Paper Trail for Better Governance I and II

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Balkans and Moldova
2013-2019

BIRN Kosovo

The Paper Trail Investigations is a project by Balkan Investigative Reporting Network – BIRN Kosovo and BIRN HUB – to promote the rule of law, accountability and transparency in the Balkans and Moldova.

Summary

The Paper Trail Investigations is a project by Balkan Investigative Reporting Network – BIRN Kosovo and BIRN HUB – to promote the rule of law, accountability, and transparency in the Balkans and Moldova.

Information Sheet

Main Objective:
Contribute to better functioning of the public sector that abides by principles of transparency and accountability to its citizens which will in the long-term contribute to human security to the whole South-Eastern Europe/Danube Region.

Purpose of the program: Exposing wrongdoings of the governments, public and private companies, as well as individuals, through the promotion of the rule of law, accountability and transparency

Specific Objectives: 

Exposing wrongdoings of public institutions, public or private companies, and individuals, through multimedia investigations, in-depth analysis of institutions’ openness to freedom of information requests, and the establishment of an online database.

Main Activities:

  1. Implementing investigative projects.
  2. Two televised debates and reports produced and broadcasted.
  3. Cross-border report on institutions’ compliance with Freedom of Information (FoI) legislation.
  4. Creating an online, searchable database of documents obtained using FoI legislation in each country.
  5. Workshops and on-the-job training for journalists.

Target Groups:

The main target group of the project consists of investigative journalists, researchers, journalists from other media and public in general in the region and worldwide.
Highlights:
The programme is focused on five key themes which are critical for good governance in the region – energy, road building, the financial sector, the influx of money from the Middle East and the arms industry.

Through the extensive use of public documents, the investigations are exposing wrongdoing in government, public and private companies and among powerful individuals.

The project also addresses the transparency of public institutions in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Moldova.

As part of our drive for openness, we have also established a free, user-friendly, searchable online library of public documents and scraped databases, BIRN Source.

Working with some of the biggest names in international journalism, BIRN has produced dozens of hard-hitting investigations which are reshaping the public perceptions of their governments, business elites, and journalism.