Transparency for all!

Goal: To enhance the level of involvement of 8 NGOs in promoting transparency and good governance primary within eight Romanian rural communities—villages, but also within each development region. In order to achieve its above mentioned general objective, the project departed with the monitoring all the Local Councils (LCs) of the Romanian rural communities (2686) in order to identify the extent to which the authorities enforce the minimal provisions of Law 52/2003 and Law 544/2001. The results of the monitoring process allowed NACAB to select the 8 rural communities with the lowest performance as regards transparency and good governance and to further involve the citizens and the local public authorities’ representatives from the 8 rural communities (villages) in public participation processes, in order to promote the principles of transparency and good governance. At the local level, 8 of NACAB’s member NGO’s organized the Public Information Day in each one of the 8 rural communities selected. The goal of the event was to educate and encourage the citizens on their right to know and to get involved in the decision-making process and, implicitly, in the good governance of their communities. Also, during two months, the 8 NGOs assisted both the citizens and the local authorities’ representatives in matters concerning the free access to information of public interest and on methods of public participation. During their working visits in the villages, the CABs offered their specific services of advice and information on legal matters in the 12 areas of expertise of the NACAB network. The results of the project and the utility and the significance of Law 52/2003 and Law 544/2001 both to the local authorities and to the citizens in the rural communities in the context of good governance were promoted both at the local and the regional level through the organization of 8 round tables within each of Romania’s development regions. The project ended with a final conference held in Bucharest on the 18^th of November. This conference also marked the launching of the final report “In Quest of Democracy, Practices of Transparency in Rural Milieus” elaborated by NACAB upon the completion of the projects’ activities.

Funding authority: The European Union, through the Transition Facility  2007/19343.01.11 programme