USAID's Civic Engagement Project - Quarterly Report #20 – July 1 – September 30, 2021

Key highlights of outputs and outcomes for the reporting period include the publication of the third quarterly Monitoring Report on the implementation of the recommendations from the Vulnerability to Corruption Assessment in Public Employment for the period April-June 2021. The report showed an increase from 47% to 62% of partially implemented recommendations from quarter 1 to quarter 3, while 38% remain unimplemented. Transparency International – Macedonia (TI-M) developed a guide on how to assess bank statements and bank accounts for State Commission for Prevention of Corruption (SCPC) employees, and trained them on the assessment of other assets: financial aspects and review procedures. TI-M also created three training modules for the Academy of Judges and Public Prosecutors (AJPP): The first module was related to the use of the State Audit Office (SAO) audit reports in the fight against corruption; the second related to the conflict of interest related to the work of SCPC; and the third related to the criminal offenses in the area of financing of political parties. The NGO Info-Center completed their Census 2021 campaign, which informed the population about the importance and benefits of the Census, including monitoring of different media outlets and messages they transmitted to the public. The Association for Emancipation, Solidarity and Emancipation of Women (ESE) provided free legal aid to 26 beneficiaries, most of whom were women who had suffered domestic violence. The legal aid included psychological counseling and support on civil and criminal court procedures for protection against domestic violence, divorce, custody, alimony, social protection, and property rights. CEP completed its technical assistance to the Government of North Macedonia (GoNM) in line with the GRECO requirement on the Code of Ethics for public officials with nine trainings for 71 participants (57 men and 14 women), bringing the total number of trained public officials on the Code of Ethics to over 200. CEP Metamorphosis PMU worked with public servants from various institutions to identify, catalogue, and prioritize data they work with, as well as to publish datasets on the national open data portal data.gov.mk, in an effort to help the institutions become more transparent and comply with open data requirements. The project also supported the development of 10 automated webinars on open data in Macedonian, which aimed to increase awareness and understanding of open data among the public. Additionally, the project provided support to the State Commission for Prevention of Corruption (SCPC) in the development of a guide on how to assess bank statements and bank accounts for SCPC employees, and trained them on the assessment of other assets: financial aspects and review procedures. The project's activities aimed to promote transparency, accountability, and good governance in North Macedonia.