On 13 and 14 May 2015, Access to Information Programme held two Access to Information Days in the towns of Veliko Tarnovo and Gabrovo respectively. 71 representatives of regional and local administration, NGOs, journalists, and citizens from the two towns took part in the events organized by AIP.
Within the Access to Information Day, the AIP holds two events – a seminar for representatives of public bodies focusing on access to information legislation and implementation practices and a workshop with requestors focusing on practical skills how to exercise one’s right to information.
During the seminars, AIP Executive Director Gergana Jouleva presented the results from the 2015 audit on institutional web sites performed by AIP and particularly the state of the active transparency of the institutions in each of the two regions and their positions in the 2015 Active Transparency Rating.
The Head of AIP legal team Alexander Kashumov presented the Access to Public Information Act, problems stemming from the implementation practices, and specific cases and AIP assisted litigation under the Access to Public Information Act.
During the workshops, AIP attorneys-at-law Darina Palova and Alexander Kashumov presented successful tactics for obtaining access to information from public bodies and from public registers and government data sets to journalists, NGOs, and activists.
The workshop participants were given on-spot legal help on specific access to information cases by the members of the AIP legal team.
Information and pictures from the meetings held in the towns of Veliko Tarnovo and Gabrovo were published and disseminated through AIP Monthly FOI Newsletter, May 2015 issue (in Bulgarian).
The Information Days are organized within the project Civil Center for Support of Transparency in Public Life, supported with a grant by the America for Bulgaria Foundation.
In 2013 and 2014, AIP held Access to Information Days in 10 regional cities in Bulgaria: http://www.aip-bg.org/en/news/Trainings_Conferences/