BiH Civil Society Sustainability Program (CSSP) in partnership with the Center for Investigative Reporting

Donor: The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Donation: 400.000 BAM

In the following period (2014-2018), Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina and Center for Investigative Journalism will conduct activities within the project Civil Society Sustainability Program in BiH (CSSP), financially supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the British Embassy in BiH. The main goal of the project is to strengthen the capacity of civil society in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to influence and oversee development and implementation of government policy- making processes, with the broader goal of increasing its long-term sustainability.

Grant I – Mobilization of Stakeholders in the Fight against Corruption
The main objective of the project is realization of cooperation with representatives of various sectors of society to effectively fight corruption and create groups of individuals and organizations that will support anti-corruption efforts and participate in activities relating to prevention and fight against corruption. The ultimate goal of the project is to increase the number of people and organizations involved in prevention of corruption and promotion of transparency, accountability and integrity, as well as to ensure the support of stakeholders in fight against corruption, which will foster broader support for anti-corruption initiatives.
The project objectives and changes planned to be achieved:

• Involve citizens and key stakeholders in the decision-making process and CSOs’ activities aimed at prevention and fight against corruption;
• Involve citizens and key stakeholders in implementation of defined activities and creation of wider initiative in order to provide the support of the institution and public for anti-corruption initiative;
• Gather representatives of public institutions, academic community, civil society, the media, judiciary and citizens in order to define the key problems and issues in the areas, as well as the most appropriate way of advocacy;
• Gather information, opinions and define problems in different sectors at all levels of the government in all parts of BiH;
• Define key points of cooperation with the institutional sectors and engage the representatives of the institutions, civil society and citizens in specific anti-corruption efforts and activities of TI BiH and CIN targeted at solving complex social issues identified in the particular sectors;
• Direct activities at the fight against corruption and at coordination between stakeholders and sectors;

Grant II – Advocacy for strengthening of legal framework for public procurement, conflict of interest and asset card
This part of the program focuses on three key issues:

1. The lack of transparency in public procurement and inadequate anti-corruptive mechanisms in the legal framework
2. The limited number of individuals and institutions to which the Law on Conflict of Interest applies, and mild sanctions that to not motivate to comply with the Law, and
3. The lack of tighter control over asset cards.
   General Objectives:
   Public Procurement:

Objective 1: Amendments to the Law on Public Procurement which will introduce the greater level of transparency in public procurement and strengthen accountability mechanisms of contracting authorities and entities responsible for the implementation of public procurement.
Objective 2: Establishing the mechanisms to improve transparency of public procurement and access to information on public procurement contracts and on public authorities and companies that do business with the state.

Conflict of interest:
General objective: Amendments to the Law on Conflict of Interest that will introduce tougher sanctions to the offenders and will apply to a larger number of individuals and legal entities.

Asset declarations:
General objective: Establishing the mechanism to improve control over the accuracy of information provided in office holders’ asset cards, as well as to ensure accountability for inaccurate and misleading information presented in the asset cards.

In order to successfully implement monitoring and advocacy, TI BiH and CIN will include the previously established group of stakeholders from different sectors, including the relevant institutions and the media, with the aim of providing broader support for the initiative and creating better solutions.

Grant III- Creating and implementing sustainability strategies of TI BiH and CIN

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