Support to Access to Information Programme as a Freedom of Information Civic Resource Center (FOICRC)
May 1, 2008 – April 30, 2011
Financed by grant from the Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe

Project description:
The goal of the project is to develop expert and organizational capacity of Access to Information Programme as a Resource center for advocacy in improving the accountability of public institutions in Bulgaria and in encouraging informed public participation in the decision-making process.

Activities within the project:
1.Advocate for better FOI legislation on the basis of permanent monitoring of legislation and practices;
2.Provide legal assistance in cases when requestors seek information from public institutions; including representation in courts;
3.Organize trainings, presentations, and campaigns to raise public awareness on access to information issues (FOI monthly newsletter and publications around the country, Right to Know Day Ceremony);
4.Exchange experience and knowledge in the FOI area through cooperation on local, regional and global level including active participation in FOIAnet (http://www.foiadvocates.net/);
5.Develop marketing and fundraising strategies for organizational sustainability.
6.Maintain its countrywide network of coordinators in all regional cities in Bulgaria.

On May 04, 2011 AIP held a presconference in the Bulgarian News Agency to present its annual report Access to Information in Bulgaria 2010.The eleventh access to information report contains:

• recommendations for facilitating the access to information and increasing the transparency and accountability of public administration;
• detailed analysis of the existing FOI legislation and ammendments during 2010.
• results from the AIP assesment on the online publication of certain categories of information by the administrative structures of the executive power;
• analyses of the access to information cases referred to AIP for legal help and consulation during 2010;
• an overview of the most interesting developments in the FOI litigation in 2010, including summaries of cases in which AIP has provided court representation.

The focus of the report is the active publication of information, the need for control over the implementation of the obligations and sactions for failure to comply with the requirements of the law.

The Report is published with the financial support of the Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE Trust) in the framework of the project Support to Access to Information Programme as a Freedom of Information Civic Resource Center (FOICRC), and America for Bulgaria Foundation within the framework of the project Responding to the New Demand for Freedom of Information – both implemented by Access to Information Programme.

Right to Know Day 2010
The eighth annual Right to Know Day Awards Ceremony in Bulgaria was held on September 28, 2010 at 5 p.m. in the National Press Center of the Bulgarian News Agency (49 Tsarigradsko shose Blvd) in Sofia.
The awards committee chose the winners in six categories out of 45 collected nominations. See pictures from the ceremony on AIP Facebook page.

The organization and holding of the 2010 Right to Know Day in Bulgaria is supported by a grant from the Trust for Civil Society in CEE and by the America for Bulgaria Foundation.

On April 29, 2010 AIP held a presconference in the Bulgarian News Agency to present its annual report Access to Information in Bulgaria 2009

The report includes:

• recommendations for facilitating the access to information and increasing the transparency and accountability of public administration with a focus on the implementation o fthe obligations for online publication;
• comparative analysis between the Access to Public Information Act and the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents ;
• results from the survey on the online publication of certain categories of information by the administrative structures of the executive power;
• analyses of the access to information cases consulted by AIP legal team during 2009;
• an overview of the most interesting developments in the FOI litigation in 2009, including resumes of cases in which AIP has provided court representation;
• results from a representative public opinion poll on public attitudes regarding the right of access to information.

The report is published with the support of the Trust for Civil Society in CEE under the project Support to Access to Information Programme as a Freedom of Information Civic Resource Center.

On March 16, 2010 AIP and Market LINKS presented the results from two surveys:

Assessment of the Internet sites of the institutions from the point of view of the Access to Public Information Act;
Representative public opinion poll on public attitudes regarding the right of access to information

AIP performed the assessment of the institutional web sites within 10.02.2010 - 02.03.2010 with the purpose to evaluate the implementation of the obligations under Art. 15a of the Access to Public Information Act for online publication of certain categories of information by the executive power bodies at a central, regional, and lical level. Pursuant to the December 2008 amendments to the APIA, the period for preparation ended in December 2009. AIP has reviewed 499 web sites out of a total of 511. Comparative results from the assessment of institutional web sites performed by AIP in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010 ( 409Kb)

A second wave of a representative public opinion poll on public attitudes regarding the right of access to information was performed by Market LINKS at the demand of AIP in February 2010. Results are available here (177Kb)

The two surveys were performed with the support of the Trust for Civil Society in CEE within the project Support to Access to Information Programme as a Freedom of Information Civic Resource Center.

AIP held the annual meeting with the journalists from the coordinators’ network on October 30 - November 1, 2009 in the town of Bankia. During the meeting, the last amendments to the Access to Public Information Act as of December 2008 were presented. Also the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents. Updated sections of the special web site Access to Information and Journalistic Investigations was also presented to the AIP coordinators. AIP lawyers made a review of specific access to information cases of journalists referred to AIP for legal comments and consultation during 2009, as well as court cases supported by AIP. Participants in the meeting discussed possibilities for improvement of the content of the AIP monthly electronic newsletter of AIP.

The organization and holding of the 2009 Right to Know Day in Bulgaria is supported by a grant from the Trust for Civil Society in CEE.

AIP published the fourth edition of the handbook for citizens How to Get Access to Information? The text of the handbook is in line with the last amendments to the Bulgarian Access to Public Information Act from December 2008. The handbook is available online in Bulgarian: http://www.aip-bg.org/pdf/handbook2009.pdf. It was published with the support of the Trust for Civil Society in CEE (CEE Trust).

The Annual report of AIP Access to Information in Bulgaria 2008 (2.2 Kb ) was published with the support of the Trust for Civil Society in CEE under the project Support to Access to Information Programme as a Freedom of Information Civic Resource Center. The Report contains recommendations for improving the access to information practices within the Bulgarian public institutions. Also:

• detailed analysis of the 2008 changes in ATI legislation and practices with a special emphasis on the the 2008 amendments to the Access to Public Information Act;
• results from a survey on whether and how the institutions handle electronic requests;
• characteristics of the specific cases consulted by Access to Information Programme legal team;
• and an overview of the most interesting developments in the FOI litigation in 200, including resumes of cases in which AIP has provided court representation.

Representative public opinion poll on public attitudes regarding the right of access to information was performed by Market LINKS at the demand of AIP and within the framework of the project "Support to Access to Information Programme as a Freedom of Information Civic Resource Center financed by the Trust for Civil Society in CEE. The public opinion poll was carried out in September 2008 among adult Bulgarian population, as well as among Bulgarian journalists from electronic and printed media. You can read the summary of the results (87 Kb) and also see the main results (152 Kb ).

Part of the campaign for the 2008 Right to Know Day was supported through Trust for Civil Society in CEE within the project Support to Access to Information Programme as a Freedom of Information Civic Resource Center.