Information newsletter
Issue 3(15), March 2005

"The awards recognize our continuous efforts!”
Gergana Jouleva, Executive director of AIP

Access to Information Programme (AIP) received two awards in March. They will be presented to you on the fifth annual Liberty forum, organized by Atlas Foundation in April. What are the feelings with which you accept these awards, Mrs. Jouleva?

I accept the awards with a sense of satisfaction, because they are an international recognition of our efforts in freedom of information advocacy and the specific results which our organization has achieved here in Bulgaria. At the same time I am personally content, because my life in the last eight years has been connected to Access to Information Programme, with its establishment and development. As you probably know, organizations from all over the world have competed for the awards, and this is why I think they are also an international recognition. I am glad that AIP received first prize in the category "ethics and values". Our organization has been working for the promotion and establishment of the right to access government held information as a value of a democratic society.

This was explicitly mentioned by a member of the awards committee. In particular, our efforts to defend the right to information access before the court have been acknowledged. “Even in developed democracies, like the United States, we need the continuing use of the judicial system for the defense and development of the right of access to government held information" - these were the motives of one of the members of the award committee in support of our organization.

The second award we received was for institutional excellence. As I mentioned already, I am especially happy for that. I would like to extend my thanks to everyone, who believed in us and supported us through the years: our first donors from Novib and all other funders, our coordinators, the volunteers, and enthusiasts. I would also personally like to thank all of my former and present colleagues for their commitment and dedication!

Can you say that the awards are a result of AIP's efforts to train citizens, NGOs, journalists, and even public officials on the implementation of the Access to Public Information Act?

We consider trainings as an important element of raising awareness on access to information, which is part of our work. Trainings do not aim at specific immediate results, but are rather a continuous process of education. They have furthered the awareness and exercising of access to information rights by citizens and society groups. Training for public officials - although not initially part of our goals - have largely contributed to our advocacy campaign towards the implementation of the law. Shortly after the adoption of the Access to Public Information Act nobody would train public officials on it. Public officials were not acquainted with the provisions of the law, since they had never discussed it. Clearly, there was a problem and a need for trained administrators, as this would facilitate the implementation of the access to information right by everyone. This is why we started to offer freedom of information trainings as a service to public officials.

Will the work of AIP change in the future?

More work is all that is ahead of us. In my opinion the awards recognize our achievements in a process. But in order to sustain these achievements, a lot of efforts are needed. Now we received an award for our efforts in the establishment of democratic values. However, values are not established once and for all, and neither liberty, nor any of the democratic values are granted forever. This is why we look forward to doing just what we have always done. It only has to be done professionally, proving that these awards were given to us with good reasons. The awards, indeed, recognize our continuous efforts.

The interview was taken by Anton Andonov, AIP