Macedonian Center for International Cooperation (MCIC) published the third edition of the Government Mirror – report based on monitoring the legal framework and public participation in the process of law making in Macedonia. According to the report findings, the openness of the institutions has decreased since the 2014 report, no changes has been noted on the enabling environment for public participation in the law-drafting processes, and a downward trend in the openness of the processes of draft laws preparation has been noted. The aim of this MCIC publication is to contribute to the participation of civil society in the preparation…
Author: anja
The Second CPCD Civil Society ARENA was organized on 31st May, with the aim to open a broad public debate on the effectiveness, priorities and the effects of the current system of financing programs and projects of the CSOs from the budget. The experiences of CSOs, recent research and the latest findings of the Office for Audit of Institutions in FBIH, raise concerns and warn that the current system of allocating funds to CSOs is not transparent and that there are “holes” that open doubts on illegal activities or misuse of public money, which is getting less and less available…
Civil Society Europe (CSE) has participated to the European Public Consultation for a Mandatory Transparency Register, opened by the European Commission since March 2016. CSE calls for the Register to become mandatory and to cover all EU institutions and be complemented with further transparency rules and codes as regards meetings of officials involved in policy development. Ethical and Transparent Lobbying are critical to ensure a healthy policy making environment. Furthermore, a balanced access of the different interests to decision-makers must be ensured. Access of CSOs remains marginal compared to corporate interests. According to CSE, the Register could be used as…
European Stability Initiative analyst Adnan Ćerimagić has reflected on the compliance of BiH statistics with EU standards and the potential benefits from the harmonization of BiH statistics with EU statistics’ standards on BiH public policies. He starts off by saying that any consideration on the importance of timely, reliable and comprehensive statistics for the development of a society must begin with questions about intentions and expectations which that society has from public policies, and providing a vivid comparison of preparation of a dinner with preparation of public policies. Upon request by EUROSTAT, BiH Statistics Agency’ employees conducted self-assessment on the…
Civil Society Europe (CSE) and its working group on Civil Society Recognition has prepared a questionnaire on an assessment of civil dialogue mechanisms open for both European and national CSOs. The responses to the questionnaire as well as the results of interviews with CSOs and EU institutions will contribute to the preparation of a report on the State of the Union of civil dialogue in the EU to be issued in the autumn. This survey aims at analysing CSOs’ interaction with the different European Union institutions and the possibility to share their expertise and influence decisions on EU policies and…
Multilateral agencies like the UN, the World Bank and others provide multilateral aid to developing countries. The significance of this type of aid is the very large scale under which it operates and provides support for addressing issues related to poverty, economic development, human rights, healthcare, peace and development and other areas. Although this type of aid mostly started as a Gov2Gov arrangement, in the 90s multilateral agencies started to give high priority to CSOs. The INTRAC’s Multilateral Agencies and CSOs: A Position Paper says that multilateral agencies found that large-scale government investments alone would not lead to create an…
Fidelity Charitable Funds has just released its latest report on its donors, 2016’s “Giving Report”. Fidelity Charitable is the US second-largest grant-maker behind the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, propelled by the collective generosity of the more than 132,000 donors who actively use their Giving Accounts to support the charitable causes closest to their hearts. Last year, these donors recommended USD 3.1 billion in grants to support more than 106,000 organizations in every state and around the globe. As more people adopt donor-advised funds as an efficient, tax-effective and accessible means of supporting their philanthropy, their impact on the charitable…
On June 6th, 2016 in Pristina, the Kosovar Civil Society Foundation (KCSF) presented the Monitoring Matrix on Enabling Environment for Civil Society Development Country Report for Kosovo 2015. Taulant Hoxha, KCSF Program Director, provided a retrospective of the environment in which civil society operated during 2015, highlighting the key issues that need to be addressed. He pointed out that the environment appeared to be favorable towards CSOs when it comes to freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of expression and access to information technology. That notwithstanding, he announced that state funding for civil society remains the most problematic issue, urging the…
Macedonian Center for International Cooperation (MCIC) published the third edition of the Government Mirror – report on monitoring the legal framework and public participation in the processes of law-making in Macedonia. The publication is a tool that should serve CSOs, public officials and the general public to get informed of the openness of state bodies and increase their knowledge in law drafting processes. Despite the established legal framework, the participation of the CSOs in the processes of law making is still an issue, as noted in the European Commission report on Macedonia for 2015. As regress has been noted, continuous…
The Slovenian Ministry of Finance has enacted amendments to the Rules of the VAT Act, which stipulate that smaller NGOs are no longer required to issue invoices when selling their products or services, thereby they will no longer be obliged to use fiscal cash registers. The change is the result of intensive joint advocacy efforts and actions by CNVOS, the Olympic Committee, Alpine Association and the Association of Pensioners. In the 03rd of June edition of the Official Gazette, the Ministry of Finance published Rules Amending the Rules on the Implementation of the Law on Value Added Tax, which changes…