The project monitors and analyzes increased public procurement costs in municipalities during election years in order to point out possible excessive or politically motivated spending, raise public awareness of such practices and contribute to reducing irregularities.
The overall goal of the project is: to contribute to increased transparency and accountability in local government by monitoring public procurement costs in municipalities during election years, reducing the opportunities for misuse of public funds to achieve electoral advantage.
The specific objectives of the project are: (1) To monitor and analyze public procurement expenditures in municipalities during the election year, which will allow detecting possible misuse of public funds for electoral purposes, (2) To raise public awareness and improve media reporting on the risks of unproductive or politically motivated spending, and (3) To assess the impact of public procurement on the lives and work of women, youth and marginalized groups, which will encourage greater accountability and inclusiveness in local governance.
The project is expected to achieve the following results:
- Improved transparency through monitoring and reporting on trends in the spending of public funds in municipalities, thus reducing the possibilities for their misuse in elections.
- Increased public awareness through better informing citizens and the media about public procurement expenditures in the election year, which leads to greater public control and accountability.
- Increased media engagement through media reports and coverage of findings from public procurement trends that contribute to balanced and fact-based discussions on spending in the election year.
- Increased accountability for vulnerable categories through the assessment of whether increased procurement relates to improving the living and working conditions of women, youth and marginalized groups contributes to improving accountability in the allocation of public funds in relation to vulnerable categories.
This sub-grant is awarded within the framework of EU support to Civil Society Resource Center – Phase 2, a project funded by the European Union and implemented by the National Foundation for Development of Civil Society, Civil Society Resource Center, Macedonian Center for International Cooperation, Association for Democratic Initiatives ADI from Gostivar and Media Plus Shtip.