"Transparency International" Lithuanian Chapter ANNUAL ACTIVITY REPORT 2013

Transcription

1 "Transparency International" Lithuanian Chapter ANNUAL ACTIVITY REPORT 2013 VILNIUS 2014

2 Institutional shareholders "Transparency International" Lithuanian Chapter (TILC) was established in Shareholder Contribution 31/12/2013 Contribution 31/12/ Open Society Fund Lithuania 100 Lt 100 Lt Total: 100 Lt 100 Lt Objectives and nature of TI Lithuania and achievements during the financial year "Transparency International" Lithuanian Chapter (TI Lithuania) is a non-profit, non-political organization. It is a national chapter of the global "Transparency International" network and was established on the 6 th of June, The founder of this organization is the Open Society Fund Lithuania. The objective of TI Lithuania is to encourage and organize civil initiatives for transparency and anti-corruption in Lithuania. TI Lithuania activity goals: Promoting civic engagement and supporting transparency and anti-corruption initiatives in Lithuania; Initiating and conducting research to analyze levels of transparency, accountability and corruption in Lithuania; Providing teaching tools and educational programs related to the issues of transparency and anticorruption, and to educate society in general; Collecting and disseminating information and data related to the fight against corruption. We work on: Implementation of the requirements of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in Lithuania; Ensuring whistleblowers receive comprehensive protection; Ensuring greater access to information and data along with higher standards for accountability in both the public and private sectors. We analyze: Legal loopholes in existing and proposed legislation; Potential opportunities to reinforce anti-corruption regulation; The effectiveness of national and institutional anti-corruption programmes and tools; Potential for corruption in public procurement; Corruption in state and municipal institutions as well as in the private sector; The level of public access to information in state and municipal institutions. 2 P a g e

3 We focus on: Media transparency and accountability; Transparency of public finances and public procurement; Transparency of political parties and political campaigns; Creation and support of online transparency initiatives; Civic education and civic empowerment; Promotion of youth integrity and their inclusion in integrity and anti-corruption initiatives. Employees On the last day of the reporting period (December 31, 2013) there were 7 employees at the institution. Institutional activity: implemented projects in accordance with the operational institutional objectives ANTI-CORRUPTION FILM FESTIVAL "DRĄSUS ŽODIS" (BRAVE WORD) Project duration: December 2012 May 2013 Project budget: 2 183,47 EUR (7 539,08 LTL) Source of funding: French Embassy in Lithuania, British Embassy in Lithuania, individual donations (via the donation portal: The anti-corruption film festival "Drąsus žodis" (Brave word) is the first and so far the only film festival in Europe with the purpose of discussing in an interesting and thought-provoking way the problem of corruption; its forms, causes and impact on individuals and society. In the spring of 2013, the festival was organized for the third time. With the help of this annual event, TI Lithuania aims to draw the attention of the audience to the serious consequences of corruption and the possible actions each individual can take to fight it. The high attendance recorded during the first two festivals demonstrated a growing public interest in the topic, as well as a demand to screen such films not only in the capital but also in other cities in Lithuania. All the screenings were free of charge. 3 P a g e

4 The Anti-corruption Film Festival "Drąsus žodis" (Brave Word) held 15 screenings in four Lithuanian cities (Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda and Šiauliai) in The screenings featured five films: "Fair Game" - a movie based on a true story about a former CIA agent and her fight against abusive politicians; "The Ides of March" - a political drama that recieved Oscar and Golden Globe nominations; "Lawless" - a US film about alcohol smuggling and corruption in law enforcement agencies; "Jack Reacher" - a movie that addresses police corruption and the influence of criminal groups; "The Corporation" - a documentary film. Approximately 400 people attended the film screenings. BREAKFAST OF JOURNALISTS Project duration: December March 2014 Project budget: EUR ( , 26 LTL) Source of funding: Open Society Institute In 2013, TI Lithuania continued the initiative "Žurnalistų pusryčiai" (Journalists Breakfast) which started in The purpose of this initiative is to promote media transparency and accountability in Lithuania by creating a platform for discussion, sharing impressions of good practice and practical learning. Numerous meetings and discussions with media experts from abroad have been organized; innovative intense training for journalists and students of journalism was developed. TI Lithuania organized seven events for journalists and students of journalism, including one intensive practical training for students of journalism in Kaunas, two discussions and four seminars in Vilnius. More than 130 people participated in these project events in During 2013, the seminars and discussions were led by Anthony Howsen from the BBC, Friedrick Lindenberg from Spiegel, Gavin MacFadyen from the London Center for Investigative Journalists, Declan Hill - independent journalist and researcher, and others. 4 P a g e

5 CREATION OF A MEDIA OWNERSHIP DATABASE Project duration: June October 2013 Project budget: 4143 EUR (14 304, 95 LTL) Source of funding: Open Society Institute In 2012, TI Lithuania began developing a media ownership database aiming to collect all information related to media owners (internet, radio, television and print) and presented it in a user friendly and comprehensive manner. In October 2013, TI Lithuania launched the website where information on media ownership and media and business ties can be easily and quickly found during the period from 1996 to Information on media ownership was collected from the Ministry of Culture and The Radio and Television Commission of Lithuania. Information can be downloaded from the website in an open data format. PROMOTING YOUTH INTEGRITY Project duration: September 2012 June 2013 (also January May 2012) Project budget: 2 505,21 EUR (8 650 LTL) Source of funding: L Institut français From September 2011 to May 2012, with the financial support from L Institut français, TI Lithuania implemented the Promoting Youth Integrity at Schools initiative for the first time. During this period, TI Lithuania visited 17 schools in Vilnius, Klaipėda and Kėdainiai, reaching nearly 700 students. During these meetings, students were invited to the screenings and discussions of an interactive documentary film. By adapting to the needs and interests of different audiences in the meetings, TI Lithuania was able to cover many issues: academic integrity, civic responsibility, corruption in sport, courage to be a whistleblower and the courage to support such whistleblowers. 5 P a g e

6 TI Lithuania organized meetings with students from 6 different schools in Lithuania. INTEGRITY MATTERS Project duration: October 2012 March 2013 Project budget: 2 316,96 EUR (8 000 LTL) Source of funding: Embassy of the United Kingdom in Lithuania TI Lithuania youth initiative "Sąžiningumas svarbu" (Integrity Matters) aims to engage Lithuanian youth in a dialogue about transparency, ethics, accountability and integrity. TI Lithuania uses a ready-to-use municipal elections simulation model adapted from the TI Latvia model. Interactive simulation exercises modeling municipal council elections and anti-corruption challenges that provide an interactive and unconventional form in engaging youth in a discussion about corruption, integrity, whistle-blowing, freedom of information and other related issues. In three months, TI Lithuania organized municipal election simulations in four different schools in Lithuania, reaching over 200 students. TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL ON INTEGRITY 2013 Project duration: Project budget: ,61 EUR ( , 23 LTL) Source of funding: Embassy of Finland in Lithuania, Embassy of the United States in Lithuania, The Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation, "Transparency International" Secretariat, Embassy of Poland in Lithuania, summer school participation fees. Since 2010, TI Lithuania has been organizing the annual International Transparency International Summer School on Integrity ( with the goal of providing global youth with an opportunity to enhance their knowledge of corruption and how to increase transparency and accountability in their countries. 6 P a g e

7 In 2013, 128 participants from 56 countries participated in the 4th Summer School on Integrity. During a week of intensive training, participants attended lectures and workshops led by anti-corruption professionals from Lithuanian and abroad on the topics of corruption in public and private sectors, the causes and consequences of corruption etc. SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP INITIATIVE: TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL & IACC JOINT INITIATIVE Project duration: Project budget: EUR ( LTL) Source of funding: "Transparency International" Secretariat In July 2013, TI Lithuania and partners from the "International Anti-Corruption Conference" and "Ashoka" launched a "Social Entrepreneurship Competition" for the participants of Transparency International Summer School on Integrity 2013 with the call for innovative project proposals designed to fight for transparency and accountability. In August 2013, TI Lithuania with partners announced four project winners, each receiving funding up to 5000 EUR. The projects that received the funding were from Germany, Paraguay, Guatemala and Afghanistan. More information about the initiative can be found at EUROPEAN UNION FUNDS WATCH Project duration: November 2012 July 2013 Project budget: EUR (47 707, 34 LTL) Source of funding: European Anti-Fraud Office via the Transparency International Czech Republic Chapter 7 P a g e

8 The general objective of the EU Funds Watch project was to collect, analyze and exchange best practices for preventing fraud and corruption in the implementation and distribution of EU structural funds in participating countries. In the beginning of 2013, TI Lithuania held a meeting for project partners, with participants from the public sector, the Public Procurement Office and law enforcement agencies. During the meeting "Which best anticorruption practices can be used for public procurement in Lithuania?" the research methodology and key project implementation issues were discussed. TI Lithuania developed a corruption risk assessment tool to conduct an analysis of all mechanisms in Lithuania created through EU structural funds in order to propose universal risk management tools in such administrative systems. In the three stages of implementation, the analysis identified corruption and fraud risks and examined their control mechanisms. The study was presented at a public consultation meeting where representatives of the public sector had the opportunity to contribute to the study with their insights. In summer 2013, once a list of recommended specific practices was developed, the study was presented to the public. In addition, TI Lithuania contributed to the development of an international study which aggregated the experiences of all the project partners and provided best practice recommendations. The complete study can be found here: pdf (in English) vertini mas_01_10.pdf (in Lithuanian) ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF EU STRUCTURAL FUNDS Project duration: October January 2013 Project budget: EUR (22 443, 2 LTL) Source of funding: Slovak Governance Institute The aim of this project was to test and prepare for use the evaluation matrix created by the Slovak Governance Institute that assess projects funded by EU structural funds. TI Lithuania selected 12 projects funded by EU structural funds and conducted an assessment utilizing the evaluation matrix. TI Lithuania also collected 8 P a g e

9 feedback on the potential challenges and opportunities for improvements of the matrix and drafted a report for necessary matrix corrections. Finalization of the project. TOWARDS MORE TRANSPARENT LITHUANIA Project duration: January 2014 July 2015 Project budget: ,78 EUR ( , 96 LTL) Source of funding: Human Rights Monitoring Institute in cooperation with OSF projects This project tackles the problem that only a small part of the Lithuanian public uses the right to know, the level of civic engagement in Lithuania has not been increasing. The main goal of the project is to encourage the use of the right to know by citizens and their involvement into the decision-making processes; to develop openness standards of public sector institutions and enhance transparency and good governance in the public sector. At the end of the year, an agreement was signed with the European Economic Area (EEA) Grants programme operator in Lithuania - Human Rights Monitoring Institute - in order to start project implementation in the beginning of Project duration: Project budget: 3 796,85 EUR (13 109,78 LTL) Source of funding: individual contributors, "Transparency International" Secretariat The purpose of is to provide people with a possibility to better understand how the Lithuanian Parliament votes. The website allows users to visually follow how the Lithuanian Parliament votes each day and to compare their personal views with the voting results of different parties or individual members of parliament. On the website one can find answers to questions on important public issues, become familiar 9 P a g e

10 with supporting and contrary positions of different arguments and discover which members of parliament or party have a voting record over the last four years most similar to their personal views. In 2013, a Lithuanian Parliamentary voting widget was created that could be easily implemented on other websites. The tool has been fully adapted: the user can choose the size of the tool and specific parliamentary voting. This tool provides relevant voting results which are updated every five minutes. This tool allows users to express their position regarding specific legislation and compare it with the actual parliamentary votes. It also gives the user opportunity to create a profile that saves their preferences. OPEN COURT Project duration: November 2013 December Project budget: EUR (12 792,62 LTL) Source of funding: "Transparency International" Secretariat The main goal of the website is to promote Lithuanian judicial transparency and accountability by giving to the citizens the opportunity to comfortably and interactively monitor and evaluate the work of Lithuanian courts. The 2014 launch of will present currently almost inaccessible data and information on the Lithuanian courts and judges in a comfortable, simple, clear and visually engaging manner. In December 2013, TI Lithuania, in cooperation with the National Courts Administration, collected the data and created the sample database. Moreover, the visual web design was created. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION AGAINST CORRUPTION (UNCAC) Project duration: November 2013 February Project budget: 900 EUR (3 107, 52 LTL) Source of funding: "Transparency International" Secretariat 10 P a g e

11 In 2011, Lithuania developed a parallel review report on the implementation of United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), which provides an opportunity to examine the country's national UNCAC implementation process. The next step was monitoring of corruption offenses in Lithuania. In order to involve as many concerned parties as possible in the monitoring process, to raise awareness of corruption-related offenses, and to increase transparency in the implementation of UNCAC, a project was initiated that would allow the information on corruption-related crime to be visualized. The main project objectives were to deliver the corruption-related crime statistics of the year 2012, analyze trends and penalties, seek to identify potential gaps in the implementation of UNCAC, increase the ability to easily and simply find and understand information on the nature of corruption offenses in Lithuania. In 2013, the specific data needed for the simple and constructive information about corruption related offenses in Lithuania was defined. This was developed by TI Lithuania in collaboration with the National Courts Administration of the Republic of Lithuania which later provided the requested data. GLOBAL CORRUPTION REPORT: EDUCATION Project duration: September 2013 December 2013 Project budget: 1000 EUR (3 452, 8 LTL) Source of funding: "Transparency International" Secretariat The project goal was to promote the Global Corruption Report on education presented on the 1 st of October, The Global Corruption Report on Education publicity plan included various meetings and events, organized during the months of October and November. Some of the project outputs: press release, comments in the media, discussions with students from five Lithuanian universities, one secondary school and four student representatives. In addition, the report was presented to the international student community. TI Lithuania also had the opportunity to discuss some of the issues raised in the report with the administration of Mykolas Romeris University and with interested people from the public and private sector. 11 P a g e

12 GLOBAL TRANSPARENCY EDUCATION NETWORK Project duration: September 2013 December Project budget: 2000 EUR (6 905, 6 LTL) Source of funding: "Transparency International" Secretariat The project goal was to select and hire a person for the TI Lithuania office to help coordinate the TI Global Transparency Education Network initiative. This provided institutional support for GTEN development. In the beginning of September of 2013, a candidate was selected for this position. Working three days per week, the candidate s main activities and responsibilities included communication and administration of the GTEN network. This support enabled the successful development and function of the network. At the end of the project, GNET had over 100 members who received information updates via (mainly "Transparency International" members), the GNET Facebook group reached over 120 members. There is a noticeable increase of interest in GNET. GLOBAL "TIME TO WAKE UP" CAMPAIGN Project duration: Project budget: 3 452,8 EUR (11 921, 83 LTL) Source of funding: "Transparency International" Secretariat "Time to Wake Up" is a "Transparency International" global campaign in Lithuania with the aim of creatively drawing attention to the problems of corruption in Lithuania and worldwide. In 2013, TI Lithuania, worked on the "Best thank you to the doctor - Your smile" campaign led by young doctors. The campaign sought to draw attention to the problem of small bribery in the healthcare sector. 12 P a g e

13 TRANSPARENCY IN CORPORATE REPORTING: LITHUANIA Project duration: March 2013 November 2013 Project budget: EUR ( LTL) Source of funding: "Transparency International" Secretariat In 2014, TI Lithuania will conduct a corporate transparency and accountability study of the largest Lithuanian companies to evaluate their ethics policy and the organizational and financial transparency as it is presented on their websites. In cooperation with the "Transparency International" Secretariat, TI Lithuania developed a research methodology covering three transparency areas: (1) Corporate ethics and conduct regulation transparency; (2) Organizational transparency; (3) Financial transparency. In addition, initial data was collected from company websites. "SPEAK UP!" INVOLVING CITIZENS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION IN EUROPE Project duration: December 2012 May 2015 Project budget: ,71 EUR ( , 77 LTL) Source of funding: European Commission (via the Transparency International Secretariat), TI Lithuania (10,5% co-funding) The regional project included six European countries with the main purposes of: Promoting the activeness of civil society in fighting specific instances of corruption; Strengthening legal consultation of the public (via the Advocacy Legal Advice Centers (ALAC); Broadening the possibilities to systemically implement actions for advocacy towards legal system reform. 13 P a g e

14 Legal advice for citizens was provided not only by visiting the TI Lithuania office in Vilnius, but also by phone and via the online platform The strategy of publicity started with the call for proposals, in order to increase the knowledge about ALAC in Vilnius among the citizens who are facing potential corruption and bureaucratic issues. Moreover, TI Lithuania provided comments to various legislative projects, raised public proposals for amendments and best practice. LIFTING THE LID ON LOBBYING: TAKING SECRECY OUT OF POLITICS IN EUROPE Project duration: November 2013 August 2015 Project budget : , 17 EUR ( , 04 LTL) Source of funding: European Commission (via the "Transparency International" Secretariat), TI Lithuania (10% co-funding) The aim of this international project, in conjunction with projects implemented by partners in 19 different countries, is to promote transparency and the best accountability practices in the lobbying field and its regulation. The project aims to go deeper into conflicts of interest and revolving-door issues, while including stakeholders and citizens in seeking solutions and change at the national and EU level. The project aims to develop guidelines and tools for decision-makers in both the private and public sector. Preliminary national and international research methodology concepts were developed. Together with project partners key research methodological questions were coordinated. EU PRESIDENCY ANTI-CORRUPTION Project duration: Project budget: EUR ( , 81 LTL) Source of funding: European Commission (via the "Transparency International" Secretariat), TI Lithuania (10 % co-funding) 14 P a g e

15 In 2013, TI Lithuania in partnership with the "Transparency International" European Union office launched the "EU Presidency involvement in the fight against corruption" project with the aim of developing a methodology to evaluate the transparency and accountability of the Lithuanian Presidency of the EU Council that could then be applied to future countries. With the developed evaluation methodology, TI Lithuania began evaluation of the transparency and accountability of the Lithuanian Presidency. MATCH-FIXING IN SPORT Project duration: January July 2014 Project budget: ,24 EUR ( , 16 LTL) Source of funding: European Commission (via "Transparency International" Secretariat), TI Lithuania (cofunding) In 2013, TI Lithuania in partnership with the "Transparency International" chapters in Germany, United Kingdom, Portugal, Italy and Greece launched a project on match-fixing in sport. The aim of the project was to implement preventative education activities in cooperation with the sport organizations in order to provide information to athletes on the risks of match-fixing. In 2013, TI Lithuania organized a focus group discussion with nine participants (sport professionals, former professionals and public sector representatives). The aim of the discussion was to discuss which types of sports in Lithuania are the most susceptible to fraudulent agreements concerning matches and their outcomes. Also, the group tried to understand why athletes become involved in these activities. Taking the results of the focus group into account, TI Lithuania prepared a quantitative study of athletes and the general population in order to investigate whether Lithuanian football and basketball players participate in match-fixing, how prevalent fixed matches are, and how athletes and the general population view it. The focus group discussion was moderated by professor Aleksandras Dobryninas. 15 P a g e

16 In November 2013, Declan Hill led training for journalists on the topic "How unlawful agreements in sports are reached and how to identify them." During his training, D. Hill trained journalists on how to analyze fixed match results, discussed who predominantly is involved in match-fixing and how to gather more information on this issue. Executive Manager Sergejus Muravjovas Contact us: Didzioji str. 5, LT , Vilnius Phone: Fax: info@transparency.lt 16 P a g e