institution of the High Inspectorate of Justice. The partnership has been formalized with a cooperation agreement signed in May 2022, with Mr. Artur Metani, High Inspector of Justice. You can find the cooperation agreement between the High Inspector of
Justice and Civil Society Organizations: HERE

Four Albanian Organizations, Partners in the Albania’s EU Integration Process

AIS is part of the partnership of four Albanian Organizations, sharing a main Objective: Improving the Policy Debate and Accountability to Achieve Fundamental Rights, through the creation of the Cluster 1 Negotiation Platform.

 
 
 
 
 
The Partner Organizations are:

• Albanian Helsinki Committee (AHC)
• Albanian Institute for Political Studies (ISP)
• Center for the Study of Democracy and Governance (CSDG)
• Albanian Institute of Sciences (AIS)

Specific Partnership Objectives:

• Support for Public Institutions
• Strengthening Accountability and Responsiveness
• Increase Knowledge and Involvement
• Strengthening of the overall Role and Visibility

Partnership Activities and Results are posted on the Cluster-1
Negotiation Platform and in the various Publications of the Partner
Organizations.
This Partnership is currently supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom
of the Netherlands in Tirana.

AIS’s Partnership with the Albanian Ombudsman

Albanian Institute of Science/Open Data Albania is in a Partnership with the Constitutional Institution that is the People’s Ombudsman LINK.The partnership was established by signing a CooperationAgreement titled “Cooperation Agreement for the Institutionalization of Relations between the Institution of the Albanian Ombudsman and the Albanian Institute of Science”. The latter was signed on March 20, 2017, with Protocol No. 122. (See the agreement HERE). The Parties have committed to cooperate and work in joint activities and observation missions in Public Institutions; in the development of policies and monitoring in favor of transparency, civic participation, anti-corruption, fight for the elimination of discrimination due to age, status, gender, religion. The agreement focuses on cooperation and mutual support in order to advance the citizens’ rights in Albania, including the promotion of gender equality and womens’ participation in decision-making, the rights of minorities, groups with special needs and human rights in general. The agreement will be in force for an indefinite period of time.

AIS’s Partnership with the Supreme State Audit

Albanian Institute of Science/Open Data Albania is in a Partnership with the Constitutional Institution that is the Supreme State Audit. The partnership was established by signing a Cooperation Agreement entitled “Partnership for Increased Transparency and Fight against Corruption”. (See the agreement LINK). The parties have committed to cooperate in joint activities and expertise. The agreement was signed in a formal ceremony at the State Supreme Audit premises, on May 19, 2014. On behalf of the Supreme State Audit the agreement was signed by the
Chairmain of the Institution, Mr. Bujar LESKAJ, on behalf of the Albanian Institute of Sciences AIS, it was signed by the Executive Director, Mrs. Aranita BRAHAJ. The two Partners have collaborated extenssively on the project “Enabling Albanians to RedFlag questionable Health Sector Purchases and Contrates” (See more LINK ). The latter, in the framework of implementing Transparency in Health Engagement, a project supported by USAID Albania, where AIS was contracted as a Local Partner. RedFlag Index Public Procurement Albania, is one of the best instruments for risk assessment, for irregularities in Public Procurement, an Instrument, created by AIS and applied in real time since 2015. This risk assessment through the RedFlag 1 algorithm and its results create leads for the Annual Audit Plan of the Supreme State Audit.

See more HERE

Global Movement for Budget Transparency, Accountability and Participation.

The Global Movement for Budget Transparency, Accountability and Participation (BTAP) is an outstanding Southern-driven initiative that brings together activists and over 100 civil society groups and international organizations working on public finance and budget accountability issues from over fifty countries around the world. BTAP (www.globalbtap.org) was launched in Tanzania in 2011 when its members endorsed the Declaration on Budget Transparency, Accountability and Participation, moved by the conviction that when citizens and their organizations are meaningfully involved in budget decisions, real life-changing outcomes are realized. This network focuses on generating an integrated movement within its partners to work on different levels (regional, national and international) to improve how governments operate and address important issues. The Albanian Institute of Science is now part of this initiative and will contribute as well to the future Campaign on the Right to Participation in Budget Matters. The purpose of the latter is to drive the global development agenda towards the right to meaningful public participation in budgeting. The campaign aim at improving international standards and processes of public participation, enhancing strong political action from decision makers favoring participation and strengthening openness into relevant mechanisms for public participation in key budget decision and processes. AIS will participate in this Campaign with local activities and involvement of its experts at the regional level.

ePSI Europe’s One-Stop Shop on Public Sector Information Re-Use

The One-Stop Shop on Public Sector Information (PSI) is a crowdsourcing tool to assess the degree of open data within European Union (EU) in terms of PSI re-use. Nevertheless, this initiative does not aim to monitor the government policies. This platform is a European Commission initiative which aims at promoting public sector information and open data (re)use throughout EU. By combining information of different sources and types, this initiative produces data, news, cases, good examples and practices on public sector (i.e. health, transport, science, environment etc.). AIS is now a member of this network by producing economic and legal data collected by different public bodies. Additionally, the group of experts working at AIS promotes PSI to various summits, conferences, and events of this network.

The Albanian Coalition for Open Government Partnership

The coalition consists in several local organizations committed to contribute to the Open Government Partnership (OGP) process in Albania. So far, the coalition has very successfully organized consultations with the Albanian Government for the 2014-2015 OGP Action Plan. The coalition is also committed to promote OGP initiatives and monitor the Government’s work in fulfilling its objectives by putting emphasis mainly on the financing and spending process of public institution through accessed information, accountability, transparency and

use of technology. AIS, as part of OGP, has managed to capitalize OGP in Albania by contributing through various platform to increase transparency and civil society, state and non-state actors information, awareness and/or participation.

Telecentre Europe

Telecentre Europe is a European non-governmental organization funded in 2010 that promotes ICT learning, adult education, libraries where people can access internet and programs that empowers people through ICT. The mission of this network is to support the participation and training of a greater number of European citizens in using and training via the Internet, thereby sharing knowledge, opening up people to opportunities and increasing capacity building. Telecentre Europe has also extended its partnership and exchange with various organizations not only within Europe but also worldwide. The 2012 campaigns and events of Telecentre Europe were directly supported by the European Commission. Albanian Institute of Science is the newest member of the international body of Telecentre Europe. Different projects such as E-UROPa (Enabling European e-Particiaption) and Get online week, where AIS is a member, are coordinated by Telecentre Europe enabling citizens’ participation in policy-making process.

Electoral Situation Room – Civil Society Initiative

Local elections of 21 June for the first time will be monitored and evaluated by a coalition of seven local non-governmental organizations that in one voice will coordinate information and expertise about the performance of the whole electoral process. The initiative of election monitoring is supported by Soros in order to obtain a serious and reliable assessment of the Albanian factor on the quality of electoral processes.

In this initiative the Albanian Institute of Science will have an important role by providing the citizens with the opportunity to contribute in keeping the election free and fair through ZA’LART 2015 portal.

Civil Society Organizations through the Electoral Situation Room invites all citizens to denounce problems faced during the electoral process, in order to make it transparent and democratic.