Institute of Public Affairs, Ekopolis Foundation and Slovak Governance Institute organized a one-day international conference on "Civic Voice in Public Policy and Public Funding: Opportunities and Challenges" in Bratislava on 29 March, 2006.
The goals of the conference were to share findings and experiences on the role of public funding in support of watchdog, advocacy and policy NGOs in Visegrad countries and Croatia and to identify lessons learned and reflection of the regional experience by different stakeholders. The Conference identified opportunities for changes existing policies and approaches in strengthening of role of civic organizations in public policy.
The Conference was attended by foreign experts, representatives of international development community, Slovak NGOs’, government officials, politicians and corporate community representatives. The Conference was organized as a part of a project „Unfinished Business: Civic Voice in Public Policy (1995-2005): Its Contributions and Opportunities for Further Development“ implemented by the Institute of Public Affairs, Ekopolis Foundation and the Slovak Governance Institute and generously supported by the Trust for the Civil Society in the Central and Eastern Europe (www.ceetrust.org) and with the assistance of the Government of Canada/avec l’aide du Gouvernement du Canada.
The project looks as the role of public funding and its relationship to policy, watchdog and advocacy activities. The rationale of this project is based on persistence of several disturbing trends in the form of stagnation of civic engagement and continuing needs in sensitizing of the public on issues of corruption, good governance, political clientelism and citizens willingness to participate on public affairs to increase the quality of overall governance in the transition societies.