BIRN Serbia Continues Post-Election Monitoring

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For the past year and a half, BIRN Serbia has been developing mechanisms for qualitative monitoring of government’s policies, mapping trends and reforms in the four areas which citizens singled out as the most important to their personal and social well-being – the economy, the fight against corruption, health and education. Thanks to the continuation of the project ‘Accountability Tools for Monitoring Government Performance’, supported by the British Embassy in Belgrade, BIRN will carry on its watchdog role for another six months.

The long term goal is to positively influence the creation and implementation of public policies in the four designated fields, through the creation of public demand and the engagement of civil society organisations, experts and public administrations, driven by the monitoring results.

Based on the research conducted during the electoral campaign, BIRN came up with a follow-up project, and since September 2012 has set up unique post-election watchdog mechanism, focused on the fulfilment of electoral promises made by politicians.

This mechanism also contributes to tracking general progress on reforms and enabling debate on policy choices made by the government in the four targeted fields. A monitoring matrix, containing several qualitative indicators, will be soon published online and, along with legislative and budgetary tracking and shadow reporting, presents an important tool for voters to make politicians accountable.

The implementation of this project will provide all interested parties with critical and unbiased insights into the progress of reforms and the quality of public policies in the four designated fields, empowering their meaningful participation in public debate. It will also help intensify public discussion and engage all relevant stakeholders over potentially controversial moves by the government.