Organisation name: Stefan Batory Foundation (Fundacja im. Stefana Batorego)
Name of organisation’s representative: Grzegorz MAKOWSKI
Website: www.batory.org.pl
Email: email hidden; JavaScript is required
Country: Poland
Which seat are you nominating for? Europe Regional Seat

Organisation Profile

The Stefan Batory Foundation (SBF) has the mission of building an open, democratic society – a society of people aware of their rights and responsibilities, who are actively involved in the life of their community, country and international society.

Since 2000 the Foundation runs a Public Integrity Program (earlier the Anti-corruption Program). The Program focuses on efforts to ensure the transparency of the legislative process and opening it up to the voice of citizens, the limitation of corruption risks, nepotism and cronyism linked to the conflict of interest in public life, to strengthen the role and legal protection of whistleblowers.

The program’s team monitors and analyzes processes and events which affect the integrity of public life. We make proposals and recommendations aiming at improving the standards of public life and curbing corruption. We take measures to develop, disseminate and implement solutions which comply with the standard of good governance and accountable government. In our activity, we cooperate with other organizations and institutions both in Poland and internationally. We are among others a member of the Coalition for Open Government and the Anti-Corruption Coalition of Non-Governmental Organizations and Civil Society Coalition for United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC Coalition).

Organisation Experience

Relevant, recent activities:

• From 2015 until now I participated in almost all meetings of the Coalition actively supporting all initiatives run by the Coalition. Additionally, on behalf of UNCAC-C and Stefan Batory Foundation, I took part in the UNODC workshop in Sarajevo on the UNCAC review mechanism.
• After the end of the first round of UNCAC assessment, in 2015 we intensified our advocacy activities towards establishing legislation protecting whistleblowers. Among others, we mobilized one of the most important trade unions umbrella organizations which is now supporting the idea of adopting a whistleblower law. There is also a visible change in the attitude of the government towards this idea. In 2017, we drafted a citizens bill on whistleblower protections. Currently, we are focused on advocating adoption of this law after elections in autumn 2019.
• In 2015 and 2016, we launched two projects aimed at raising public awareness and promoting greater transparency in public procurement procedures. The first one has designed a Corruption Risk Barometer, an interactive online tool that helps identify corruption threats in public procurement and pinpoint areas with the highest vulnerability (by the type of contracting, type of contracting agencies, types of projects etc.). The second one is an international, European pilot of Integrity Pacts, coordinated by Transparency International and financed by the European Commission. Link with UNCAC provisions here is a very important element for us.
• Monitoring of conflict of interest policies (2013-2015). An international project, funded by the European Commission, planned for 2013–2015 and implemented in collaboration with organisations from three Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine), sought to strengthen the role of citizens in the activities aimed to reduce conflicts of interest in public government.
• Between 2013 and 2015 FSB also worked on the assessment of UNCAC convention implementation in Poland (chapters III and IV). The shadow report on the implementation of selected provisions was presented in February 2015.

Top Three Priorities to Achieve for the Coalition

• Making the second cycle of UNCAC review as effective and open to the citizens as possible, especially as the prevention provisions are at stake, which are most important for the CSOs community around the world (the goal continues).
• Achieving more engagement form ordinary UNCAC Coalition members.
• Moving UNCAC Coalition a bit more towards analytical activities.

Representative Profile

Grzegorz Makowski is an expert of the IdeasForum of Stefan Batory Foundation (between 2013 and 2018, he served as Director of the Public Integrity Program, and between 2000 and 2002 as the Foundation’s Coordinator of Anti-Corruption Programs).

• Holds a PhD in sociology.
• One of his academic specializations is the problem of corruption and anti-corruption policy.
• Author of a number of publications on this topic – research reports, articles and journalistic texts.
• Involved in several research and monitoring projects focusing on corruption. Among others, lead researcher for the Polish part of the European National Integrity System monitoring conducted by TI-Berlin (2010-2012), earlier in 2010, lead researcher for the Global Integrity Index in Poland.

  Currently:

• Expert of the European Commission for the EU Anti-Corruption Report.
• Participated in the ANTICORP research project, funded by the EU.
• Since 2015 member of the UNCAC Civil Society Coalition Coordination Committee.

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