On 3 March 2021, the Metamorphosis Foundation, with the support of the USAID Civic Engagement Project, organized a public discussion on “How to systematically improve the openness of institutions?” The USAID Representative in North Macedonia, Erik Janovski stressed the importance of transparency and accountability of institutions, saying: “The central executive government benefits from the research because the findings and recommendations of the Openness Index are used to develop the Transparency Strategy, a strategic document that lays the foundation of the Government’s commitment to improving transparency in all its bodies. Therefore, the evidence-based recommendations obtained from this index are a useful tool for directing institutions towards improving their transparency and accountability.”
Metamorphosis Foundation Program Director Qendresa Sulejmani presented the results of measuring the openness of the executive branch of power in 2020. She stressed the need for mutual trust between institutions and citizens to increase the legitimacy of institutions, especially when undertaking ambitious reforms. According to the results of the research, the Assembly of RNM, with 64.9% of the fulfilled indicators in this area, stands out as an example of good practice in interaction with citizens. The executive branch of power in the region meets on average 44.88% of the openness indicators. According to the measurement for this year, on average, the most open executive branch of power is in North Macedonia (52.09%), followed by Montenegro (51.67%), Serbia (40.17%) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (35.60%). ). The full publication is available here.
The Openness Index measures the performance of the executive government and parliaments in the area of good governance by focusing on four pillars: (1) accessibility, (2) awareness, (3) integrity, and (4) transparency. The average openness of the ministries in RNM in 2020 is 56%, and among the ministries, the ones that are ranked the highest are the Ministry of Information Society and Administration, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Finance.
The discussion was attended by more than 35 representatives of ministries, state institutions, civil society organizations, international organizations and activists. Maja Lazarova, National Program Officer of the OSCE Mission to Skopje, Robert Popovski, National Coordinator for Responsible Governance and Transparency, and Natalija Šikova, Dean of the Faculty of Law at the International Balkan University, also addressed the event. They agreed that strengthening the democratic capacity of the executive branch of power should be applied to all policies equally, and not through isolated policies.
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