The NGO Info-centre, in partnership with the Centre for Civil Communications from Skopje and the Educational and Humanitarian Organisation EHO from Štip, started the implementation of USAID’s Transparent Governance Project in 2009, led by the idea that there can be no democracy without good governance and that there can be no good governance without transparency and accountability. With the introduction of instruments designed to ensure a more transparent and accountable work of municipal administrations, through encouragement of citizens to take greater participation in decision-making processes on local level, and through exchange of good practices among municipalities, the project focused on increased trust and cooperation between the citizens, the business community, the nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and local administrations.
Research of current practices: Transparent local governance
The project is based on the fact that, in spite of decentralisation processes that have been ongoing for the past several years, the citizens remain unsatisfied with the manner in which the local administrations organize the life and work on local level, but also from the extent and the manner in which the local communities participate in local decision-making and policy-creation processes. The following problems were identified as the main contributors to that situation: Insufficient transparency, responsibility and accountability of municipal administrations, as well as inadequate and inefficient manner in which municipal administrations address and approach the problems, expectations and demands of the citizens.
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