USAID’s CIVIC ENGAGEMENT PROJECT – QUARTERLY REPORT #19 – APRIL 1 – JUNE 30, 2021

Key highlights of outputs and outcomes for the reporting period include: The Coalition All for Fair Trials (CAFT) organized a conference to present findings from the Monitoring Report on criminal proceedings focused on confiscation of assets, resulting in 42 articles published in different media. The report identified pressing challenges and priorities for intervention, including poor court practices and limited capacities in dealing with confiscation, conflicting legislation, and non-unified terminology. The Active Transparency Index, an instrument developed and implemented by the Center for Civic Communications (CCC) on a yearly basis since 2016, was once again confirmed as a benchmark that measures the openness of institutions and the scope of information published by institutions. The 2021 Index provoked an avalanche of reactions from public officials, resulting in 149 news articles and analyses. The website www.aktivtransparentnost.mk, promoted by CCC, allows public institutions to track their year-by-year standings and compare their rankings with other institutions, ultimately initiating peer-to-peer consultations for improvements. Twenty-six LEAD MK Master Class Fellows carried out 29 activities, engaging a total of 312 young people as part of the CEP-supported LEAD MK small-projects program. Twenty-seven local government units released 106 datasets with CEP's support, including municipal budgets, registers of elementary schools, contact information for civil servants and departments, and members of municipal councils. CEP trained municipal employees to publish more data in formats that allow researchers, academics, and people with business ideas to use them and design solutions for the public good. The Ministry of Information Society and Administration (MISA) and CEP Metamorphosis PMU selected and started providing technical assistance to the second group of five public institutions releasing data, including the Secretariat of the Government, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Public Procurement Bureau, and the Public Health Institute. CEP Metamorphosis PMU marked the Open Gov Week by promoting two CEP activities: an Open Data Hackathon and the release of data by local government units. Open Gov Week was organized by the Open Government Partnership (OGP) as a one-week international event with activities by governments and civil society promoting open government. Registering these events as part of the international Open Gov Week placed CEP activities on the international map as activities that move towards open governance and serve as an example for other countries as part of the knowledge exchange process. CEP Metamorphosis PMU collaborated with the Open Data Institute based in the UK and trained 12 participants from nine state institutions to be Open Data trainers and support public institutions in publishing data in open formats.