TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL CROATIA (TIC)

Transcription

1 TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL CROATIA (TIC) STRATEGIC PLAN Zagreb, November Page 1 of 16

2 CONTENT 1. INTRODUCTION 3 2. THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF TIC ACTIVITIES 3 3. VALUES OF THE ORGANIZATION 4 4. VISION 4 5. MISSION 4 6. STRATEGY Goals Priorities Budgeting ACTIVITIES OF TIC Interests and Activities within the TIC mission for the period Activities directed towards general public (citizens) Activities directed towards political actors (political parties and political institutions) Activities directed towards the Croatian economy (public and private sector) Activities directed towards the academic community Activities directed towards domestic and foreign CSOs Financial capacity to meet the Mission Organizational capacity to meet the Mission Strengthening the TIC Office in Zagreb Inclusion of members of the TIC Assembly in all activities, programs and projects Inclusion of new members in TIC activities Communication strategy to meet the Mission Page 2 of 16

3 INTRODUCTION Transparency International Croatia (TIC) is a Croatian national chapter of Transparency International, a global network dedicated to the fight against corruption. It explores the corruption phenomena and its causes in the Croatian society. It is dedicated to defining solutions and to encourage changes that will reduce corruption within the Croatian society. TIC does this through advocacy for increased transparency in the work of public authorities, raising public awareness on the issue of corruption and raising awareness about the damaging effects of corruption, through research, independent public statements and warnings on violation of norms and standards, and networking with similar organizations. In its work, TIC relies on the research and experience of other national branches of Transparency International as well as the headquarters of Transparency International in Berlin. 1. THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF TIC ACTIVITIES Over the time, the approach of Transparency International in the fight against corruption has developed in order for it to the better understand various forms and appearances of the corrupt system and the many ways in which abuse of entrusted power appears. Given the fact that corruption is often a very complex and creative, TIC must offer solutions capable of meeting the challenges that are brought before it. Previous period was marked by the EU accession process. The lengthy and complex negotiations related to Chapter 23 indicated that the corruption and a lack of transparency in public sector, as well as slow and inefficient judicial system represented fundamental objections addressed to Croatia as the EU candidate. Due to bad experience derived from last round of the accession of the countries to the EU, the EU Commission determined that the fight against corruption - through legislative improvements and establishment of standards of good governance in politics and business are to be the top priorities for the accession countries. Owing to this, Croatia has in recent years improved the legal framework that governs the rights of access to information, financing of political activities, public procurement and regulated conflict of interest. It is necessary to ensure that after the accession of Croatia to the EU on July 1, 2013 it does not come to stopping or decreasing of activities related to the process of the launched reforms. Therefore, the activities of TIC in the upcoming period will be particularly sensitive. Although it is expected that it will reduce the pressure from Brussels, a number of other initiatives will continue to monitor trends in the Croatian fight against corruption. It specially includes the regular international survey provided by Transparency International (The Corruption Perceptions Index, The Global Corruption Barometer), a new annual report by the EU Commission s Anti-corruption Report to planned to be implemented starting the year 2013, SIGMA and GRECO reports and the UN Convention on the fight against corruption. Also, in August of 2011, Croatia joined the initiative of the Open Government Partnership and during the year 2012 produced a two-year action plan by which it pledged to raise transparency, especially the fiscal transparency at all levels of government, whereby its Council in charge is responsible for monitoring the implementation of this Action Plan. Page 3 of 16

4 TIC will continue to advocate for signing and/or ratification of international treaties and agreements related to raising the levels of awareness of transparency and anti-corruption (for example, Council of Europe Convention on the right of access to official documents). With regard to the development of civil society, on July 12, 2012, the Croatian Government adopted The National Strategy for the creation of an enabling environment for the development of civil society between 2012 and TIC participated in drafting of this strategy. The National Strategy provides guidance for creating an enabling environment for the development of civil society by the year The strategy is focused to further improve the legal, financial and institutional support system of activities of civil society organizations which are considered important factors for socio-economic development in the Republic of Croatia, as well as important stakeholders in the formulation and implementation of EU policies. 2. VALUES OF THE ORGANIZATION The organizational values of the TIC organization are as it follows: Transparency Responsibility Honesty Solidarity Courage Fairness Democracy 3. VISION TIC vision lies within the Croatian environment in which Croatian government, politics, business, civil society and people's daily life are free from all forms of corruption. In order to get closer to the realization of its vision, for the upcoming 5-year period, TIC will be dedicated to proactively including more people in its activities, either as members of the Association, volunteers, supporters or associates. Also, TIC will strengthen networking and joint activities with organizations and institutions coming from different sectors of society. 4. MISSION TIC mission is to increase transparency of public service authorities at all levels and to prevent the abuse of public power of state authorities for private purposes. Corruption is one of the biggest problems of the time in which we live and of modern society in general. It undermines good government, fundamentally distorts the political leadership, leads to unequal distribution of public goods, damages the private sector development and particularly affects the poor. In order to combat corruption, it is the required that all democratic institutions, the private business sector and civil society combined are involved. Page 4 of 16

5 6. STRATEGY Goals Since its foundation, the goal of TIC has been focused on raising public awareness about the damaging effects of corruption in Croatia through public events, media appearances, panel discussions and lectures at educational institutions. Beginning in 2006, TIC joined the effort to help Croatian empowering citizens - witnesses and victims of corruption - to point out on corruption incidents and pursue their claims through the Anti-Corruption counseling. TIC advocates opening of institutions to citizens and increased transparency in their activities, particularly in the spending of public money and other public resources, and the importance of protection of the public interest. TIC will continue to strive for further improvement of the legal framework in line with international best practices in order to reduce the maximum space for corruptive activities. TIC will continue to engage in partnerships with other permanent and ad hoc coalitions with other civil society organizations in the country and abroad. A particular emphasis will be given on the importance of the synergy through informal coalition of civil society named Platform 112, and to provide a support to other related initiatives that originate from civil society arena. In the coming period, TIC will endeavor to strengthen inter-agency cooperation, especially with the business sector and umbrella associations. TIC desires to achieve increased visibility and greater impact in all segments of Croatian society. The basic guidelines of TIC in the coming period will be focused on combating corruption in the process of political decision-making, support the Croatian government s anticorruption reforms, transparent management of all public resources and the promotion of higher standards of business ethics. Also, TIC will strive to reach to as many people as possible, because it is considered the ultimate way to educate the Croatian nation on the damaging effects of corruption. TIC plans to include innovative approaches in its agenda, i.e. corporate transparency models that should lead to fighting recession issues and poverty problems in Croatia. It is considered that the lack of transparency in business segment in Croatia prevents foreign investors to invest their funds in Croatia which leads to deprived economy, job stagnations, GDP decline and blossoming of corruption due to rising poverty. Despite of the innovative ideas presented by TIC, its activities for the upcoming period are fully aligned with the Strategy 2015 of Transparency International, which allocates the following strategic priorities: 1. People: Increased empowerment of people and partners around the world for corruption practices. 2. Institutions: Improved implementation of anti-corruption programs at leading institutions, businesses and international financial system. 3. Laws: The more successful implementation of laws and standards worldwide and reducing impunity of the corrupt actions. 4. Values: A higher level of integrity in organizations and people, especially young people and those in leadership positions. 5. Networking: Strengthened ability to work together. 6. Impact: A stronger reaction, representation, action and influence at all levels. Page 5 of 16

6 6.2. Priorities a) The program objectives The basic programs objective of TIC are as it follows: Good governance The Good governance program includes activities aimed at improving the transparency of public institutions, their work towards the protection of public resources and the public interest and awareness of political responsibility. (providing access to information, combating corruption in public procurement to promote the reform of the judiciary, state property management, resolving conflict of interest). Monitoring to ensure the access aims to creating an environment in which secrecy is considered an exception, in which a culture of openness by public authorities is to be the fundamental principle of their action in their service to citizens. The right of citizens to access the public information is considered an effective way of ensuring transparency of managing public resources and combating corruption, and is recognized as the basis of sound and good public management. After the adoption of the amendments to the Law on access to information, it is necessary to harmonize the legal framework through adequate amendments to The Secrecy Law its compliance with the Law on access to information and the Croatian Constitution. Therefore, a secrecy of public acts should become an exception rather than a rule. TIC will continue to advocate an independent supervision of the implementation of the Law on access to information that should be entrusted to an independent body with adequate resources and working capacity - human and financial - to exercise its powers. TIC will also advocate for consistent application of a particular consultation code with the interested public in making laws, regulations and other documents, as required by the Action Plan for the Open Government Partnership. Given that the achievement of this goal must systematically educate the public and develop effective protocols for accessing information, TIC will continue to clearly point to a link between lack of information and corruption and advocate open and accountable government, TIC will also continue to mark the International Day of the Right of Access to Information through the campaign named We have the right to know! Money and Politics Money and Politics program is aimed at reducing corruption in politics by raising the transparency of financing of political parties and other stakeholders. It is also focused on the management of conflicts of interest, the promotion of anti-corruption standards in the private sector, on how to combat the money laundering and on the insistence on the return of property proceeds of corruption. Through routine prevention of corruption in politics, TIC will continue to seek disclosure of funding sources in the political game and the impact of funders on the political process. This approach is based on further promoting transparent financing Page 6 of 16

7 of political campaigns and on the creation of the legal framework for the regulation of party funding and campaign. In collaboration with other NGOs, primarily GONG, TIC will continuously to monitor the implementation of laws, and conduct training of participants in the political game in order to clarify all the details related to this issue. Another aspect of reducing corruption in politics will focus on further insistence on regulating conflicts of interest and important aspects of control that should provide access to information not only for the media but also for citizens. The provisions of the existing law that deals with conflict of interest in public office do not apply to all public officials, and TIC must continue to insist on strengthening the Committee for the Prevention of conflicts of interest. TIC will, therefore, continue to advocate for the introduction of amendments to the Law on access to information to cover all public officials and to supervise the application of the law and the work of the Commission. In addition to the preparation and distribution of promotional materials and websites, and maintain a special website devoted to this topic, TIC will organize a series of public events, including lectures for public officials and citizens. Activities aimed at promoting anti-corruption standards in the private sector (i.e. business ethics), we will act to reduce corruption in the private sector and improve business standards. TIC will insist on raising the level of integrity, transparency and accountability. In cooperation with organizations that bring together economic operators (Croatian Chamber of Economy, Croatian Employers' Association, the American Chamber of Commerce...), TIC plans to promote business principles to combat corruption initiatives initiated by TI, as well as the Integrity Agreement (the English original: The Integrity Pact). TIC will also promote the establishment of the various agreements between the government and bidders when conducting public tenders. Croatia in an international context Through the program Croatia in an international context TIC promotes accession, ratification and implementation of international anti-corruption conventions and international best practice in raising standards of political action and public work. (advocating ratification of the Convention on the Right of access to public documents, monitoring implementation of the UN Convention against Corruption, monitoring the reforms undertaken during the EU accession process, transferring experience on Croatian accession to the EU countries in the region, etc.). Through the promotion of international anti-corruption conventions, TIC will help raising public awareness of the need for the implementation of anti-corruption standards in the Croatian legal framework and international cooperation in law enforcement and will help to lay down the foundations for technical cooperation. Doing so, TIC will also encourage Croatia to apply standards envisaged by anticorruption conventions, particularly the United Nations Convention against Corruption. Page 7 of 16

8 After the results of the convention held in Doha and the introduction of poor-quality mechanisms for revision of the UN Convention on Corruption whose application does not ensure success in the diminishing the harmful effects of corruption, it is required to further advocate for the introduction of measures needed to realize the full potential of the Convention and its transformation into a global framework for the elimination of corruption. To accomplish this goal, TIC will demand that the Croatian government actively involves the civil society organizations in the process of monitoring implementation of the commitments made by the Convention. Also, TIC will advocate the ratification of the Convention on the Right of access to public documents, an important document that provides access to information contained in public documents. Conscious citizens Conscious citizens program is aimed at educating citizens and civil society organizations and encourage their increased participation in policy-making. The program will be implemented through public lectures, public opinion research, educate journalists, citizens and CSOs. TIC will encourage the adoption of anticorruption education and ethics in the regular educational programs of secondary schools and higher education institutions in order to influence the raising of political literacy of young people and in order to create active citizenship. In each of its program activities, TIC would seek to incorporate some type of educational approach and encourage discussions on the transparency and corruption themes and seek to include them within educational programs of schools and colleges. b) Organizational objectives Currently, the TIC office employs 4 persons. All employees are engaged in the implementation of projects. The same team of TIC aids volunteers who are assigned to support some of the association s ad hoc events such as press conferences, round tables, conferences, workshops, etc., which are organized along with the regular project activities. However, the current staff of the TIC office, unfortunately, does not meet the program requirement outlined within this text, but this situation is considered temporary due to transition caused primarily by insufficient findings. Within the term, it is necessary to further strengthen the institutional capacities of the organization and develop human resources, both for existing staff to acquire additional knowledge and skills, as well as in terms of finding employment opportunities for additional programrelated persons. Employees of TIC should be professionally refined in order to be able to assume more initiative in managing assigned projects. In order to ensure transparency of internal procedures (for example, employment policy, an annual evaluation of employees, internal rules, working with volunteers ), and to improve organizational memory and communication, it is required to introduce a program that will quality monitoring systems designed for NGO sector. TIC has already develop procedures and rules that define the activities of the association and will introduce new ones when required. Page 8 of 16

9 c) Membership in the Association The provisions of the current TIC Statute define two types of memberships, regular and frozen. The frozen membership considers that a member who holds a government function or is considered a public official cannot actively participate in the work of TIC Assembly. TIC plans to further increase and diversify the number of its members which is also recommended by the TI accreditation committee. This commitment also requires that more members become actively involved in the associations activities. To encourage members to participate more in the TIC activities and propose new activities, TIC will propose the establishment of the working bodies or committees based on the activity in order to include its members based on their interests and preferences (for example, the Legislation Committee, the Committee for Business Ethics, the Board of Education). Each of the committee is to maintain at least one meeting per month. The meeting may be attended by all members interested in working in a particular area with by any othr interested member of the association. Each committee may propose new program activities and propose initiatives within existing ones. This approach could be used to effectively determine the real potentials and interests of prospective or current TIC members. Terms and conditions for joining the TIC are defined by the Statute of the association. It defines basic criteria (age, legal capacity, will to support the organization's goals and accept the terms of the Statute). The Board Members of TIC consider and recommend acceptance or rejection of all membership applications. The Board makes its decision based on the information contained in the application and after an interview with the applicant. It is planned that TIC introduces a new rule for accepting applicants to the full membership status. A pre-membership phase could be introduced to allow the Board to monitor all newly accepted applicants and their real interest for the work of TIC. After a certain monitoring period, i.e. 3 to 6 months upon the acceptance of the initial application, the Board may approve full membership to the applicant if proven that the applicant fully complies with the terms and conditions presumed by the TIC statute. This strategy may lead to increase in the number of members actively involved in its work rather than just to increase the level of passive memberships of the association. Also, the idea is that all volunteers, after ending of their volunteering phase with TIC, eventually be employed by the association to the best use of the TIC projects. Page 9 of 16

10 6.3. Budgeting To ensure the work of the organization and increase its sustainability, TIC will have to be focused on securing long-term financing of its office and staff. In the period , TIC will continue to seek funding sources in Croatia, including corporate and individual donations, taking into account that donors are not performing any type of illegal activity. Also, it is necessary to further explore the possibilities of self-financing as already stated within this Strategic plan. TIC will also be involved in joint projects of Transparency International, which are in line with the strategic priorities of the organization. TIC will endeavor to provide the resources necessary to operate and seek to diversify sources of funding to ensure financial support for the implementation of program activities. In its work, TIC will apply the best accounting standards and provide the maximum level of transparency in its funding. Projected 3-year budget ( ) is based on balanced cash flows between income and expenditures allowing for no loss. The association financial policy will determine no short-term credits from financial institutions and/or any type of long-term liabilities that may endanger its long-term financial stability. The policy of TIC is that cash outflows will never exceed the level of its cash inflows in the analyzed period. Also, the TIC expenses will be balanced with its revenues, also for the analyzed period. TIC budget policy will be based on responsible business management and seek to develop the association in accordance with its financial and managerial capacities and capabilities. 7. ACTIVITIES OF TIC TIC is a non-governmental, non-political and non-profit association founded on June 7, 2000 in Zagreb, Croatia. Association headquarters are in Zagreb and it operates throughout the entire Croatian territory. TIC is one of over 100 national branches of international organization Transparency International, the only global, non-profit and politically non-partisan organization whose activities are aimed at combating corruption and its consequences. Transparency International is committed to the prevention and systemic changes that would reduce the opportunities for corruption to a minimum. This can be achieved through maximum openness of public authorities, in particular through a more transparent management of public resources and decision-making. As part of the global movement to fight corruption, and part of the network of national branches of Transparency International, TIC believes that fighting corruption can be effective only if it leads to the networking of all factors which common interest is fighting corruption either on the national, regional or on the global level. TIC is as a national branch of Transparency International committed to anti-corruption efforts, to promoting democratic values and fair competition. The main goal of TIC is fight against corruption Page 10 of 16

11 in all its forms. In order to achieve the objectives of the Association, TIC is dedicated to performing the following activities: Collecting data on the experiences of combating corruption; Processing of data on the phenomenon of corruption; Public announcement and implementation of data collection on the corruption phenomena; Various forms of technical and advisory work; Organization of seminars, roundtables and other forms of public and professional debates and trainings; Preparation of draft of various legislative proposals and other documents; Dissemination of information about the activities of the association through print, electronic and other media. TIC brings together experts from the fields of law, government and the economy in an synergy in creating quality anti-corruption programs. TIC works on creating a broad base of associations and people who support its work and values, for example, among academic community (especially in the Faculty of Law and Political Science at the University of Zagreb and the Faculty of Law of the University of Rijeka and the University of Osijek), other non-governmental organizations and also among the volunteers. TIC has witnessed an increasing number of domestic and foreign volunteers willing to practice their studies within the current program and activities of TIC. TIC has established excellent relationships with the media and regularly collaborates with leading journalists in order to regularly inform the Croatian public on the flaws identified within the public sector and to improve reporting on how corruption undermines the Croatian society as a whole. TIC holds press conferences on the regular basis, it issues press releases and conducts various activities for informing and educating citizens and officials to identify potential loopholes within the Croatian legal system that may lead to various forms of corruption and enables monitoring of the recent developments in the fight against corruption. TIC, together with its experts acts as adviser and initiator of various reforms that it presents to the Croatian government, its ministries, departments and its agencies. The representatives of TIC are often members of various working bodies of the Croatian Parliament, working groups and other bodies concerned with improving the legislative framework in Croatia, and are part of the supervisory teams for implementation of many key acts and regulations. TIC regularly inform international organizations about current events and sustainable and feasible solutions. TIC cooperates with the European Commission, the OSCE, the World Bank, and with a number of foreign journalists providing them with regular updates and information on the situation in Croatia with regards to corruption. TIC regularly promotes research conducted by Transparency International, for example, the Annual Corruption Perceptions Index, generally regarded as the most reliable indicator of the degree of corruption in a country, the Global Corruption Barometer, Index of Exporters of Corruption, Global Report on Corruption and provides additional clarification on the position of the Republic of Croatia team within such researches and analysis. The work of the Association and the Association's bodies are open to the public, and such approach is achieved by regularly informing the association members and the general public Page 11 of 16

12 about the work of the Association and its bodies. In order to allow interested individuals an access to many useful information and to inform them about its work, TIC maintains its updated website which has been created in accordance with the TI instructions. In order to become a full member of the Association, the applicant is required to be an adult, business capable Croatian citizens or foreign national who entirely supports the goals of the Association and accepts the provisions of the TIC Statute. In October 2013, the Association has introduced a new TIC Statute, internal acts and has adopted new additional rules for accepting new members to the associations. The aim is to produce a strong synergy through combined experiences of various members and extend the membership platform to various individuals capable and willing to promote the basic and integral values of Transparency International Interests and activities within the TIC mission for the period Interests of TIC for the upcoming period are as it follows: Humanitarian - because corruption undermines and distorts development; Ethical - because corruption undermines social integrity; Practical - because corruption distorts the functioning of markets and deprives ordinary people of their legal and democratic rights. In order to achieve the above interests and its mission, TIC is focused on the following activities: Activities directed towards the general public (citizens): Collecting, classifying and publishing information about corruption, and publicly expressing positive experiences and good practices and models for its control; Organizing public events (round tables, forums and expert modules) focused on specific issues in order to sensitize the public regarding certain areas of fighting corruption; Promoting anti-corruption activities through informal activities; Reorganizing internal TIC advocacy center into a new form of service (ex-alac center) to promote communication between the Croatian population and TIC office, run records on reported irregularities, registering them and using them for further elaboration and scientific work. Volunteers will contribute to its development Activities directed towards political actors (political parties and political institutions): Promoting anti-corruption activities by participating in the preparation and proposing of regulations related to preventing corruption; The Good governance project; Developing models for monitoring the regulating of financial policy, i.e. tracking money in politics: using the CRINIS results for presenting defects in the regulation of Page 12 of 16

13 all financial actors taking part in public affairs (financing campaigns at all levels, political contributions, public procurement, money in public companies), etc Activities directed towards the Croatian economy (public and private sector): Anti-corruption models and the role of private enterprise in strengthening the consolidation requirements; Public-private partnerships and public anti-corruption policy; Anti-corruption policies and codes of conduct within public companies; Developing new models and methodologies of Corporate Transparency; Strengthen TIC involvement in binding transparent business conduct with resolving recession and economic crisis in Croatia, Promoting new activities and methodologies of protecting population of whistleblowers emerging within public and private sector; Providing various government, local and EU offices with proposal on how to protect fiscal transparency and their financial resources against fraud; The Integrity Pact Activities directed towards the academic community: Cooperating with the academic community in the development of possible tools to measure corruption levels; Closely cooperating with relevant academic associations: Croatian Economists' Association, Croatian Journalists Association, Croatian Sociological Association, Croatian Communication Association, Croatian Political Science Association, etc.; Closely cooperating with institutions that have the capacity to explore some of the phenomena of corruption: Institute for Social Research, Institute of Economics, etc.; Setting up a system for volunteering and mentoring students in their work Activities directed towards domestic and foreign CSOs: Active status in the Platform 112 (virtual association of key association in Croatia formed in order to promote the key 112 democratic and social values); Openness to all forms of cooperation with organizations in Croatia and beyond, within the region; Partnership in applying for projects as main stakeholder or partner; Initiative in opening questions relating to transparency and anti-corruption. Page 13 of 16

14 7.2. Financial capacity to meet the Mission Croatia entered the European Community as of July 1, This created a considerable shift in the trends of financing of the entire Croatian CSO sector. Public funds provided by the Croatian government tend to shrink in light of the budget cuts and new rigorous measures. The European Social Fund may be a possible solution but majority of the NGO is still not familiar with the methods how to apply and how to draw funds from the EU resources. The Croatian National Foundation for Social Society Development may not provide for sustainable source of funding for TIC in the future. Croatian Lottery and gaming industry, though required by the law to reserve portion of its income for charity purposes may be put in question in light of their planned privatization. Given the negative trend of getting sustainable funding from the public resources and considering the negative impacts of the global and local recession and economic crisis, TIC is facing, for the first time in its 13 years of activity, a considerable challenge of providing sustainable funding for its activities. Further to the said above, TIC must be additionally selective in its funding sources to avoid potential conflict of interest or non-transparent funding by private or public sector. Due to the limited personnel capacity, TIC will apply for less demanding local and international projects that could be easier to secure and implement in practice. Financial stability and longterm sustainability of TIC finances could be achieved through targeting both the public and the private sector in Croatia through the following agenda of activities: Organizing and providing various training modules to public companies and institutions related in area of ethical business conduct, anti-corruption methodology and how to foster and prevent non-transparency in their own sectors (for example, Croatian Post Office, Croatian Insurance, Croatian Railways, etc.); Creating, organizing and implementing a cooperation module for education of local politicians (municipality heads and city mayors) on the prevention of conflict of interest, for which local communities have earmarked funds; pilot-project with 1-2 cities; Creating, organizing and implementing a cooperation model that relates to global corporations in the CSR project (Corporate Social Responsibility); cooperation with Siemens, Nestle, P&G, Holcim, etc.; Creating, organizing and implementing s cooperation module relying on donations (every company can donate up to 2% of its annual profits and be exempt from corporate tax for it); Activating the number (anti-corruption counseling service), designed to continue with the current anti-corruption advocacy activities targeted to counsel businesses in reducing and reporting corruption; Creating, organizing and implementing a cooperation module through sponsorships (marking the International Anti-Corruption Day, etc.); Creating, organizing and implementing a cooperation module targeting diplomatic missions in Croatia that may provide funds earmarked for the civil sector. Page 14 of 16

15 7.3. Organizational capacity to meet the Mission Organizational capacity refers to the creation of business requirements to meet TIC's objectives and strategic plan through the following: Strengthening the TIC Office in Zagreb Creating a team of professionals who will work autonomously, with self-initiative and commitment in ensuring the sustainability of the Office; Maintaining a professional relationship with each employee and ensuring basic working conditions (physical capacities and remediation of the inadequacy of the existing office space; lack of heating, humidity and installation); Openness of the Office for everyone (citizens, the public and the members, potential new members, etc.) Inclusion of members of the TIC Assembly in all activities, programs and projects The necessity of narrow specialization of persons interested in specific areas, for example, corruption in certain sectors (economy, health, education, politics, etc.) or levels (local, national, regional, global); Participation in projects as active stakeholders or partners in individual projects, that is, teams for specific activities in accordance with the competences of the members; Participation of all members of the Assembly at conferences, round tables and congresses organized by TI or individual partners or TIC independently in Croatia, but also anywhere in the world; Close cooperation with the Executive Board Inclusion of new members in TIC activities Development of new models of inclusion of individuals in active membership of TIC in all areas of action with a broad spectrum of individual professions, in order to achieve diversity and representation through the following recruitment channels: a) Membership (passive): The option of membership for those individuals who have expressed a desire for it, who fill out an activation request, accept the Code of Ethics and pay the token annual fee of e.g. 30 Kuna; Rights/participation in TIC's events and activities, the expansion of social networks, assistance with particular logistical needs. Page 15 of 16

16 b) Active membership (member of the TIC Assembly): All as passive membership; The right to elect and be elected into TIC governing bodies; The right to attend annual assembly meetings; The right to be nominated in a variety of committees, commissions and advisory boards as representatives of TIC at the national or local levels. c) Volunteering: Aside from students, volunteers may be retired, or employees who have expressed their desire for the public engagement; Mentors may suggest that some volunteers become active members and go through the selection process for the admission of new members Communication strategy to meet the Mission In order to improve the communication strategy, TIC is dedicated to propose in the following period of several years the following interactive communication activities: Designing an interactive web site of TIC, the design of which must be in full compliance with international IT standards, updated on a daily basis. Application forms directed towards specific audiences: a) Forms for the media (database of journalists following corruption, press conferences and press releases); b) Forms for members of TIC; c) Newsletters, notices, applications for active engagement; d) Forms intended for the NGO sector. Partnership, joint ventures Developing internet platforms (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) Holding regular press conferences Organizing the TIC Office as a focal point for communicating with the public, and recruiting individuals for speaking on TIC's behalf TIC Zagreb, November 2013 Revised in January 2014 Page 16 of 16